Chapter 1

“Hey Emma!” said Monica, almost apologetically, peeked her head around the office door.

“Uh…yeah?” asked Emma, looking up from her work as she sat at her desk. 

“Could you…haha, uh, help us with a little something?” asked Monica. “It’s the old coffeepot in the break room.”

“I…uh, I’m not really good with fixing stuff like that,” answered Emma, with a meek little smile as she brushed her short red hair out of her face. 

“Haha, oh no, no, it’s nothing like that!” laughed Monica. “The new pot we got isn’t working, and Keith put the old one, like…way up on this shelf, and, uh…none of us can reach it.” 

“Oh…ohhhhh!” said Emma, her face indicating her growing understanding as she blushed a little. “So you want me to try and reach it?”

“It’s just that…all the guys are out of the office right now, and…well, you’re the tallest girl here, so…yeah,” finished Monica, chuckling a little awkwardly. 

“Sure…sure I’ll try and get it,” said Emma kindly, rising up from the desk and following Monica. It was definitely true, especially with the 2-inch platform heels she often wore to work, that she was the tallest woman in the office. At 5’8 in flats, Emma was certainly a taller-than-average woman. She wasn’t thrilled to be the “tall girl” at work, but that didn’t stop her wearing the heels. Anything less would have betrayed her insecurities, since it was so common for women to wear heels to work at Scheuster Marketing, the small business that Emma worked for. 

A whoop came up from her female co-workers as Emma entered the break room. Stacy was there, along with Shelly and Lauren. None of them, including Monica, stood over 5’5.

“There she is!” laughed Stacy.

“Our amazon caffeine rescuer!” giggled Shelly. 

“Haha, uh…ok, ok, guys,” said Emma good-naturedly, her cheeks coloring even further still. She really didn’t like being the center of attention in any situation, but when that attention involved her height, she was doubly embarrassed. It didn’t help that she was easily able to reach the coffeepot, and in less than five seconds she had brought it down to the countertop. 

“Ooooo wow! Sooo tall! Haha, thanks Emma!” laughed Stacy. 

“Hehe…anytime guys!” she replied, feeling like she couldn’t make her way out of the room quick enough. 

Later on that day, she came home to her boyfriend Daniel, who worked from home for an IT tech company. 

“Hi honey!” called Emma as she came in through the back door. There were a few moments of silence at first, and then Daniel finally answered. 

“Uh, hi! Just a second, I’m finishing up this program real quick.” 

Emma smiled to herself as she shed her purse, jacket, and heels, and walked up to Daniel’s work desk. As ever, he was intently focused on his computer screen, his eyes going back and forth through lines of data. Emma just stood there expectantly, enjoying the moment before their daily evening embrace. Now, more than usual, she wanted to feel her boyfriend envelop her. 

“Haha, sorry about that, Emma,” said Daniel apologetically a minute later as he stood up from his chair. “Had to just get that taken care of.” 

“No problem,” said Emma, smiling as she held out her arms to him. “Hold me.” 

Daniel grinned as he walked over and embraced her. Emma leaned into the hug, closing her eyes in pleasure as she felt his larger, taller form wrap around her and squeeze her tightly. While Emma often felt larger than she wanted to in her 5’8, 135-pound frame (even though she was quite slender) whenever she was around Daniel, she felt wonderfully small. At 6’1, he was a full five inches taller than she was, and his medium-build 175-pound body was more than enough to compensate for her being taller than average. 

“Had a nice day?” asked Daniel, pulling apart and smiling down at her. 

“Eh…it was ok,” said Emma, shrugging her shoulders. 

“Uh-oh…just ok?” said Daniel with a cock of his head. “What’s up?”

“It’s just…well, Monica asked for my help today…when the guys were out of the office and the other girls needed to get something off a tall shelf. They had to come to me.”

“So?” asked Daniel. “After all the guys, you’re the tallest one there, right?”

“Right,” said Emma. “But…it just made me feel…uh…”

“Helpful?” offered Daniel. “Come on, Emma. It sounds like you put your natural gifts to good use. No harm done!”

“I know, I know,” she said, feeling almost a little impatient with him for not understanding what she was trying to say. “It’s just that…well, sometimes I don’t like to be reminded how tall I am, is all.”

“Oh Emma, you shouldn’t worry about all that,” said Daniel dismissively. “In fact, it’s more likely that the other girls wish that they were taller, like you, so they wouldn’t have to ask for help getting things off high shelves, you know?”

“I guess…” said Emma doubtfully. 

“Well anyway, like I said, don’t worry about it,” said Daniel waving his hand. “I got us take-out from El Camino tonight.”

“El Camino!” cried Emma, her face immediately brightening. “Awww honeyyyy!”

“Haha, I know that’s one of your favorites,” chuckled Daniel. “I ordered what we usually get — two chicken tacos, beans and rice for you, and a big ol’ verde burrito, bean and rice for me.”

“Mmmm oh my god I can’t waiiitt,” moaned Emma, feeling her stomach rumble. She suddenly realized that she was hungry…hungrier than she had ever remembered being. 

And when the food came a bit later, Emma was surprised at how quickly she gobbled up her portion, licking the hot tomato sauce off her fingers as she watched Daniel finish up. 

“Good grief!” laughed Daniel. “You totally inhaled those tacos! Glad I ordered before you got home!”

“Haha yeah,” said Emma. It was a little odd to realize, but she wasn’t quite…full yet. Normally, her favorite dish from El Camino was more than enough to satiate her, and sometimes she even had to put half a taco in a tupperware container for later. But tonight…well, tonight she had eaten it all…and she was still hungry. 

Later that night, as they were getting ready for bed, the gnawing hunger in her stomach became so pronounced that Emma actually had to sneak back out to the kitchen and help herself to a few slices of cold ham and a hunk of cheese from the fridge, finishing it off with a big swig of milk. It wasn’t like her, to have this kind of an appetite, but she simply had to do something to stave off the nagging pit in her stomach. 

Over the next few days, Emma started noticing that everything seemed to feel a bit…off. Her clothes had begun to feel a bit strange…almost…Emma didn’t want to think it…almost tight. And her appetite, which had seemed noticeably pronounced on the El Camino night, didn’t go away. She found herself packing extra snacks into her purse, and eating larger portions at dinner. Still, it wasn’t anything too noticeable, and she brushed it all off, chalking it down to the fact that she was in the tail end of her period. Surely that explained it…surely. 

But once her period was gone, things didn’t change — in fact, they became more pronounced. Her clothes continued to feel strange…yes, there was no denying it now. They were definitely tighter. She began to notice that it was becoming more and more difficult to put her shoes on every morning. In puzzled frustration, she checked the label inside…yep, still a 9 W…

“Having trouble, honey?” asked Daniel.

“Uhh…no, no, just…this shoe is smaller than I remember.” 

“Hmmm, well you could always try on my 11 Men’s if your feet are still growing!” 

“Oh my god, haha, would you stop it?” 

The jokes aside, though, Emma was beginning to slowly realize that something was up. She noticed one day that Keith, her co-worker, was shorter than she remembered…and this was on a day that she had chosen to wear flats. She knew that Keith was an inch taller than her, but, as they stood next to each other in the break room, she couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t any taller than her. She felt a wave of unpleasant anxiety, but she brushed it off, dismissing it as nothing more than some kind of weird irrational fear. 

But there was nothing irrational about the shock she had when, one night, as Daniel was reading in bed, she stepped on the weight scale in their bathroom. The blue numbers garbled themselves up for a moment, and then settled on the empirical truth: 143.2.

‘What!?’ she thought to herself, and for a few moments she just stood there on the scale, panicking. But she closed her eyes, shook her head, and stepped off. She was not going to play this game that so many other women played…the inexorable tug-of-war with the scale…she just wasn’t going to do it. She had been eating a little more…she had been a little more stressed at work…things were feeling a bit off…and that was it! There wasn’t any more to it. 

She slid into bed next to Daniel and he reached over and gently grabbed her butt, massaging it lovingly. 

“Mmmm, babe, you’re feeling nice down there,” he said in a low voice. 

“Haha thankssss,” she said, feeling warm pleasure wash over her. So what if she had gotten a little bigger? Daniel liked it. 

“I can’t wait to go out together tomorrow,” he continued.

“Me too,” she whispered, kissing him softly on the cheek. “Four years is a long time.” 

“The best four years of my life so far,” he replied tenderly. “And an anniversary dinner at the Ritz is the best way to celebrate, don’t you think?”

“Oh yessss,” she breathed as she snuggled herself up to him. For the moment, it was easy to forget any weirdness that was going on with her body.

But the following night, there was no denying what had been chewing at her mind for the past week or so: she had chosen to wear her fancy 5-inch heels out to the Ritz, and it was plainly obvious to her that, in the heels, she was actually a little bit taller than her boyfriend. She had pointed it out to him as they waited for an Uber to come pick them up, but Daniel had brushed it all off. 

“There you go, honey…worrying about your height again,” he said with a flippant smile. “Look, you’re wearing heels, and I’m wearing flats. Of course you’re gonna feel a little taller.”

“No, but…but you’re not getting it,” she said, trying to stay easy with him, “I’ve worn these heels before, and I’ve never been taller than you in them! Maybe the same height but not taller!” 

“Emma,” said Daniel, smiling at her as he took her hands in his, “Maybe we were standing on different-level ground or something. There are all kinds of reasonable ways to explain this. But, like, what? Are you saying you’re getting taller?”

“I…I don’t know!” said Emma helplessly. “I mean, I’m getting heavier, aren’t I?”

“I’ve noticed a little extra weight,” grinned Daniel as he looked approvingly at her hips, “And I think it’s super hot…but growing height-wise? Come on, Emma — we both know that doesn’t happen at our ages. So just…relax and have a nice time tonight, ok?”

“O-ok,” she said, blushing as she forced a smile. She felt stupid for even making any kind of deal out of what was bothering her internally. And she did have a nice time at the restaurant, which was a lavish, almost over-the-top experience that had her and Daniel grinning at each other from across the white-clothed table, like they were almost embarrassed to be treated to such opulence. For all intents and purposes, it was a lovely anniversary dinner. 

But even still, internally-speaking, Emma could not keep her anxiety under control. She smiled and laughed and joked and blushed, all genuinely, but inside, she was beginning to notice how things were “off” more and more. To begin with, her appetite just seemed to have kept increasing. She found herself forcing herself to eat the courses more slowly, so that Daniel wouldn’t notice how hungry she was. Her nice dress, which she had last worn at a Christmas party months before, was feeling uncomfortably tight. And her heels, well…as soon as they were sat at the restaurant, Emma had taken advantage of the floor-length white tablecloth and quietly kicked her heels off, feeling a rush of relief as she flexed her toes under the table. There was no doubt that the heels had become too small for her feet. 

That night, after they got home, and after Daniel had fallen asleep (which he did every night within five minutes of his head hitting the pillow), Emma slid out of bed and crept into the bathroom. She stepped on the scale…148.7. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. What was happening to her!? She had gained more than 10 pounds…verging on 15…in less than a week! Taking care to move quietly, she snuck out of the master bedroom area and into the pantry. She turned on the light and looked up at the top shelf, where Daniel kept his toolbox. Unsurprisingly at his point, Emma found that she was able to reach the toolbox by standing on her tiptoes — she didn’t even need the stepladder like she used to. She took out the long, metallic measuring tape, fumbling with it clumsily for a moment. It made a loud, silvery clanging sound, and Emma paused a moment, her heart beating madly, as she listened for signs of Daniel waking up. She certainly didn’t want him to find her in here like this, measuring herself in the middle of the night like a crazy person. Thankfully, he was a deep sleeper, and hadn’t seemed to have heard. 

She stood up against the doorway, standing as straight as she could as she measured herself. She put her finger where she felt the top of her head was against the measuring tape, and stood back to look at it, with her heart hammering away in her chest. 

69 inches…no…a little more…like 69.25 or so….that was…that was just over 5’9! Emma’s anxiety deepened, and her heart didn’t slow down. She was…growing!? She was actually getting taller!?! Emma hurriedly put the tape measure away and clutched her chest, as she felt the blood rushing through her ears. It felt like her throat was starting to close up. She backed into the pantry door, leaning heavily against it, as she closed her eyes and hummed to herself, silently willing her mind and body away from an impending panic attack. After a few minutes of quiet breathing exercises, she felt herself come away from the brink. 

It was stupid…of course she wasn’t getting taller. Sure, maybe she was gaining some weight, but that was only natural for women as they got a little older, right? All of this was natural, surely…and of course her height measurement had been off. Come on, a tape measure and a doorway? She suddenly got the idea to make an appointment with Dr. Hartman. Yes! Of course! That was it! That was the way to go…he could weigh and measure her officially, and do some tests, and just…make sure that everything was ok. It was for her peace of mind, more than anything. Emma felt reassured as she turned off the pantry light and crept back into bed, feeling almost proud of herself for not giving in to her anxiety. 

The next morning, she made an appointment with Dr. Hartman, and a day and a half later, she was in his office. During the day and half that had elapsed, Emma had tried her best to ignore everything that she had been noticing before — her increased height and weight, her increased appetite, the tightness of her clothes and shoes…everything. Dr. Hartman would put all this right — he would tell her what was going on. 

“Ok, so, it looks like you’re 153.1 pounds,” said Dr. Hartman, typing the number into his computer database. 

“And that’s like…almost 20 pounds more than I weighed a week and a half ago,” said Emma, doing her best to keep her voice normal. 

“Hmmm, and you’ve had unexplained increased appetite?” asked Dr. Hartman.

“Yes.”

“Well, that clearly explains the weight gain…and your blood pressure was normal…you certainly don’t look like you’re accumulating fat. Let’s check your height.”

A few moments later, Dr. Hartman was clicking his tongue.

“What? What is it? What does it say?” asked Emma, knowing that she was giving her anxiety away. 

“Now here’s what’s quite interesting,” said Dr. Hartman, looking at her from behind his glasses. “I’m measuring you right now at just a tad over 5’10, two inches taller than you were last year.”

“See!? See that’s what I’m talking about!” exclaimed Emma. “I’m 28 years old! Women don’t just…start getting taller randomly, do they??”

“Not generally, no they do not,” said Dr. Hartman, eying her curiously. He was looking at her face closely, and then, without speaking, he took her hands in his and examined them. 

“What are you checking for?” asked Emma, trying and failing to sound easy and natural.

“Hmmm, it’s just…very curious…verrry curious indeed,” said Dr. Hartman, turning back to his computer and typing out some notes. “There’s a condition called “acromegaly,” which is a hormonal disorder that can develop if your pituitary gland starts producing excess growth hormone. It’s extremely rare, with less than 20,000 cases a year, but…those who have it do experience sudden and rapid growth. But I don’t think you have it, Emma.”

“Y-you don’t? Why not?”

“Well, acromegaly presents with abnormal enlargement of the face, hands, and feet.”

“Yes! Feet! My feet have been growing! My shoes have been too tight!” exclaimed Emma quickly. 

“Yes, but you see…all of your growth looks proportional, Emma. Maybe your feet and hands have gotten bigger, but it’s not in disproportion to the rest of your body. That’s not how acromegaly presents.”

Emma was silent for a moment, and Dr. Hartman laughed a little.

“That’s good news, Emma!” he said, smiling. “It means you don’t have a serious hormonal disorder!” 

“Yeah but…but what do I have?” asked Emma. She wasn’t at all satisfied not knowing. 

“Well, I’m not sure — let’s run some blood tests and see what we find. Try not to worry too much, ok Emma? Despite your interesting new growth, everything else seems to be in order.”

Emma tried to heed her doctor’s advice for the next few days, since she knew that her anxiety could become debilitating if she allowed it to fester. It was hard to follow the advice, however, because almost everywhere she turned, she was noticing how different everything was becoming. To begin with, her clothes were becoming so tight and uncomfortable that she was seriously considering the prospect of going out to buy new ones. She hated even thinking about this, because it meant actually admitting that she was, in fact, growing, but what choice did she have? The waistband to her work pants had become unpleasantly tight, and was pressing deeply into her flesh. Her legs had gotten longer, to the point where there was actually a little bit of ankle showing when she stood up straight. Emma had unhappily noticed Stacy and Monica glancing down at her exposed ankles when they were standing together in the break room. Neither of them said anything, but Emma knew that they had noticed and were silently asking questions. And her feet…her poor feet…Emma knew that she was going to have to get new shoes, and sooner rather than later. She comforted herself briefly by wearing some one-inch heels from the back of her closet that had been a Christmas gift years ago, which she hadn’t wanted to return, but that she had never worn because they had been too big. This idea worked for a couple days, but even then, she felt her feet beginning to press uncomfortably up on the shoes’ sides. Her feet were outgrowing them too!

Her relationship with Daniel was not unchanged by these new developments, and Emma felt guilty even admitting that to herself. Daniel hadn’t seemed at all affected by it, and he made it a point to calmly reassure her whenever she brought up her anxiety surrounding her new growth. But for Emma, things had changed. Approaching Daniel in height and weight had injected a whole flurry of new and disorienting feelings into her brain. When she went to work in the mornings, she noticed that, in her one-inch heels, she was only two inches shorter than her boyfriend. This man, who a couple weeks ago had seemed so much taller and larger than her, now seemed almost…ordinary compared to her. 

‘No, no, not “ordinary”…that’s not the right word,’ thought Emma as she drove herself to work after kissing him goodbye. She had barely even had to avert her head up to kiss him. And, of course, she had been forced to pull the car seat back a little again as she got into her car. 

‘Not “ordinary,” just…just…not as big as he seemed before….not as…big around me.’ She thought about them hugging, and about how he had used to just swallow her up in his arms. Now, their hugs almost seemed to be experienced on an even footing. And she didn’t like it…she didn’t like it at all. 

‘He’s not as comforting when he’s not as big,’ thought Emma, but then she brutally chastised herself internally for even thinking such a thing. 

‘Daniel isn’t the problem! There’s nothing wrong with him!’ she told herself viciously. ‘You’re the one who’s growing…you’re the one who’s turning into a freak!’

But she tried to calm herself down, reminding herself that self-loathing was not the path out of this mess. But even if Emma was doing an adequate job keeping her self-loathing to a minimum, it didn’t stop the unavoidable feelings of awkwardness as she continued to grow. Awkwardness at work was one thing — she was used to feeling awkward and shy at work. But awkwardness at home, around Daniel, well, that was something else entirely. Two days later, she came home from work, a little sullen at receiving her test results earlier in the day from Dr. Hartman. 

“You ok?” asked Daniel, immediately sensing that something was wrong. 

“Got the test results back today,” mumbled Emma irritatedly. “Inconclusive. I scheduled another appointment for tomorrow.”

“Well? That’s not really so bad, is it?” offered Daniel kindly. “At least you don’t have something that isn’t good!” 

“What? No, Daniel, it is bad!” blurted out Emma in frustration, tossing her purse onto the counter as she walked up to him. “I wanna know what’s going on with me. this whole “not knowing” business is really…starting to…”

But Emma trailed off, because, as she got closer to Daniel, it was becoming clear that the height gap between them had become…very small. Emma stopped talking altogether and looked down. Daniel was in his usual white socks, and she was in her one-inch heels…but they looked…almost exactly the same height. Emma’s brow furrowed a little as she looked up and down her own body, and then at Daniel’s. She just couldn’t understand how all this could be happening. They were, like…almost exactly the same size. She had kept putting on the pounds as she had gotten taller, and her thighs had thickened, her hips had become wider, and 


her ass, which had never really been small, was now more than noticeable. She had even developed an obvious cleavage which had not been there before. 

For a split second, Emma felt a hot flash of something wash over her as she compared her body to her boyfriend’s…what was it? What was that feeling? It was something strange, something she had never felt before, a little spasm of something hot, something fiery. Emma didn’t realize it, but in that moment, she had felt a searing stab of sexiness — she had actually liked her new proportions in relation to Daniel. She had felt big…sexy…powerful. 

But it all passed in a flash, and a moment later she was back to feeling her customary anxiety-bordering-on-misery that surrounded her increasing size. 

“H-heyyy babe,” chuckled Daniel a little awkwardly as he caught her eye. He too was noticing their closeness in size, in a new way. He had been brushing it off for a while, but now, as Emma stood in front of him, it was very hard to ignore.

“Hey,” she returned, also awkwardly. “Uhh…y-yeah…”

“Ummmm,” replied Daniel, his eyes going over her body as he tried to think of something to say. 

Emma suddenly sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Look at me, Daniel!” she complained miserably. “I’m…I’m huge! I’m almost as big as you! I mean…actually…I bet I weigh almost what you weigh right now!

“Haha, I, uh…I don’t think, uh…n-no you don’t!” he laughed nervously, trying to play it all off. 

“Come on,” said Emma suddenly, taking him by the hand (in a hand that seemed almost as large as his) as she pulled him toward the bathroom. “Let’s see.”

Chapter 2

Emma’s one-inch heels clacked against the tile of their bathroom as she pulled her boyfriend in. Daniel had attempted a kind of halfhearted, chuckling protest as she tugged him along, masking his surprise at how strong she had become. 

“Haha…come on Emma…hehe, this is silly!”

“It’s not silly,” Emma immediately countered, without even turning around. “I wanna show you that this is serious. I’m, like…totally getting bigger, and no one knows why.”

“I…uh, Emma…hehe easy there…I now it’s, umm…serious and all, but I feel like you’re getting yourself all worked up for, uh…you’re just stressing yourself out.”

He had been about to say “all worked up for no good reason,” but he thought better of it. He didn’t want to antagonize his already-distressed partner. Although, and here Daniel felt a little twinge of guilt for this thought, he could not fail to notice how Emma’s ass was bouncing up and down in front of him as she walked. She definitely looked…well…totally hot. She had been hot before, but now, her added weight had really accentuated her curves, to the point where Daniel actually had to shake his head a few times to bring himself back into their current situation. 

“Well, I don’t need any help getting stressed,” said Emma irritatedly as they reached the bathroom. “My body’s doing a fabulous job of doing that all by itself.” She bent down to take off her heels. “Ok, you first.”

Daniel glanced down at the scale, shrugged his shoulders, and stepped on. The blue numbers mixed themselves up in a fast array, and then, a couple seconds later, it presented the result: 173.6.

“Huh, guess I lost a pound or so,” said Daniel airily. “Oh well — I hover around 175…sometimes lower, sometimes higher.”

“Ok, now me,” said Emma, shooing him off the scale as she stepped on in her bare feet. She was being a little more bossy than usual, but whenever Emma got irritated, her behavior generally followed suit in this way. Daniel looked down at the garbling numbers with a bemused look on his face. He thought all of this was a bit silly, a bit of an overreaction on Emma’s part. Emma, on the other hand, was clearly not enjoying herself. She kept her head down, staring intently at the garbling scale numbers with a look of determined anxiety. She was anxious, yes…but she was also determined to show Daniel that there was something truly wrong with her. 

Daniel looked up to Emma’s face, blinking a couple times as he regarded her. She sure was beautiful…he would try harder to help her calm down. However, just then, he saw her eyebrows go up as her eyes went wide. She took a sharp breath in through her mouth and thrust her arm down, pointing at the number. 

“See!?” she said forcefully. “Look at that!”

Daniel inclined his head downward and looked…167.5. He felt something lurch in his stomach as his eyebrows also went up, but he maintained a cool disposition as he straightened up again to look at her. 

“Uhh…yeahhh….so, uh — ” was all he could manage to get out before Emma interrupted him.

“I was right!” she exclaimed miserably. “I’m almost as heavy as you now! You don’t even weigh ten pounds more than me!” 

“Look, Emma…honey,” said Daniel gently, coming around behind her and embracing her as she stepped unhappily off the scale. “You have that doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Maybe…uh…maybe they’ll be able to clear some things up with you then.”

“But he didn’t know anything about it last time,” said Emma as she fought back the urge to cry. “What if they still don’t know, Daniel? And what if I just…keep growing and growing and growing!?”

“Come on baby,” persisted Daniel, hugging her tighter from behind. He was doing his best to ignore the arousal inspired by feeling the firm plushness of his girlfriend’s newly-accentuated curves. ‘Now is not the time to be horny,’ he told himself. He was also trying to ignore how Emma had to only be two inches shorter than him. 

“You’re not just, uh…gonna keep growing and growing. That doesn’t happen to people.”

Emma turned around in the embrace to face him, her eyes glassy as her mouth quivered a little. She was scared…and she missed Daniel’s overwhelming embrace more than anything now. She missed feeling small in his arms. 

“Th-this…THIS doesn’t happen to people!” she replied, gesturing down to her body. 

“Just…Emma…you gotta put your faith in the doctor, ok? And in the meantime, totally stressing yourself out can’t help. The body responds badly to, uh…to chronic stress, you know.”

“I know…I know,” said Emma, nodding gloomily. Daniel saw his chance at latching onto this slight bit of momentum, and kept on. 

“And Emma…and I know you probably don’t wanna hear this, but…you look fucking incredible. I mean, of course, I thought you did before, but babe! I mean come on! Look at your ass! Look at your hips…your breasts!”

“Yeah…all so much bigger than I used to be,” pouted Emma in his arms. 

“Well, just know that, haha, honey…a lot of girls would totally kill to have a body like yours right now.”

“You’re just…you’re just being sweet,” said Emma dismissively, looking away from him and down at the floor. 

“I am not!” laughed Daniel, shaking his girlfriend affectionately. “I’m telling it like it is!” 

Just then, a slow, deep rumbling came up from somewhere. It only took Daniel a second to realize where it had come from — Emma’s stomach. She looked slightly up at him, with a mixture of apology, embarrassment, and unhappiness. Daniel, however, laughed. 

“Haha, you hungry there?”

Emma’s mouth went up a little at the corners, responding to Daniel’s mirth with a little smile of her own. He really was sweet to her. ‘He’s just doing his best in a tough situation,’ Emma reminded herself. And even though she felt emotionally upended right now, she would try her best and put on a happy, straight face. 

“Yes,” she mumbled softly, bending down to lay her head on his chest. 

“Well then, let’s order in again!” said Daniel brightly. “Let’s have a little fun with it! How about some pizza from Angelo’s? That sound like a good choice?”

“Pizza sounds good,” murmured Emma into his chest. She really was very hungry. And even though she truly disliked her new appetite, there wasn’t much that she could do about it right now. She had to satisfy it. 

That night, for the first time, Emma actually out-ate Daniel. They were watching Netflix together on the sofa, and Daniel was considerate enough not to point it out, but he had definitely noticed that he had eaten three pieces of pizza, and Emma had eaten four. Emma had decided that she wasn’t going to tie herself up in knots about how much she ate tonight, and so, after she had polished off her third slice, she had made no ceremony about reaching into the box for her fourth. Emma had to admit that it felt good to satisfy that gnawing hunger in the pit of her stomach, even if it meant that she was gaining more weight. 

The next day, Emma went back to the doctor’s office. Dr. Hartman greeted her, and did a short little scan of her body as he walked into the room. 

“So…we’re still growing, are we?” he asked with a smile on his face, trying to keep everything casual. 

“I’m pretty sure, yeah,” said Emma, folding her hands nervously in her enlarged lap. “My appetite’s been, uh…I mean I’ve just been eating a lot lately.”

“Mmmm, ok, ok,” said Dr. Hartman analytically, “How about we get some actual measurements now, huh?” 

A few seconds later, his eyebrows had gone up.

“Well that is something…that is definitely something,” he muttered. “You’re a full six feet tall now, Emma.” 

“I…uh…” stammered Emma, feeling the bottom go out of her stomach. 

“Take it easy, take it easy…no worries, Emma. Deep breaths in and out,” said Dr. Hartman soothingly. “Let’s get your weight here…uh-huh…ok, just adjusting this scale here…aaaaaanddd…it looks like…176.”

Emma stared straight ahead at the white wall, feeling her mind go blank. She was bigger than Daniel now. She weighed more…than her boyfriend. She blinked her eyes desperately at the wall, unable to say anything in response. Dr. Hartman was clicking his tongue as he typed on his computer. 

“Quite curious…hmmmm, very unusual,” he was saying, almost to himself. 

“D-does…what does this mean?” asked Emma in a shaky voice, turning around to face him. 

“Well…before I say anything, let’s get your vitals, and just…make sure everything’s working the way it should,” said the doctor. “Your blood work didn’t show any illnesses or abnormalities, so we don’t have to worry about that.” 

For the next several minutes, Dr. Hartman examined Emma carefully — he took her blood pressure, listened to her heart and lungs, looked in her throat, nose, and ears, and even tested her reflexes. 

“Well — everything seemed to be in good order!” he announced at the end of his examination. “You’re healthy, Emma…totally healthy. The only thing out of wack is your, uh, your abnormal growth.”

“And you’re sure the blood tests didn’t find anything?” asked Emma desperately, feeling a real need to find something to latch onto. “Nothing at all?” 

“Nope, nothing!” said the doctor. “Like I said, Emma — you’re totally healthy.”

“B-but…but isn’t…isn’t all this just crazy!?” exclaimed Emma, throwing up her hands. “I’m getting taller and bigger, and nothing explains it!?” 

Dr. Hartman looked at Emma steadily for a moment, studying her face. Emma was not encouraged by the air of befuddlement in the doctor’s demeanor. 

“You know what? How about this?” he said suddenly. “I can send your lab samples out to a different lab…one with even more testing capability. We’ll run a more intensive series of tests on your samples, and maybe we’ll find something then.”

“O-ok…that…that sounds good,” said Emma, nodding her head. It wasn’t the immediate answer that she wanted, but at least it was something…perhaps an answer to look forward to.

The rest of the day passed by slower than Emma wanted. Her co-workers, both men and women, were acting awkward around her. Monica, Stacy, and Shelly all looked at her with concern, and told her that they hoped she was ok, and that they were thinking about her — the whole social shebang — but Emma knew that they were whispering about her behind her back. It didn’t help that she felt absolutely huge around them now. She had been the “tall one” initially, but now, she was taller than a lot of the men in the office as well. She could tell that a lot of the guys, Keith in particular, were eying her body more than they had been before. 

‘I guess Daniel was right about that,’ she thought to herself. ‘I guess I’m…hotter now.’ 

A few times during the day, she caught herself just staring down at her body: into her cleavage, along the curving sway of her hips, and so on. She hated how big she was getting, she really did…and yet…well, there wasn’t any getting around the fact that the guys in the office were totally noticing her now. Emma couldn’t have cared a flip about them — she only cared what Daniel thought. But she would have been lying to herself if she said that there wasn’t a tiny little part of her internal self that…enjoyed the attention. Towards the end of the day, she and Keith were walking through the same doorway going opposite directions, and as Keith passed by, she actually saw his eyes get bigger as he passed close by her body. He couldn’t help but look at her cleavage, and then down to her legs. Even without her one-inch heels, Emma was a full three inches taller than him now, and as she glanced down to witness his surprised, almost-helpless expression, she felt a strange surge of pleasure emanate from her spine. In that moment, Emma was actually aware, for the first time, of feeling…powerful in her new body. She didn’t have to do or say anything. She only had to exist, and her body would command attention and influence. 

She gave Keith a slight smile as she passed by, and then spent the next few minutes puzzlingly going through a number of confused emotions. She liked the feeling of being taller than Keith…and bigger than him too. But this didn’t make any sense — she wasn’t happy about what was going on with her body! She wasn’t happy about it at all! She was dreading going home to Daniel, when she would have to tell him that she was now bigger than he was, if not taller. And she would be taller than him pretty soon, with the way all this was going. 

‘No, no, this is not good, what’s happening to me,’ Emma reminded herself insistently. ‘Yeah, sure, now I can turn on all the guys at work. Great. Awesome. It’s all I ever wanted.’ 

She quickly talked herself back down into her hole of misery, and she was still in this mood when she got home. As usual, Daniel stood up from his computer chair to greet her in his socked feet, but this time, with Emma in her one-inch heels, they were exactly the same height. They hugged, and kept the embrace going for longer than usual, as if they were both reassuring each other. It was Daniel, however, who was doing the majority of the reassuring the rest of the night.

“So they’re sending your samples to another lab?” asked Daniel over dinner. “Well that’s good! Maybe they’ll find something.”

“Yeah maybe they will,” said Emma, trying to put a bright face on the whole thing. Everything that happened, though, seemed to underline what was going on. She finished her first portion of spaghetti in under five minutes, and was already halfway through her second portion when Daniel finished his. He sat back and rubbed his stomach, sighing contentedly. 

“Aren’t you, uh…aren’t you gonna get more?” asked Emma. 

“No, I think I’m pretty full already,” replied Daniel. “That sauce is pretty rich.” 

“Uh, yeah,” said Emma, looking down at her half-eaten second bowl. She suddenly felt irritated at her boyfriend — why couldn’t he just eat more, so she wouldn’t feel like such a pig? 

“But don’t worry Emma — you just, haha…you just have as much as you want!” said Daniel kindly, though he was reddening slightly in the face. He didn’t want to embarrass her, but he was finding this whole situation to be quite difficult to tiptoe around. 

“I…thanks,” mumbled Emma. She wasn’t quite sure if she had managed to keep the annoyance out of her voice or not. 

“So…how is everyone at work?” asked Daniel, trying to make light conversation. 

“How is everyone?” asked Emma, looking up at her boyfriend, annoyed. “What do you mean?”

“I just…I mean, like, how is everyone handling…you know…this?” Daniel was privately kicking himself for asking, but it was just very hard to talk about anything else. Emma’s increased size had become the number one topic of conversation, the number one “mood establisher.” And, for Emma at least, it was a sour mood. 

She sighed and closed her eyes tightly for a moment. She was not going to take this out on him. He was being nice…he was normal…she always had to remember, through this whole thing, that she was the freak. 

“You know, actually,” she said, opening her eyes and making an effort to smile, “I think you were right about, like…people thinking my body’s hot.”

“Duh!” laughed Daniel, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. “What did I tell you? So, like…hehe, the other guys in the office are…?”

“Oh don’t worry about them,” chuckled Emma. “You know that I don’t really find any of them attractive…well, Steve, maybe, but…”

“Hey!” protested Daniel, cracking a grin. 

“But anyway,” continued Emma, smiling back, “Yeah, you were right. I could feel them all looking at me, like, in a way that hadn’t before. And the girls too.”

“Well, if any of those dudes, or girls, for that matter, think they can just flirt with you, then they better — ”

“Oh my god, you’re too much!” laughed Emma at Daniel’s mock displays of macho resolve. She was glad to have a boyfriend who could make her laugh, even when she was suffering from a heightened state of anxiety. 

Later on that night, Emma was having trouble sleeping, and, as usual, Daniel had fallen asleep almost instantly. She figured that, if she was going to be up, that she may as well get ahead on some of her work for tomorrow. She realized that she had left a folder of documents out in the car, and so she bumbled around a little in the dark closet, pulling on her tennis shoes. She didn’t want to turn the light on, since Daniel sometimes woke up in response. She went out to the car, got the folder, and came back inside. Only when she switched the kitchen light on did she realize that she had mistakenly put on Daniel’s tennis shoes instead of her own — and they fit her perfectly. She sighed out into the house, her shoulders slumping; she suddenly didn’t have any drive to get work done. She took a sleeping pill and fell into an uneasy slumber.

The next couple days continued to be hard for Emma. She was eating more and more, and she knew that she was getting bigger…and taller. Her one-inch heels had gotten too small for her, so she had taken to wearing a pair of Daniel’s flats. She hated that she had to do this, but the alternative was going out to shop for new shoes, which was something Emma definitely didn’t want to do — it would have meant full-on admitting that this was her life now. 

Two days later, when she came home from work, Daniel rose to greet her, and, after hugging, Emma pulled away and found herself looking straight into her boyfriend’s eyes. They were the same height. Daniel blinked and smiled a little awkwardly, laughing a little and going on to talk about something unrelated. But Emma could feel the dread of the moment slowly sinking into her for the remainder of the night. Hours later, when Daniel was asleep, she couldn’t help herself. She snuck out again to the pantry, turned the light on, easily fetched the tape measure from the top shelf, and measured herself against the doorframe. 

‘Maybe I’m not quite his height yet,’ she thought desperately. ‘Maybe I’m like a quarter inch shorter…maybe…please…’

She took a step back and looked at where she had marked the top of her head, and her heart sank. Right at 73 inches…no more, no less. 

It was difficult for Emma to get to sleep after this most recent disappointment. She reached over and cuddled Daniel, but he felt small. She turned around, despondent, and eventually fell asleep. 

A couple days later, Emma went to the doctor again, with Daniel accompanying her this time for moral support. She knew that, in the last two days, that she had grown taller than her boyfriend, but she wasn’t sure by how much. The appointment was less than satisfying for Emma, as Dr. Hartman told them that the results had come back and that they still didn’t know what was causing her to grow. Daniel reached down and held Emma’s hand as they heard the news. Emma appreciated the gesture, but she couldn’t help but notice that Daniel’s hand felt small in her own. She looked down at their hands, and then quickly looked away, since the size difference was clear at a glance. It also didn’t help that Emma was now taller than Dr. Hartman, who seemed to be completely befuddled as to what was happening. He measured Emma’s vitals again, which were all normal, and then he measured her height and weight. She was 6’2, 184, and Emma was not able to refrain from bursting out at these new measurements:

“Dr. Hartman! This is terrible! You all have to do something about this!!”

“Now Emma,” said the doctor kindly, “We don’t know what’s happening with you, but I’m sure that this won’t go on for much longer.”

“You…you think so?” asked Emma, looking over at Daniel. 

“Absolutely,” nodded Dr. Hartman. “Your growth is highly irregular, and I don’t expect it’ll go on much more. Just…remember that you’re healthy, keep exercising and eating well, and, uh…you should be ok!” 

The doctor’s answer didn’t seem like enough for Emma, but what could she do about it? The car ride home was miserable and nearly silent. Daniel had tried to cheer her up, but Emma was feeling very low and depressed about the whole situation. She hadn’t asked for this…she knew not to say it out loud, but she missed feeling Daniel hugging the air out of her lungs. She missed looking up at him…she missed it all so much. 

The next day, a package came in the mail, marked for speedy delivery. 

“Promise you won’t get mad?” smiled Daniel, looking up at Emma as she held the box.

“Uh…promise,” she said uncertainly. She opened the box, and her eyes went wide as she inhaled in surprise. A pair of spiffy-looking black platform heels were staring back at her. In that moment, Emma felt a complex mixture of emotions. Her first thought was that the heels looked amazingly sexy, and she felt a wave of something go through her…was it…arousal!? She wanted to put them on immediately. But almost simultaneously, she remembered how much she hated being big and tall already, and this would just…exacerbate it all. She felt herself being pulled in both directions. 

“B-but…But Daniel…!” she began, not sure what she was going to say, but he interrupted. 

“Now I know that you’ve been down about this whole growing thing,” he said, “But I just wanted to get you something to show how much I, uh…how much I don’t care about any of that, and how lucky I feel to have you, so…yeah…these heels are like my way of saying, ‘Just go with it!’ Haha, you’re not mad, are you?”

“Ohhh Daniel!” cried Emma emotionally, swooping over and embracing him emotionally. As they hugged, Emma was able to forget how big her body felt around his, if only for a moment. 

“No! No I’m not mad!” she said, sniffling a little with emotion. “You’re just…you’re so sweet, Daniel. Of…of course I’ll wear them!” 

“To your office party tomorrow?” offered Daniel, smiling up at her. 

“I…” said Emma, pausing a moment. She found herself suddenly wishing that she hadn’t agreed to wear them, but something in her mind told her to just suck it up and run with it. 

“Yes,” she said, blinking down at him. “Yes, that…that sounds nice.”

A few seconds of silence passed between them as they both stared at the stylish black heels, which glinted back at them, almost seeming to wink. 

“Well…” said Daniel, breaking the silence as his eyebrows went up. “You wanna try em’ on?”

“Uh…like, right now?” asked Emma uncertainly. 

“Haha, yes, right now!” laughed Daniel. “I wanna see if they actually fit right and everything, you know.”

“Um, yeah, sure…ok,” said Emma. Her face was already starting to color as she anticipated the dramatic height change. She lifted them out of the box. “How, uh…how tall are these?”

“Four inches,” said Daniel, nodding his head.

“F-four!? So, like…I’m just…gonna be 6’6 here in a couple seconds,” said Emma. She was feeling quite reluctant to go through with this all of a sudden. 6’6!? That sounded absolutely gigantic! 

“Yeah, go ahead, try them on, Emma — don’t be so shy about it,” said Daniel encouragingly.

She bent down and took her shoes off, sat down on the floor, and strapped on the heels. Emma liked how they hugged her ankles and lower legs, but she looked with trepidation upon the imposing size of the actual heel. 

“You need me to help you up?” asked Daniel. “Here, take my hands.”

Emma gladly accepted the offer, but the end result was that she nearly pulled Daniel down of top of her. They had both underestimated her strength, and Daniel stumbled forward a bit, laughing.

“Haha! Oh wow, woah, woah! I need to get a little better foothold. Haha, ok there — ready? One, two, three, up!” 

With her boyfriend’s help, Emma stood up. Her perspective had changed so much that, for a second, she wasn’t even able to register what she was looking at. And then, like a flash of lightning through her brain, she realized: she was staring DOWN onto the top of Daniel’s head, which didn’t even come up to her eyes! Emma’s eyes went wide and she took a little step back, looking up and down her boyfriend’s body. He just looked so…well, short compared to her now! His shoulders were even with her nipples, and the curve of her hips was as high as his elbows. She saw that his eyes were looking straight into the bottom part of her chin. For a few seconds, neither of them said anything — they were just absorbing the wildness of this new size comparison. 

“Wooaaahh!” exclaimed Daniel after a few seconds. “This is…wow! I expected you to be tall in those heels, but…haha, well, it’s a little different actually SEEING it rather than just imagining it, huh?”

“Yeah,” said Emma quietly. In that moment, she genuinely did not know how she felt. She had still not been able to process the reality that was unfolding in front of her. Never in her life had she ever imagined that she could tower over her 6’1 boyfriend like this. 

“How do you feel, honey?” asked Daniel kindly. “Not too weird?”

“I mean…hehe, it’s definitely weird, that’s for sure,” said Emma with a nervous laugh. “But…uh…no. No it’s not too weird. I just…uh, yeah, wow. This is just a lot to take in right now, all at once.”

“I get it,” said Daniel, nodding. “Why don’t you try walking around in them a little bit, huh? Just, you know…to see how they feel and everything.” 

Emma started walking around the kitchen, and she was amazed at how low to the counter and stove seemed now. Before, when she was her original size, the counters had come up to the middle of her stomach, but now, she actually had to bend down a little bit to even touch the counters. Likewise, she had to bend down a little to adjust the knobs on the stove. She walked into the pantry and turned on the light. She was face-level with the top shelf now! She was able to see a fine layer of dust on these top shelves. 

“Wow, I think we need to dust up here!” she said. 

“Haha, do we? I had no idea!” chuckled Daniel. “I can’t see that high up.”

“Wow, this is…this is really something,” murmured Emma as she came out of the pantry. 

“So how do they feel, hun? Too loose? Too tight?”

“They feel great,” said Emma, smiling. “Like, on my feet, at least. I’m gonna have to get used to, like, actually being this tall, though. It’s definitely, uh…definitely different.”

“Well no time like a party to get some good use out of them, huh?” grinned Daniel. 

Even though Emma was still feeling hesitant, her boyfriend’s warm smile was all it took right now for her to put those misgivings on the back burner and step forward to give him a hug. The two embraced. It definitely felt very odd for Emma, and she didn’t like how she was hugging the upper part of Daniel’s shoulders, while he was hugging her midsection. Her breasts squashed together around his neck — it definitely felt awkward for her, but she readjusted herself a little and held on, reminding herself that she was lucky to have a boyfriend like him. 

The next day, Daniel went out with Emma and they settled on a fashionable red dress that fit her curvy form tightly, with a few frills here and there for accentuation. Later on, all dressed up, they got into the car and headed to the party. It was a bit of an awkward ride for Emma, since, in her heels, she had to push the passenger seat all the way back to give her legs enough room. Even still, she felt rather cramped. Her head was nearly touching the car ceiling, and her big ass and hips filled the car seat. 

“Having a little trouble there babe?” asked Daniel, who was driving. 

“Uh, haha, yeah, just a little,” said Emma as she tried in vain to reposition her big body. “It’s just…these heels make it a little tough. I suddenly feel sorry for super tall people — they have to deal with this kind of stuff all the time, and not just when they’re wearing heels.”

“Well, we’re almost there,” said Daniel reassuringly.

Emma and Daniel arrived to her work party fashionably late. As they entered, everyone’s heads turned. They all knew Daniel, but they were looking at the woman on his arm like they had never seen her before. Wearing a tight red dress, and rocking her new 4-inch heels, Emma towered over almost the entire party. She was a full 6’6 in the heels, and Daniel, even though he was 6’1, looked tiny next to her; the top of his head didn’t even come up to her eyes, and her luscious, curvy body made his medium-build frame look almost petite. 

Emma took stock of how everyone was turning to look at her, and many of her co-workers had their mouths hanging open. Her first instinct was to turn and run, but instead, she swallowed the urge down, drew her back up, and stood even taller. There was no question as to the power that her frame conveyed, and again, Emma felt struck by how she didn’t have to actually do anything. All she had to do was walk into a room and, just like that, people would turn and look. And their faces were far from nasty or judgmental. Quite to the contrary, Emma was surprised to see that these people…her coworkers…were all looking at her with some combination of admiration, surprise, and intimidation. The moment she and Daniel had walked in, she had felt a nasty cold chill go down her spine. But then, as she realized how people were reacting to her, the cold chill melted away and was replaced by a warm, pleasant sensation that only seemed to increase as the night wore on.

Chapter 3

Emma ended up leaving the party on the high note of a pleasant, warm glow throughout her mind and body, but it took awhile to get to this point. She had been initially struck, upon walking into the party with Daniel, how easily her body commanded attention, and this sudden realization did not make her feel terribly comfortable. She wasn’t used to people staring at her like this, and even though most people were looking at her with admiration or even aroused intimidation, she did not enjoy her big body being the center of attention. She just wasn’t ready for it.

Even though it was Emma’s work party, Daniel took the lead in guiding her around the room, talking to groups of people one by one. He knew that she was going to be anxious, at least in the initial stages of the party, and he wanted to nonverbally communicate, with the gentle squeeze of his hand in hers as he led her, that she was safe and that he had her back. Emma appreciated this gesture, and for the moment, she took refuge in the feeling of being led by her boyfriend, even though the top of his head didn’t come up to her eyes...and even though his hand felt small in hers. 

After a bit they came up to a group of three of Emma’s co-workers, a group that included Keith. Daniel knew the other two guys in the group fairly well, and they were soon engrossed in a conversation about IBM stocks. Emma quickly realized that she wasn’t going to be playing much of a part in this conversation (which didn’t really interest her anyway), and so, naturally, she turned her eyes down to Keith. She saw that he had already been looking up at her; their eyes met, and for a second or so, neither of them said anything. Keith’s mouth opened slightly, as if he was about to say something, but no words came out. Emma couldn’t believe how tiny he looked. This man, who not long ago was an inch taller than her, was now essentially eye-level with the top of her breasts. The crown of his head barely came up to her chin. Emma shifted her weight slightly in a nervous motion, and she saw that Keith actually took a little step back as his eyes got wider. 

‘Oh my god,’ she thought suddenly, ‘I’m totally huge to him. He doesn’t know what to do. When I move my body even a little bit, it’s intimidating to him up this close.’ 

A number of conflicting emotional impulses fired off through her brain. On one hand, she was irritated at Keith for acting so weird around her — it was just her, after all, the same woman he had worked with at Scheuster Marketing for a while now. So what if she had gotten a little taller? A little bigger? It didn’t mean that he had to just dissolve in front of her and change his behavior. Emma didn’t quite realize it, but this flash of irritation was born from her continued insecurity about her size. She didn’t like to be reminded how dramatically she had grown, in just a couple weeks, and Keith’s cowed reaction to her was the exact type of reminder she wanted to avoid. 

However, there were other things happening in her mind as she looked down at him. Just seeing a grown man of fairly average height appear so tiny before her…well, it made her feel…strange. And it wasn’t altogether a negative kind of feeling. It felt new — like a part of her mind that had never been touched before was now being gently prodded. It didn’t really feel all that bad. In fact, there was something a little funny, and almost ridiculous, about the whole situation. Keith blinked up at her and Emma suddenly pushed away her irritation and smiled brightly down at him. She was going to just try and make do with herself as she stood, and she may as well have a little fun along the way. 

“So…haha, what’s up Keith?” she asked, chuckling and trying her best to sound natural.

“Uh…I, uh…haha, you!” Keith stuttered through a nervous smile. “You’re up!”

“Ummm?” asked Emma confusedly, furrowing her brow a little as she inclined her head slightly down at him. 

“I mean…haha, like, you’re up there,” laughed Keith awkwardly as he pointed up at her, “And, like…I’m down here.” He finished his sentence by pointing at his lower stature. 

“Oh! Uh, haha, yeah,” said Emma, feeling her spirits drop a little. Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn’t they have a normal conversation like two adults? 

“Hehe, uh, I know…uh…lame joke,” muttered Keith, bowing his head a little. 

“No…I was just, um…haha, a little slow on the uptake, I guess,” said Emma, trying to keep the conversation going along. Keith looked up at her again, once more catching her eye. 

“Uh…hehe, I’m sorry Emma, I d-don’t mean to be, uh, like, acting all weird like this,” he stammered. Emma could see that his face was getting red, and she suddenly felt a little sorry for him, even though she wished he would just grow up and act normally around her. 

“It’s just that…haha, well, I didn’t really expect you to, uh…to be, um…”

“Wearing heels tonight?” Emma offered, sighing inwardly. She glanced over Keith’s head, scanning the party a little for maybe Molly or Stacy to signal to come over and rescue her from the awkwardness. 

“Uh, I mean…yeah,” said Keith, almost apologetically. “B-but, but don’t take that in a bad way, Emma! I, uh…you look great. Um…amazing, actually.” 

Emma looked back down at Keith carefully as she felt something buoy up in her. He wasn’t flattering her — he wasn’t kidding. He was legitimately paying her a compliment. Emma’s eyebrows went up a little as she smiled again. 

“Well, haha, thanks Keith.” 

Keith seemed encouraged by Emma’s smile, and his face continued to color as he opened his mouth to speak again: “I’ve actually always thought that tall women were, uh…were really— ”

“Hey honey!” came Daniel’s voice, interrupting her and Keith’s conversation. “Haha, sorry guys, I don’t mean to butt in, but I need Emma to back me up here — Toby here says that El Camino’s tacos are a distant second to Los Bravos. What do you have to say to that, Emma, huh?”

Emma paused a moment, actually wishing that Keith had been able to continue what he was saying. He had been about to confess that he had a thing for tall women, right? Or maybe not? Emma didn’t know. It would surely explain his awkward bashfulness around her now. 

“Uh, tell Toby, said Emma, pointing at her other co-worker (who was 5’10), “That he must have never had El Camino’s fried chicken taco with that jalapeño mayo…well, either that, or he has terrible taste in Mexican food.” 

Daniel, Toby, and the rest of the group laughed. Emma smiled over at Daniel, giving him a wink. As she did, she felt the eyes of the other men go up and down her body, using her eye contact with her boyfriend as an opportunity to take her figure in. She looked back at them and their eyes darted towards the floor, almost sheepishly.

‘It’s not just Keith,’ she thought to herself. ‘They’re all attracted to me, and they’re all intimidated by me…every one of them.’ 

She turned back towards Keith, but he wasn’t there anymore. Apparently, he had gotten too nervous and fled. Emma found herself wishing that he was still there below her, so he could continue on with what he had been about to say…about liking tall women. An odd kind of exploratory eagerness had come over her. She wanted to talk with other people, and see how they reacted to her and treated her differently. For the moment, she began to forget how much she disliked being this big. 

“Here honey, take a martini,” said Daniel a few minutes later after they had gone around the room a little more, towards the makeshift mini-bar. “I made it a little sweet, just like you like it.”

“Thanks Daniel,” she said, grinning as she accepted the drink. 

“So…like you doing ok?” asked Daniel quietly, getting a little closer to her and speaking lower, so that no one could hear. “The heels doing ok? Dress feels alright?”

“Haha, yes!” chuckled Emma, nodding as she took a medium sip of the martini. She felt the pleasant bite of alcohol in her mouth and down her throat as she swallowed. Already she was feeling warmer. “Actually, I mean…it was a little awkward at first, in my head at least,” she continued, “But now…I think I might actually enjoy myself tonight!”

“Of course you will!” laughed Daniel, looking straight forward into her shoulders for a moment and then averting his eyes back up into hers. “It’s a party!” 

It was a party indeed, and as it progressed along later and later into the evening, Emma found herself feeling more and more natural in her body. The drinks definitely had something to do with it. After a few martinis, she found that it was easier than ever to forget the unpleasant reality of not knowing what was happening to her body…and of missing her old stature. Eventually, she found herself beginning to enjoy how all her male co-workers seemed unable to to keep themselves from stealing glances at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. She started to make a little game out of it: she would be talking to someone, and then, out of the corner of her eye, she would catch one of the guys looking at her. She would then turn and look whoever it was straight in the face — inevitably, they quickly darted their eyes down to the floor, but they would know that they had been caught red-handed. It was a bit of an amusing game for Emma, more than anything else. When she got tipsy, she got playful. 

Another interesting moment was when she met Shelly’s husband, Hank, who was 6’6. In her heels, Emma was actually eye to eye with him, and as she shook his hand, their eyes met and they both grinned a little. They were the two tallest people at the party by far, and in their shared glance was a hint of mutual understanding. It was as if they were both saying, ‘Oh hey, so you know what it’s like, don’t you?’ 

“I, uh…wow Emma,” Shelly was saying, momentarily taken aback. “I…you’re as tall as Hank! Oh my god!” 

Shelly seemed genuinely shocked — she had been surprised at how tall Emma was when she walked into the party, but she hadn’t realized that, in heels, her co-worker was actually as tall as her husband. Shelly was 5’4, and if she looked straight forward at Emma, her eyes were even with Emma’s nipples. 

By this point, Emma had downed a few martinis and was feeling nicely tipsy. If Shelly had said this exact thing at the beginning of the party, it would have made Emma feel ungainly, awkward, and depressed. Now, though, she couldn’t help laughing. 

“Haha! We are, aren’t we!” she sang out pleasantly. “Although, haha, I mean…Hank, I’m not actually 6’6…just 6’2.” 

“Right…”just” 6’2,” said Shelly, making air quotations with her fingers. Daniel looked over at her warningly, as if to tell Shelly to cut out the comments about Emma’s height, but Emma just laughed again, looking at Hank. He was a good-looking quiet type of guy. 

“So this is what it’s like for you all the time, huh?” she asked, her cheeks reddening a little as she sipped her drink.

“Haha, yep!” answered Hank. “Been this tall ever since I was 18. I’m pretty used to everything at this point — when I was a teenager, though, I was totally awkward…knocking over stuff everywhere I turned, haha!”

“Haha oh wow!” enjoined Emma. She felt the unpleasant sting of a reminder that she had only been growing for a couple weeks — she wasn’t used to being this big at all…and she could still be growing…

‘But I’m not,’ she thought to herself reassuringly. ‘I’m not growing…I mean, I could be, but I’m not. This is as far as I’ll go. It’s like the doctors said.’ 

The alcohol flowing through he made it easier to dismiss her worries. She glanced down at Shelly, who she caught looking up at her. If Keith had looked tiny, Shelly looked positively miniature. Her head didn’t even come up to Emma’s shoulders. And, while Shelly was petite, Emma had gained quite a bit of weight as she had grown taller, and her luscious curves were stretching the red fabric of her dress impressively. There was something in the way that Shelly was looking at her speaking with Hank…a kind of fear in her eyes. It was like Shelly was afraid that Hank would think that Emma was “more of a woman than she was,” or something. 

‘Well, technically, I am,’ thought Emma, indulging the silly thought a little as she kept talking eye-to-eye with Hank. ‘I’m like two whole Shellys put together, haha…’

“And it turns out,” Hank was saying, gesturing down to Shelly, “That lots of women love tall men.”

Emma had a little snap of sourness bite at her mind. Lots of women did like tall men…she was one of them. And she felt guilty to remember how nice Hank’s big hand had felt in her own as she shook it — that’s how Daniel’s hand used to feel…how his body used to feel. Big, huge, and strong all around her. But now…now all of that had changed. Now she was the taller one…the bigger one. 

Emma drank down the rest of her third martini and honed in on herself. 

‘Now is not the time to get all boo-hooey about it,’ she told herself sternly. ‘This is a party and you’re having fun!’ The alcohol was hitting her faster now, and she pushed the troublesome thoughts away. 

“Haha, well apparently it’s not just girls who like tall guys!” she laughed, feeling the heat and color rise in her face. “Apparently there are some guys who like tall girls!” 

Emma was speaking louder than she had intended to, and as she spoke, she deliberately looked over at Keith, who was in an adjacent group. His face got red as he heard her words directed towards him, and he quickly scurried off, escaping the whole exchange. 

‘Hmm, was that too much?’ thought Emma immediately. She shrugged her shoulders playfully and continued on with her conversation with Hank. 

A little later on, as Daniel drove them back home, Emma was actually feeling quite nice. The party had ended up being far more enjoyable for her than she had anticipated. However, once they got back home, when she shifted her body to get out of the car, Emma heard something tear. She froze.

“Uh-oh!” said Daniel. “Was that what I thought it was?”

Emma looked down and her heart sank — there was a small one-inch tear in the right hip of her dress. Her happy giddiness vanished in an instant, and all her old worries came flooding back. Was she still growing!? They had just bought that dress a day ago! 

“Hey, don’t worry about it, honey,” said Daniel soothingly, coming around quickly to help her out of the car. For an instant, as Emma accepted his hand and rose up, they were the same height, but then her legs straightened and she was back to looking down at the top of his head. 

“It was a tight dress to begin with, anyway,” Daniel said to her reassuringly. “I’m sure that’s it.”

But over the next week, however, it became abundantly clear that Emma was continuing to grow. At the party, she had actually been able to tipsily enjoy her size, but that was all because she had managed to convince herself that her growing had stopped. It was a strange paradox in her head: she had thought that she wasn’t going to get any bigger, even though she knew that she was. She had stopped measuring herself for a few days, just to entertain the idea that she wasn’t any bigger. But all the signs indicated that she was. 

To begin with, Emma was starting to notice how out-of-place everything was seeming in the house. The cereal boxes were a shelf too low, the vegetable drawer in the fridge was too low, the bowl for their keys was too low…everything was too low. Emma couldn’t help but get frustrated every time she had to arch her back and bend down for something that used to be perfectly within her reach. And, she had to admit, even though Daniel was being as kind and loving as ever, Emma wished that he would be a little more considerate of her space. Every time she drove the car, for instance, she had to adjust the seat back a few clips.

‘Doesn’t he realize how annoying that is!?’ she thought to herself as she was forced to adjust the rearview mirror and sides mirrors too. But she said nothing out loud. 

Another sign that something continued to be amiss was the fact that Emma’s limbs were starting to consistently ache. Even though she hated to admit it to herself (and outright refused to think about it), she knew what it was: growing pains. She tried to just ignore it for a few days, but eventually, she broke down and had to ask Daniel to massage her. 

“Woah babe!” he said he rubbed her big feet, which she had put in his lap. “Your feet really are getting big, haha!” 

Emma looked at him silently for a moment and then looked away. She didn’t want to entertain any of that kind of talk. 

“That feels nice,” she murmured. 

“Honey, don’t worry about it — if you’re getting bigger, you’re getting bigger!” said Daniel, trying to be reassuring. Emma wished he would stop. 

“And, like, babe…I have to say,” he added, taking up one of her hands in his and massaging it, “I think you are getting bigger.” 

“Would you stop it, please, Daniel?” begged Emma. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“But honey, you can’t just pretend it isn’t happening,” said Daniel. “I mean, look at this!” 

He brought his hand up to Emma’s, and compared their palms. The tips of his fingers only came up to the third knuckle on Emma’s hand, and her palm extended out beyond his noticeably. Emma stared at the comparison for a second, dumbstruck. She had been trying to push all of this out of her mind! She had been trying and trying, but apparently Daniel wasn’t going to let her forget about it. 

“Can you just…keep rubbing me, please?” she asked with a hint of irritation, dropping her hand away. 

A couple days later, Dr. Hartman called. He and his team were still looking into what might be going on with Emma’s growth, and he had called to ask that Emma measure herself each day, so that the doctors could have a steady stream of data that they could work with. Emma reluctantly agreed, and her crestfallen tone came through the telephone line. 

“I know it’s hard for you Emma,” said Dr. Hartman, “But you don’t have to do it alone. Have your boyfriend measure you — it could be a nice little intimate activity that you two do every day.” 

Later that day, they had their first “measurement session,” and it turned out that Emma was now all the way up to 6’3-and-a-half, and 187 pounds. These stats confirmed what Emma had been trying so hard to avoid — the fact that she was still growing, and maybe even faster than she had been before. Daniel had to order delivery from El Camino to calm her down, and even when they were happily eating together, it was not lost on Emma that she was eating nearly twice as much as her boyfriend now. 

The days continued to pass by, and now it was impossible for Emma to pretend like she wasn’t growing. Every day, it was confirmed — a quarter inch here, a couple pounds there, and always increasing. Daniel’s shoes were getting too small for her feet, but Emma didn’t want to say anything about it. She dreaded having to admit that her feet couldn’t fit in his shoes, but a few days later, as she struggled trying to get her feet into them, Daniel was watching her. 

“They’re just too small for you, hun,” he said quietly. 

Emma turned and looked at him helplessly, but there was no denying it; he was right. Later on that day, they went out shopping for new clothes. Emma had first been very down and depressed about it all, but she managed to cheer up once she saw how nice she actually looked in a lot of the outfits she tried on.

“I mean…I actually look ok in this,” she said multiple times, spinning around in the mirror. 

“Congratulations on realizing what I’ve been trying to tell you all along!” chided Daniel. 

“Oh…you!” she responded playfully. 

Later on that night, after a huge meal of pasta and meatballs, Emma was actually the first one to fall asleep. Daniel managed to get to sleep soon after, but he was awakened later on by a numbness in his left arm. He turned over and saw that Emma had rolled over onto his arm in her sleep. Daniel gently tried to move her body off to the left, but finding that he couldn’t move her that way, he pushed harder. Still, she didn’t budge. Daniel relaxed and tired again several times, but there was no use — Emma had become too heavy for him to move. 

“Emma…” whispered Daniel in her ear. She snoozed on.

“Emma!” he said, a little louder. 

“Hmm!? Whasssa?!” she moaned.

“You’re on my arm, honey, could you roll over that way a little?”

“Oh…ohh yesssorry babe.” 

A couple days later, Emma was very nearly 6’5. She was trying hard not to be stressed out about it all, but it was very difficult to be reminded every day of a reality she didn’t want. 

“Do we have to measure every day?” she complained to Daniel. 

“The doctors need their data, so yes,” he replied simply. His eyebrows went up as he saw her weight on the scale. “Aaaand…ok, we’ve cracked 200 pounds!” he announced. 

“Fuck!” cried Emma miserably. “This is terrible! I’m soooo huge now!” 

“And proportional!” added Daniel. “You’re looking great, honey.”

Emma felt so irrationally incensed with her boyfriend’s sunny attitude that she stormed off into the bedroom. Daniel decided to give her her space and sat down on the sofa to watch TV. An hour or so later, Emma came out and apologized.

“I’m just a mess emotionally right now,” she said contritely. “And I’m sore everywhere…my back especially — could you rub it?”

“Of course honey — come over here and sit in my lap!” said Daniel, smiling. Emma paused a moment and then smiled back, walking over and plopping herself down in his lap. She heard the huff of an involuntary exhale escape from Daniel’s mouth — her weight had literally pushed the air out of him. Once again, she felt a flash of irritation. She knew that he didn’t mean to highlight her size, but did he really have to make that noise. Couldn’t he have, like, prepared better to receive her weight?

The next morning, Daniel was trying to reach the cereal box, but Emma had unwittingly put it out of his reach.

“Uhh…honey?” he asked.

“What?” Emma replied, not looking up from her phone as she ate her own cereal.

“I, uh…I can’t reach the cereal,” chuckled Daniel apologetically. 

“Huh? Can’t reach it?” asked Emma, not understanding, as she looked up. 

Daniel had his arm fully extended to show how he couldn’t quite get to the top shelf. 

“Oh…oh, uh, sorry,” said Emma. “I guess…um…I guess you need me to get that for you, then?” 

“Haha, that would be…great,” Daniel replied, having a little laugh at the situation. Emma got up and walked over in her socks. She stood next to her boyfriend for a moment, studying his face suspiciously. 

“I seriously can’t reach it Emma!” he laughed, extending his arm once again to show her. Emma reached up past him, her hand extending inches beyond his reach, and effortlessly grabbed the cereal box, bringing it down and handing it to him. 

‘There, was that so hard?’ she thought suddenly to herself. ‘He wasn’t really trying — he could have reached it.’ 

Later on that day, it was confirmed that Emma had reached 6’5, and she weighed in at 206 pounds. Her growth seemed to be slowing a bit, and, in a conversation with Dr. Hartman, Emma was heartened to hear him say that this slowed rate was likely a good sign. Finally, it all seemed to be abating. 

Emma felt relieved at her slowing growth, but her relief didn’t stop her from noticing more and more how different everything was. When she typed on her keyboard, she had to make an extra effort to bend her long fingers at sharper angles to actually hit the right keys. Her big palms covered her laptop way more than she was comfortable with — the whole computer was just starting to seem like it was miniature. Utensils and dishes were the same way — forks and knives were starting to feel very small in her hands. She realized that she could wrap her hand all the way around their water glasses. And everything that had seemed low before just seemed lower still. Even the clothes that she had bought a few days before were starting to feel a little tight. The waistband on her new jeans was digging slightly into her flesh, and the new sneakers she had bought were starting to feel a little tighter. 

For the next few days, Emma’s growth had slowed to a point where it was “only” an eighth of an inch, and an extra pound or so, a day. Things were certainly looking up on that front, but Emma now had other reasons to feel anxious. Daniel was going to be leaving to go out-of-state on a work trip, and Emma would be home all alone for a week. Normally, this kind of a trip would only make her a little anxious, but with all that had happened over the past few weeks, she felt extra anxiety at the prospect of being alone without her partner.

“Don’t worry — we’ll face-time every night,” Daniel said reassuringly to her the night before he left. “And you can measure yourself in front of the camera and we’ll have a little fun with it all, haha. No reason not to keep our same routines in place, right?”

“I guess so,” she murmured off the side of the bed as they spooned together. Emma had insisted on remaining the “little spoon,” despite the fact that she could feel how narrow Daniel’s hips were compared to hers. But this way, she didn’t have to look at the size comparison. Just seeing it once before had been a little much for her. The way that the curve of her hips rose up powerfully next to his had been almost shocking to see. And that was days ago, and she had gotten bigger since.

‘But only a little bigger,’ she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep. ‘Only a little…it’s slowing down…’

The next morning, Emma was on edge. She was not looking forward to Daniel leaving — they ate their breakfast mostly in silence, and then, when Emma stood up to put her bowl in the sink, it happened again. A ripping sound cut through the air. Alarmed, she looked down to see that her new khaki work pants had torn a few inches down her right ass cheek. 

“What the!?” cried Emma. 

“Oh no!” exclaimed Daniel, smiling despite the situation. 

“I thought it was slowing down!” blurted Emma. 

“Well, maybe not as much as we thought,” said Daniel casually, standing up from the table and putting his dish in the sink. 

“This is not good…not good,” muttered Emma. “Maybe I’ll call Dr. Hartman again.”

“Because you ripped your pants?” laughed Daniel. “Honey, I think you’re overreacting a little bit here.” 

Suddenly, something snapped in Emma’s mind. She stood up and faced her boyfriend, absolutely furious. 

“Overreacting!?” she yelled. “Three weeks ago I was 5’8…and now I’m six foot fucking five and I weigh over 200 pounds and any clothes I buy I outgrow…and apparently I’m still growing. How the fuck am I overreacting!?” 

“Just easy, easy…take it easy babe,” said Daniel, pushing his palms down on the air. He still had a hint of a little smile on his face. The truth was, Daniel was not thrilled about Emma ripping her pants either, or about the prospect of her continuing to get bigger. But unlike Emma, when Daniel felt uncomfortable, he would sometimes smile. 

“Don’t tell me to take it easy, Daniel,” Emma shot back, taking a step towards him. “It doesn’t help. It just makes me more stressed out.” 

“So, just…do whatever you need to do to calm down,” said Daniel, his smile vanishing. Emma could tell he was becoming irritated at her anxiety, but realizing that only made her more angry. She had every right…every right…to feel exactly how she was feeling right now. 

“You’re getting pissed at me right now, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice shaking a little. 

“Well…sometimes I just wish that you wouldn’t freak out whenever something doesn’t quite go your way.”

“Doesn’t quite go my way!? Are you hearing yourself, Daniel?! Look at me!! I think we’re a little past that, aren’t we!?” 

“Well, freaking out doesn’t help anything,” countered Daniel. “And it’s honestly kind of exhausting.”

“Oh well I’m sooooo sorry that I take up so much of your time and energy,” replied Emma sarcastically. 

“And it’s just…with you getting so big and all,” said Daniel, ignoring her sarcasm, “When you flip out it can be a little much.”

Emma couldn’t believe how angry he was making her. Her anger was fueled by her anxiety at his impending departure, but she wasn’t thinking about that now. Right now, she just wanted to get back at him for saying that to her. She stepped closer to him, so that they were only a few feet apart. She made it a point to stand in close, so that he would be in her shadow. She put her hands on her hips. He looked smaller than ever. His eyes were just about even with her shoulders. 

“Oh?” she said, doing her best to control her voice even though it was shaking with anger. “Am I a little much for you, then? Can’t handle me at this size, huh? You wish I was back to my normal size so I wouldn’t intimidate you?”

Daniel looked up at her wide-eyed, and he opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She had really surprised him with her behavior, and how imposing it could be when she was this big. It looked like he was realizing her true size for the first time. 

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” continued Emma, determined to twist the knife. “Short guys like you need smaller girls to feel big and strong, huh?”

“I’m…not short, Emma,” said Daniel as his face got red.

“Well you look pretty damn short to me from up here!” said Emma, stretching herself up to her full height as she looked down on her boyfriend imperiously. 

A few moments of tense silence passed between them. 

“Fuck you, Emma,” muttered Daniel, and he stomped over to his suitcase, yanked it up, and left the house, slamming the door behind him. Emma just stood there in the kitchen for a minute as she listened to Daniel leave in the car. So much was happening internally — anger, bitterness, frustration, regret, guilt — that she just went over to the sofa, sat down, and cried for minutes on end. 

When she was finally done, she felt so preoccupied and depressed about how her “goodbye” with Daniel had gone that she almost left to go to work in her ripped pants.

Chapter 4

The evening after their fight, Emma and Daniel had a video chat, which for the first five minutes consisted of them both profusely apologizing to the other. Emma found herself in tears again, even though she had been determined to keep her composure. 

“I—I j-just…” she stuttered, blinking through tears at the pixels of her boyfriend on her phone screen, “I j-just feel so b-bad that I…that I l-lost my temper at you like that and…and…s-said those things to you…oh Daniel! P-please…I’m…I’m s-so sorry!” 

“Relax, Emma, take it easy honey,” said Daniel from the other end. He was more collected than Emma, but he felt himself aching with desire to reassure her. The sight of his girlfriend crying, especially when it was over a video chat and he couldn’t hug her, was almost too much to bear. “I lost my temper at you too. You’ve been…you’ve been going through a lot, and…and I haven’t been doing a good job of appreciating the strain that it’s left on you.”

“No…no Daniel you’ve been wonderful!” protested Emma. 

“No, Emma…and I was thinking about this a lot on the plane ride over here…I’ve been trying to downplay what’s been going on, because I thought that would help with your anxiety, but I realize now that it’s been actually making it all worse. I can’t just be an idiot and smile and pretend that this has become a real issue for you and that…you don’t need me just constantly smiling all the time — you just need my support, Emma, and I’m going to give it to you.”

“Oh Daniel!” cried Emma thickly through her tears. “Y-you’re…you’re just the sweetest guy in the whole wide world! I…I d-don’t deserve you!” 

“Uh-uh, I don’t wanna hear that kind of talk, Emma,” replied Daniel immediately, shaking his head. “I’M the one who gets to feel that way. I mean, how many other guys have managed to score a gorgeous, bombshell 6’5 goddess like you?” 

“Oh my god now you’re just flattering me!” laughed Emma, wiping away her tears. 

“No way — it’s just true!” returned Daniel with a smile. “Although I have to say, Emma — I realized when I got to this hotel room that you were gonna be spending the night alone in the house for the next week. Now normally, this would make me feel a little nervous. But haha, I don’t think I have anything to worry about now, do I? I mean, haha — honey, when you were mad at me and, like…looming over me in the kitchen, I actually felt a little scared of you!” 

“You…you were afraid of me?” asked Emma, her smile falling off her face. 

“Haha, a little!” laughed Daniel. “I’m not sure you realize how big you are compared to…well, even above-average-height guys like me. I felt pretty tiny, that’s for sure!”

“Well I hate that I made you feel afraid,” muttered Emma. The awful feelings of regret and guilt had returned almost as quickly as they had left. 

“Honey, it’s all over now, ok?” said Daniel earnestly into the camera. “I just…haha, it was something I noticed. If there’s a home invasion, I think you’re all set!” 

“If there’s a home invasion,” countered Emma, “I’m gonna wish you were here like ten times more than I already do.” She made a mental note to push away her feelings of guilt; it had been a nasty discovery to hear that she had actually made Daniel feel scared earlier that morning. 

“So anyway,” said Daniel, changing the subject, “You said that Dr. Hartman dropped something by the house today?”

“Oh…yeah! Yeah, while I was at work, he had a special package delivered.”

“Well…?”

“Haha, I mean…it’s not THAT exciting,” said Emma, looking sheepishly into the camera. 

“Well what was it?”

“Here, I’ll show you.” Emma took up her phone and directed it towards the wall in their bedroom. Through his screen, Daniel could see, quite clearly, a height chart come into view. Emma had taped it to the wall.

“Aha! Nice!” he said. “So you can keep measuring yourself and tracking your progr—uh, your growth?”

“Yeah,” said Emma, as she looked at the height chart. “He wanted to give it to me just so we can have accurate measurements each time. The chart makes it a lot easier.”

“Well…let’s measure you then!” said Daniel brightly. “I’m not there to measure you myself, like the old routine, but this way, we can keep up some kind of sense of normalcy, you know? Keep the routine going.”

“Yeah, that’s what Dr. Hartman said too,” said Emma, going over to stand in front of the chart with her back to the wall, still holding her phone up to her face. “He said it could be like…kind of like therapy for me. So I can actually interact with the reality of my…uh, my height…without it just being all in my head all the time.”

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,” said Daniel. “It’ll help ground you.”

“Yeah I guess…ok so here we go…standing up like this…here, Daniel…I’m gonna hold the phone up to the top of my head and you tell me what it says, ok? Otherwise I can’t really trust myself to have the most accurate measurement, you know, if I just measure with my hand.” 

Daniel brought his phone closer to his face as he narrowed his eyes to get an accurate measurement. “Ok…so…it looks like…yep! Pretty much the same as last night — just a touch over 6’5. Looks like it’s really slowing down, honey!”

“Phew!” Emma blew out from her mouth, feeling comforted. “And not a fraction of an inch too soon, huh? Well, let’s just say that I’m happy that I don’t have to keep dealing with all this getting bigger stuff alone.”

But the fact was: Emma DID have to deal with it. She and Daniel finished up their video chat, and she happily tucked herself into bed, feeling the weight of their fight totally lifted off, like a distant memory, and, for the first time in weeks, actually beginning to truly believe that her incredibly strange size ordeal was over. The next morning, however, Emma woke up feeling slightly more off-kilter than usual. Her feet had been all nestled under the covers when she went to sleep, but when she woke up, she realized that they felt cold. Emma was not one to toss and turn much at night, once she got to sleep — she looked down at her feet and saw her bare toes poking out through the end of the comforter. She started to worry, but quickly managed to dismiss any negative thoughts. She was going to just go about her day normally, and not allow her anxieties to get the best of her. She walked by the height chart, which she had marked with a red pen at just over 6’5, but she didn’t look at it. There was too much of a temptation to measure herself again.

But as she got ready for work, the temptation got stronger. Her clothes seemed to fit even tighter than they did yesterday, and even though Emma chose the biggest shirts and pants that she had bought a few days previously, it was a bit of a chore to get everything buttoned and zipped up. Once all her clothes were on, Emma went to look at herself in the full-length mirror that was attached to the back of their closet door. She found that her figure was close to filling up the mirror completely, even though it spanned from the floor all the way to the top of the door. Emma felt another flash of anxiety, but mixed with it was something else — for the first time, she was actually able to see clearly how…GOOD she was looking. Her thick hips and thighs looked incredible in her skin-tight khaki dress pants, and her breasts were looking fuller and perkier than ever; she turned around to get a good look at her ass, noticing how it wobbled gently with her slight movements. 

‘God, I, like…totally have an ass now!’ she thought. ‘A HUGE ass…oh my god!’ She reached down and gave her butt a little smack, marveling at how this simple gesture made her entire cheek shake and quiver. She could feel some warmth come into her face as she turned to face herself again. It actually felt…kinda good to have a body like this. 

‘You know…maybe this isn’t all so terrible after all,’ she thought to herself. ‘Maybe I just need to chill out a little bit and…just…take whatever comes. If I’m still growing, I’m still growing…so be it.’

Emma’s words to herself weren’t quite an indication of her overcoming her anxieties and fears surrounding her increased size — they were more like a pep talk than anything else — but they did help her to relax and get her day started on a positive mental note. She was absolutely starving, and half an hour later she was walking towards her car in the garage, having just consumed four bowls of cereal, three pop tarts, and a big, tall glass of orange juice. She felt invigorated and excited to take on the day — she had even decided to wear a new pair of one-inch heels that she had bought days before. She ignored how snugly they fit her feet, just as she ignored the fact that she had to adjust the car seat yet again to fit her long legs. She could actually feel her head brushing the car ceiling now, and she was forced to hunch a little over the steering wheel to make room for her torso. 

“These freaking cars,” she chuckled a little, out loud to herself, “Made for tiny people…oh well!” 

Emma still felt worried about everything, but she made a point to laugh a little about it to herself — she was taking a little cue from Daniel’s playbook. She was trying to keep it light. And, for the moment, it was working.

She didn’t see that many people at work that day — it was a Friday, and a number of people were out of the office for a special presentation they were giving at an important client’s company. Emma found herself alone most of the day, which was fine for her, since she was able to get more work done without the constant distraction of everyone else looking at her. She noticed, however, that Keith was still in the office. Emma felt a little drop in her stomach when she heard him speaking on the phone to someone in his office. She hadn’t really had a conversation with Keith ever since the party, during which she had tipsily insinuated to other people that Keith had a “thing” for tall women. She felt guilty and embarrassed about this little episode, even if she knew that she was probably overblowing it in her head.

Try as she might, she wasn’t able to avoid Keith all day, and, as luck would have it, she nearly ran into him as she turned a corner late in the afternoon. 

“Oh, Keith!” she exclaimed, startled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you coming!”

“It-it’s ok…m-me neither!” he stuttered. 

Emma immediately noticed that Keith’s head didn’t even come up to her chin anymore. She was wearing one-inch heels, but still, he had never before seemed as small to her as he did now. He immediately started blushing, and Emma felt a little flash of strange desire go through her. She almost…wanted to play with the dynamic a little bit. She almost wanted to flaunt herself a little in front of him…just for fun. But, more than anything, she just wanted to escape from the situation. 

“I’m sorry, I’ll just…yeah…haha, ok,” she said, responding to what was going on. Each of them had stepped to the side in opposite directions, with the end result that they more or less walked into each other. Keith’s face smacked straight into the firm, voluminous flesh of her breasts, causing them to both laugh nervously, sidestep each other again, and continue on their ways. It had definitely been an awkward encounter, and as Emma thought about it on her ride home, she couldn’t help but feel…well, slightly amused by it. She still wasn’t used to having an intimidating effect on guys with her body, especially guys like Keith who were apparently into taller, bigger women. 

‘I wonder if he was super turned-on by all that,’ she thought to herself, chuckling a bit. 

Stepping out of the car, she heard another slight rip, this time on the left hip of her pants, but she took it surprisingly well in stride. Maybe it was the lightness of the weekend coming on, or maybe it was her laughing to herself about running into Keith, but whatever it was, Emma was able to shrug off the slight tear in her pants. 

‘Maybe I’ll just go shopping for some more this weekend,’ she thought to herself. She felt a slight tickle in her scalp as she walked in under the door, and she realized that the top of her hair had slightly brushed the top of the door frame. 

‘It’s the heels, of course,’ she thought, kicking them off. Without stopping to think too much about it, she set about making dinner. The two large sandwiches she had eaten for lunch had not been nearly enough to stave off the hunger that she was feeling now. She started a big bowl of pasta water boiling, and rummaged around the kitchen, preparing the meat and the sauce. Almost immediately, Emma had another strong urge to measure herself again, because everything was just looking so…well, SMALL. It didn’t matter that she was using the biggest pot in the kitchen to boil the water — Emma found that she was able to handle the full pot with ease, something that would have been unthinkable a couple weeks before. The spatula felt like a little wooden stick in her hand, to an almost comical extent. 

‘I bet I could snap this thing in two with one hand if I wanted to,’ she mused to herself, shaking her head. 

These aspects of her size weren’t all just novelties — after ten minutes of cooking, Emma was beginning to feel a dull ache in her back, from bending over so much. But there wasn’t really any other option — she HAD to bend over to reach the stove, after all. Once, when she had curved her back forward and thrust her butt out in the act of bending down, she had accidentally opened the refrigerator with her ass. She didn’t even realize that she had done it until the door came back around and gently tapped her right cheek, startling her briefly. Another time, when she was going around the kitchen island to put away some spices, she banged into the trashcan with her knee. 

“Ow! God damn it!” she cursed out loud, rubbing her knee and staring at the trash can. Had she always been this klutzy? Maybe it was all just magnified when she was by herself.

Later on that evening, after she had eaten an entire box of pasta, to go along with an entire jar full of sauce and a whole pound of ground beef, Emma video chatted with Daniel again. He was happy to see that she appeared to be in an upbeat mood. She stepped on the scale and showed him her weight: 215.3.

“Oh! Oh wow!” said Daniel in surprise. “That’s…haha, that’s a good bit more than before, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…it is,” said Emma, feeling her nervousness ramp up again. She wished that Daniel didn’t feel like he had to just say it all outright, but she kept her thoughts to herself. She shrugged her shoulders and said in an airy voice: 

“Well I DID just eat, like a whole box of pasta, so…haha that probably has something to do with it.”

“A whole box, woah!” exclaimed Daniel. “How many servings is that?” 

“I don’t know…eight?” said Emma nonchalantly, shrugging. “I was hungry.” 

“Of course…nothing wrong with that!” laughed Daniel, wanting to avoid any confrontation around food. “Let’s measure your height!” 

A few seconds later, Daniel was blinking into his screen, making sure he was seeing everything correctly. 

“Well?” asked Emma, this time failing to disguise her anxiousness. 

“It says…well, the top of your head is right in between 78 and 79 inches.”

“So…6’6…and a half,” Emma intoned, swallowing a little lump in her throat. 

“Y-yeah…yep! That’s what it says.”

“Well…haha, so much for the growth slowing down, huh?” For a few seconds, Emma felt all the crushing weight of her depression coming back. But then, she suddenly remembered the image of herself in the mirror earlier that morning…and this image flashed in her mind, combining with another image: Keith’s blushing face, looking up at her awkwardly after his face had accidentally smushed into her boobs. She looked down at her body, once again appreciating its curves. And, just like that, the depression seemed to evaporate. She was still anxious, and still wanted very much to know what was going on, but she refused to entertain that dark, hopeless realm of her mind anymore. There wasn’t any point to it — indulging in those bad thoughts accomplished nothing, and they made her feel like a monster. She wasn’t a monster; she was a woman…a woman who was growing…a woman who had curves. 

“Baby?” came Daniel’s apprehensive voice from the other end. “It’s gonna be alright, you know — everything’s gonna — ”

“Oh I know…I know, Daniel, thanks!” she said, cutting him off before he could launch into his damage-control mode with her. She made a point to smile brightly into the camera. “It’s…like…it’s all ok. I thought everything was slowing down, but apparently it’s not, and…and it’s just like you said — it’s gonna be all right. And I feel all right, really, I do!”

“You sure?” asked Daniel carefully. “Nothing else the matter? Body feeling good?”

“Haha, I mean, I’ve turned into a freaking klutz!” laughed Emma, surprising herself with her bubbly mood. “Like…I accidentally opened the fridge with my butt earlier, haha!” 

“Oh wow!” enjoined Daniel with a chuckle. He was looking at her closely on his screen. She really DID seem to be ok. 

“And, like…I mean, my body still kinda aches all the time.”

“Growing pains?”

“Uhh…haha, yeah. At least that’s what Dr. Hartman says they are. But otherwise I’m totally fine!” 

And she was telling the truth. Even though Emma felt like she sounded like she was trying to convince herself of her own words, the fact was that, except for those few awful moments right after she had been measured, the same sense of despair and panic did not return. In its place was a kind of tacit, almost numb acceptance of what was going on. She had reached some kind of gradual epiphany, a slow realization, that it just felt better not to be living in a constant state of anxiety about something that she could not control. Emma wasn’t fully conscious of how she had come to attain this new mental state, but the two images in her mind, of herself admiring her curves in the mirror, and of Keith’s embarrassed red face, had something to do with it. Subconsciously, they were instilling a kind of confidence in her, directly connected to her growing body. 

For the next several days, Emma’ growth continued to increase. The day after she had reached 6’6-and-a-half, she had shot up all the way to 6’8, and her weight had increased further, up to 230 pounds. Now Daniel felt like he was the one who had to hide his anxiety; he hated not being there in person, but it seemed to him like Emma was really dealing with it quite well. She seemed almost casual about it at times. When she had measured in at 230.8 pounds, Daniel had nervously waited for her reaction, but all she had done was raise her eyebrows and let out a low whistle. 

“Wow!” she had said, trying to stick her finger in between her stomach and her waistband, “No WONDER these feel tight.”

Later on in the same conversation, Daniel had heard a loud rip as Emma adjusted herself on the bed. 

“What was that?” he had asked.

“Haha, oh it’s nothing,” said Emma, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she smiled a little. “Just my pants finally waving the white flag, haha.”

“They just tore?” asked Daniel, trying to sound natural.

“Yeah, right down my hip. But it was bound to happen sooner or later…I could feel it straining there for a while. At this point, it’s a choice between having clothes that fit, or walking around hungry all day.”

“I…think you’re making the right choice, honey,” said Daniel. “You can always buy more clothes.” 

And Emma did the next day, specifically with the intention of anticipating further growth. She bought some clothes that fit her in her current form, but she also bought some that were fit for someone who was around 6’9 or 6’10, and with bigger measurements, and who weighed a good 30 pounds more than she did. Emma didn’t particularly enjoy this aspect of the venture, but she managed to shrug off any impending feelings of worry. She was just doing what she had to do to be comfortable. 

On her way out of the store, she ran into Hank.

“Emma! Hey!” he exclaimed. 

“Oh Hank! How are you?” she replied pleasantly. Even though she was in flats, she immediately saw that Hank was a good deal shorter than her now — three whole inches, in fact. He was looking straight into her teeth. 

“I’m…uh, I’m fine — how are you?” he asked, feeling a little puzzled. She definitely seemed taller than she had been at the party; Hank assumed that she was wearing some even taller heels or something, but his confusion grew when he looked down and saw that Emma was in flats, standing on the level pavement. He blinked a few times and slowly brought his eyes back up to hers. He gave her an awkward smile. 

“Just doing a little weekend shopping!” she said brightly, enjoying his confusion. “I got too big for my other clothes so…haha, yeah!” 

“Oh…ah…ok, haha…well, nice seeing you Emma!” said Hank, waving goodbye to her a bit clumsily. 

‘Jesus,’ thought Emma as she rode home, totally cramped in her car, ‘Hank looked really…small just then…and he’s a “big guy,” haha, man!’ 

It was more of a novelty than anything else, to realize how much bigger she had become than a guy like Hank, who, up until very recently, had seemed like nothing less than a giant compared to her. Later on that night, she was video chatting again with Daniel in the kitchen, preparing to go into the bedroom to measure herself again. 

“Wow, so he looked small?” asked Daniel.

“Yeah!” said Emma as she walked towards the bedroom, “Like…I was in flats and everything, and he just…looked little, haha!”

“Gosh, I can’t imagine how I must look compared to you now,” chuckled Daniel. 

“Well, if you want i can draw a line on the chart and see where you — OW!”

From Daniel’s perspective, he had been watching Emma’s face as she walked toward the bedroom, but he had suddenly seen the top of the doorframe come into view. Emma hadn’t seen it, since she was looking down at her phone screen, so she had been totally blind-sighted by it as it smacked into her forehead. She saw her stagger back a little, rubbing her head in surprise. 

“Honey! Honey are you ok?!” he asked. 

“Haha yeah…I just…wow, I totally just banged by head on the doorframe!” she exclaimed. 

“I can see that!” replied Daniel.

“Hmmm…thought I still had a bit of clearance…oh well!” Emma almost seemed to speak these words more to herself than anything, but with a shrug of her shoulders at “oh well!” she was back in the conversation. She went over and drew a line at 6’1 and stood up next to it, holding out her phone to show Daniel the comparison. 

“Looks like the top of my head is right at your chin…wow!” said Daniel. “Now let’s see your height now!” 

“Oh gee, I wonder what it’s gonna say tonight?” joked Emma as her boyfriend laughed. She was still a little anxious about everything, but they were having fun. A moment later, Daniel found himself speaking through a slightly dry mouth:

“You’re 6’10, honey.” 

Emma paused a moment, letting her boyfriend’s words sink into her body. 6’10…6’10!?! Despite her incredulity, her heart rate remained surprisingly normal. She lowered her phone from the top of her head to her face and smiled suspiciously at Daniel through the camera. She noticed that he looked as shocked as she felt, but she was hoping that the surprise ws less obvious on her face. 

“Are you screwing with me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes playfully at him. 

“N-no, Emma…haha, I’m not kidding,” said Daniel, chuckling in spite of himself. “You’re 6’10, trust me — I mean…you can take a picture of your head on the height chart if you don’t believe—”

“No, no, Daniel, I believe you,” said Emma, shaking her head as she smiled. “It’s just that…uh…haha, umm…wow, you know? Six foot freaking ten!? No wonder Hank looked so tiny next to me!”

“Umm…haha, yeah…no wonder,” murmured Daniel. He was about to recommend that Emma call Dr. Hartman to tell him that her growth had accelerated again, but something held him back from doing this. He didn’t want to stress her out, or make her feel like she had to do extra work, dealing with all of this crazy growth. 

“Hmmm…I should probably tell Dr. Hartman about this,” muttered Emma.

“Uh, haha, yeah…I think that’d be a good idea,” said Daniel, feeling grateful that she had arrived at his suggestion on her own. 

Emma sighed, and then she got a funny little idea. It didn’t really feel like an idea that she would have, and yet it had come to her — in the moment, it felt like an enjoyable little diversion. 

“Well, in the meantime,” she said, “How about I give you a special little tour of our house, from MY perspective? Haha, you know, just so you can see how small and low everything looks from my point of view?”

“Uh, haha, ok,” said Daniel, appreciative that she was seeming to be taking all of this well. 

For the next several minutes, Emma walked around the house, keeping her phone level with her own eyes so that it was like Daniel was looking at everything from her perspective. It was a fun kind of game, and Emma found herself enjoying it more than she had even expected when she got the idea. 

“And see?” she laughed, “This is what the top shelf looks like to me — see, I barely have to even try to reach, haha!”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” 

“Yeah, but it’s not always the most amazing…like…look at the top of the fridge here.”

“Oh man…wow it’s pretty dusty up there!”

“Don’t worry baby — I’ll do a little dusting tomorrow.” 

“Can you touch the ceiling? It’s looking pretty close.”

“Haha, I can’t yet — but I’m not too far away! Our ceilings are nine feet, so…yeah…but I can totally reach past 8 feet.”

“8 feet…geez!” Daniel’s head was spinning as Emma continued on through her tour of the house. He couldn’t believe how low to the ground everything looked from her perspective. The stove, the sinks, bed, even the toilet…it all just looked so…far away. When they finally signed off at the end of their chat, Daniel just sat there on the end of his bed in the hotel room. He couldn’t make anything of all this craziness…and he started to worry about what it would be like when he came back in two days. 

For her part, Emma was getting more and more accustomed to dealing with her growth on a more fluid, relaxed basis. It certainly helped that she wasn’t actually around a lot of other people to compare to, but even still, her encounter with Hank had reinforced the reality that she was, bit by bit, coming to terms with whatever it was that was happening to her body. She still had her moments of nervousness and anxiety mainly centered on the uncertainty of everything that was happening. But she no longer felt the desperate longing to be engulfed by her boyfriend; even though it had been a painful thing to let go, once it was gone, Emma felt strangely able to handle it. In fact, she even found herself looking forward to hugging him on his return. He had always been so loving and protective of her, and now that she was the big one, she felt eager to return the favor. 

The next day, Emma didn’t actually have to go into the office, since it was a holiday, and so she busied herself doing a little work from home. After she had finished up everything by mid-morning, she went around dusting the house, easily accessing all the hard-to-reach places. She spent much of the rest of the day cleaning the house, delighting in making it all nice and sparkly for Daniel when he got back the next day. Even though their fight was long behind them, Emma still harbored a nagging sense of guilt and regret for what she had said to him (especially about being short), and she wanted to do everything that she could to welcome him home in a positive way. Cleaning the high places was easy enough, but cleaning the lower places, especially the countertops, left Emma’s back feeling quite sore by the end of it all. She had also bashed her knees against various doors and objects throughout the day, so much so that they were both red and a little swollen. 

She video-chatted with Daniel one last time, but didn’t let him see how clean the house was, to preserve the surprise. As they chatted, Emma munched absent-mindedly on some pop tarts. She had already eaten a full meal and enjoyed a carton-full of ice cream for dessert, but it just hadn’t been enough to assuage her hunger. Daniel couldn’t help but notice how much she was eating. 

‘Jesus, that’s her third pop tart in ten minutes,’ he thought to himself. ‘I thought she said that she already ate.’

“Uh, h-honey?” he said out loud, “Haha, you, uh, you goin’ a little hard on those pop tarts?”

“Yeah, so?” she asked mildly, feeling slightly irritated that he would bring it up. She couldn’t help it that she was still hungry!

“It’s just…uh…haha, I mean, well…I guess it isn’t really a big deal.”

“I’m a growing girl, after all!” said Emma wryly, and Daniel backed down. They measured her just a little while later — 6’10-and-a-half, 242 pounds. The growth seemed to have slowed a bit, but at this point, neither of them trusted that downward trend. They said their goodbyes, both of them earnestly letting the other know how eager they were to be reunited the next day. 

After her video chat, Emma didn’t really feel tired. She started surfing around the internet on her phone, going through social media for a moment, before an idea suddenly popped into her head. She just decided to google “giantess.” Immediately, her eye was drawn to several webpage titles that made her heart beat faster: “How I Accidentally Became A Fetish Model” from a blog, and “Pretending To Be A Giantess Made Me Feel Like A Boss” from VICE News were the first two that caught her eye. She clicked on the VICE article. 

She proceeded to read the entirety of an article, written by a woman, about becoming a fetish model for macrophilia, a kink that Emma had never even heard of before. Apparently, there was an established community of loads of submissively-inclined men (and some women), who got off on size comparisons and fantasies of being dominated and humiliated, and even crushed or eaten, by giant women. Emma felt her curiosity rising, even as a part of her warned not to explore “the weird shit” any further. She clicked through some giantess fetish art on some free sites, and was astonished to see all varieties of size and height comparisons, in a dizzying array of scenarios. Photographs of women as tall as she was, looming high over small, skinny men…collages of women as tall as skyscrapers, rampaging through cities…gentler scenes of big-breasted, 15-foot-tall giantesses giving normal-sized men the blowjobs of their lives…3D renderings of huge, open mouths, threatening to swallow the tiny, screaming men in front of them…

It was all so much for Emma — perhaps a bit too much — and she started to feel a little repulsed by the whole thing. ‘Surely there’s something wrong with these people,’ she thought to herself, even as she continued to scroll through the images. ‘This is…there’s something just…off about all this…’

She suddenly wondered if Keith was one of the people in this community. Almost everyone seemed to use an alias, so it would be impossible to find him, but she definitely wondered…she was about to click on a link for “GiantessCity” before she finally decided to call it quits for the night. She exited out of the internet, feeling a sense of relief wash over her. It had been quite intense, to discover that there was actually a community of people online who would…well…who would be especially attracted to what was happening to her. But Emma didn’t think any more of it; she felt tired and drained, and a few minutes later, after brushing her teeth and washing her face, she was in bed asleep. 

The next day, Emma again worked from home, taking a special personal day for herself. She knew that she had grown more during the night, and she just didn’t feel like going into the office and dealing with the inevitable “oohs” and “aahs” and concerned expressions of her co-workers. She had slept naked the previous night, and she managed to squeeze herself into some pajama pants that had been fairly roomy only a few days before. Everything looked even smaller and lower than usual, and by mid-morning, Emma broke down and measured herself — 7’1, 257 lbs. Her mind numbly accepted these measurements, and she shrugged and went about her day, taking care to move slower about the house after the vibrations from her steps had knocked over a lamp in the living room. 

A few hours later, Emma heard Daniel’s car drive up. An ebullient joy bubbled up inside her, even as it mixed with nervousness and anxiety. He opened the door and she jumped up form the sofa and skipped over to him, closing the gap between them rather quickly. He looked TINY to her, SO much tinier than she expected, but she ignored it and bent down to embrace him, squeezing him tightly and feeling his bones pop a little. 

“H-hi Emma!” breathed Daniel as the air left his lungs. She released him and took a step back, smiling down at him with wide eyes despite the enormity of their size difference. 

“Hiiii,” she said, immediately blushing. Neither of them could believe it. She was a full foot taller than him; the top of his head didn’t even reach her chin now, and her huge, curvy hips were even with the middle of his chest. He was staring straight into the middle of her beasts. For several long moments, neither of them could speak.

Chapter 5

‘Oh my god,’ thought Daniel to himself, as he stared up at Emma’s big, wide shoulders, up at her chin, and way up into her eyes. He knew that she had grown a lot over the past week, but nothing had prepared him for the shock of actually experiencing a one-foot height difference in person. She was positively gargantuan — and even though it was still her sweet, pretty face that was smiling down at him from way above, Daniel could not help but feel instantly intimidated by her size. Everything about her — her feet, her calves, her thighs, her hips, her breasts, everything — was far, far bigger than he had been prepared for. 

At the same time, Emma was equally as shocked, but for opposite reasons.

‘Jesus he’s short!’ was her immediate thought, and she looked down at his briefcase that he was holding in his hand. The briefcase itself, along with the clothes he was wearing, looked so adorably small to Emma that she almost started giggling — it was a nervous kind of laughter that started bubbling up from inside her, but she was able to stop it before it became audible or evident on her face. Everything was just too bizarre to have one single reaction like that. All she could do was stare down at him for several long moments. Like Daniel, she had not been prepared for the enormity of the size difference in this moment. 

“Uhhh,” said Daniel a few moments later, awkwardly breaking the silence. “Y-you’re…wow, Emma!”

“Yeah,” she said softly, nodding her head down at him slowly. “Wow is right.” She suddenly felt a strange surge of affection for him in his awkwardness, and she bent down again, arching her back at an odd angle as she bent her knees, desperate to get at him for another hug. Daniel backed up a step in reaction to her descending figure, but he quickly realized that he would not want to be seen as evading an affectionate maneuver. He accepted her hug, and once again, he felt the air leave his lungs as she squeezed him. More so this time, he felt the almost crushing weight of her bulk come down on top of his shoulders, and he staggered in place, nearly losing his footing. 

Emma didn’t notice, though. She had her eyes closed with her arms around him, hugging him tightly in genuine affection. Even though they had made up after their fight the previous week, this was still the first time they had actually seen each other since that unfortunate moment. She began to get a little teary as she leaned a little more into the hug, causing Daniel to stumble once again. 

“Emma…” he said in a weak voice, all he could manage without any air in his lungs. “Ok…ok, Emma.”

“It’s just so nice for you to be home!” she said a little thickly, and without quite realizing what she was doing, she straightened her back up a little bit, since she had bent down forward at an awkward angle. At the same time, though, she did not let go of the hug, and the effect was that she actually lifted Daniel off the ground for a couple seconds without even meaning to. She had simply forgotten how tall she was. A second or two later, however, she seemed to realize what was going on and loosened her arms. Daniel dropped a few inches back down into the floor, letting out a kind of nervous laugh as he did so. 

“Ahaha…ah…yeah…yeah, it’s nice to be home,” was all he managed to say. 

“I just…I just can’t believe how small you are!” Emma burst out a moment later, flashing a huge grin down at him. She felt like she was soaking up a surreal moment, and she really didn’t know how she felt about the greater-than-expected size difference. But she did know that she was so happy to see her boyfriend that her joy at seeing him trumped any other identifiable emotion she was feeling, and so she turned it up a notch, just to make sure he knew that she was happy, and not shocked, or confused. 

“I…I’m not the…eh…haha, well I could say the same thing about you, honey!” laughed Daniel nervously. “Just the opposite, haha!” He had been about to correct her and say that she, in fact, was the one who was big — he wasn’t small. But that would have resurrected the very fight he did not want to repeat, and so he just went with a diplomatically cheerful rebuttal. 

“Yep, yep, I’ve gotten a little bigger,” said Emma, nodding and looking around the kitchen.

‘A little!?’ thought Daniel to himself. 

“But anyway, here, let me take your bag!” she said brightly, wanting to do something nice for him right away. Daniel felt her snatch his briefcase out of his grasp, and he looked down just enough to see her hand extended next to his. He felt something like a cold sweat begin to break out across his brow, even as it was mixed with a strange kind of arousal. Her hand looked comically big next to his. 

“Woah, this thing is light!” she giggled, waving the briefcase one-handed around the kitchen a little without meaning to. It really did feel as light as a feather to her, even though it weighed around twenty pounds. 

“Haha, careful Emma!” laughed Daniel. “That’s got all my computer stuff and everything in there.”

“Oh…yeah, ok, sorry!” she said, smiling contritely and striding over to put it down by his desk. Daniel noticed that Emma only needed about two and a half strides to get all the way through the kitchen. Emma didn’t really seem to notice, though. As she bent down, her tight pajama pants strained audibly against her huge ass and wide hips. 

“Oooh, I gotta remember not to bend over too quickly,” she chuckled, straightening back up. “I think it might be time for me to shop for some new clothes.” 

“That’s…uh…that it looks like that might be a good idea,” admitted Daniel.

“You really think so?” she asked immediately, her face falling a little in concern. “Is it that obvious?”

“Hehe, uh, I mean, honey…it’s…it’s fine! You’re still growing,” said Daniel, trying to sound natural and casual. But from his point of view, Emma’s pajama pants, which were supposed to be quite roomy, looked so tight that they resembled spandex.

The next day, Emma physically went into the office again, but she quickly discovered that she could not adequately perform her job without her size and stature getting in the way. All of this made her feel more annoyed than anything else. She felt totally fine! Why couldn’t everyone else just get over it and move long with their day? More than once, though, she caught her co-workers lingering at the door to her office for too long. She heard people whispering out in the hallway; she tried to shake all the unwelcome drama off, but eventually she was directly confronted. Monica walked slowly into her office, approaching her desk cautiously. Emma looked up — even though she was sitting down, her head still rose a couple inches above the 5’5 Monica’s. Emma’s eyebrows arched expectantly, even as she tried to bury the irritation that was threatening to rise to the surface. 

“Uh…Emma?” asked Monica tentatively.

“Yeah?” asked Emma, trying to sound normal. But she didn’t feel normal; her ass already hurt from being squeezed into her tiny office chair. 

“Y-You’ve…you’ve really gotten…a lot, lot bigger and taller recently,” said Monica slowly. 

“Sure have!” said Emma, smiling. ‘God, is she really wasting my time with this?’ she thought to herself.

“There’s…there’s something just not right going on, Emma,” said Monica, still timid, but firm in her conviction. “I mean, like…before, when you were just a little bigger, it was already, uh…pretty weird. But now, like…there’s something seriously wrong, obviously.”

“Well,” said Emma, cocking her head and shrugging her shoulders as she threw her hands up in the air, “The doctors are running a whole bunch of tests right now. I don’t know what else to tell you, except that I feel fine.”

“Well, uh…that’s…that’s good,” said Monica in a bit of a small voice, taking a little step back. Emma suddenly realized that her voice had carried louder, and perhaps was a little deeper, than she had intended. Had she scared Monica? but she was just speaking normally — why was Monica being so sensitive? Emma abruptly decided to stand up and turn around, to show Monica her figure, in the hopes that both of them could just laugh at the impressive scope of her new curves, but she once again misjudged the tightness of her work pants, and in rising, she split a two-inch hole right down her left thigh.

“Oh god damn it!” snapped Emma frustratedly, rolling her eyes. She didn’t see it, but Monica took another little step back. The amazon recovered, though and just looked down at Monica and laughed, making crazy eyes at her, as if to say, ‘Hahaha, wow, is this even happening!?’ 

“Oh well, I was gonna go shopping for new clothes today anyway,” she said cheerfully. She made a motion to step towards Monica, but the very act of stepping tore her pants another four inches. 

“I….guess I better go now!” chuckled Emma, and she walked gingerly past her stunned co-worker, whose eyes were exactly even with the underside of her large breasts. 

Emma passed Keith in the hallway, but for once she wasn’t interested in exploring any kind of interaction with him. The longer she was in the office, the more she felt like everything just…wasn’t made for her. her ass was still sore from her tiny chair, her hands and wrists were sore from holding them at odd angles over her keyboard, and even the new flowers in the corner just looked…well, too close to the ground. She couldn’t even see her face anymore in the long mirror that hung in the hallway. She barely even looked at Keith as she shuffled awkwardly past him, trying her best to both cover up the hole and her pants and move slow enough that it didn’t get any bigger. She was able to notice, however, that the top of Keith’s head barely even reached her boobs. As she passed him by, she felt his eyes on her body, but she didn’t even bother to turn and make eye contact. She just didn’t want to deal with his awkwardly meek admiration right now. 

A bit later, she was at the store, trying on outfit after new outfit, and as she did so, Emma found herself becoming increasingly frustrated. Why did nothing seem to fit her!? Surely there were other women like her! Why didn’t the companies make clothes for them then? Anything that possibly fit her hips and ass was invariably far too short in the legs, and the one pair of pants that got anywhere close to being long enough…well, Emma couldn’t even fit her legs into them! 

She was becoming increasingly desperate when she felt a tap in the middle of her back. She turned around and saw a kindly-looking older lady, who was wearing a kerchief around her grey, expertly-styled hair. This woman was tiny. Emma’s hips were higher than her shoulders! ‘Aw, a nice old dwarf lady!’ thought Emma genially. 

“Hello,” said the old woman in an immediately-amiable voice, speaking perfect English, though in a French accent, “I just noticed that you were having a little bit of trouble there, and I don’t want to presume, but I might be able to help you.”

“You can?” asked Emma, immediately liking this woman’s easy energy. ‘Finally,’ she thought, ‘Someone who’s treating me like a normal person.’ 

“Yes indeed,” declared the woman, the accented English spilling in a lovely way off her tongue. “My name is Cécile Bisset, and I was a fashion designer in France for many years, before I moved over here to the States, to get away from it all. I do custom-tailored designs for private clients. For someone of your stature, Ms….?”

“Oh, Emma! My name’s Emma.” They shook hands, with Emma actually taking special care not to accidentally snap the old woman’s fingers. Ironically, being treated as normal made her more conscious of how abnormally large she had become, at least for the moment.

“So, Ms. Emma, if you find that you can’t find anything satisfactory, please give me a call here — may I give you my card?”

“Oh! Oh yes! Yes, Ms. Bisset!” exclaimed Emma happily, taking the business card in her two fingers (and noticing, before she put it in her purse, that it looked and felt more like a little scrap of paper than an actual card). “I’m sure I’ll be giving you a call here soon, because there’s nothing that seems to fit me here! Nothing!”

“Well, don’t you worry yourself, young lady,” said Ms. Bisset. “I help people like you all the time!”

“There are lots more like me?” Emma heard herself say, although she felt puzzled by her own words. 

“Oh yes,” said the old woman, her eyes twinkling. “Lots of people don’t fit into the established sizes these big companies produce. Let me know, Ms. Emma!”

Emma didn’t even wait for Ms. Bisset to leave. Right then and there, she agreed to pay the old woman to help make her a series of custom-designed pants, tops, skirts, and dresses. Ms. Bisset took Emma’s measurements, and promised a new line of clothes that would be ready in a week. Emma was so happy that she felt like splurging on something to celebrate — getting new clothes had become such a hassle, but now all the difficulty was gone! Feeling almost giddy, she came across a pair of tall black heels with a 7-inch platform that just happened to be in her size. 

‘Oh screw it, I’ll get them!’ she thought to herself, laughing. ‘Besides, it’ll be a nice little throwback to when Daniel got me those other heels a while back. He’ll appreciate them!” 

Emma quickly found, however, that she wasn’t able to wear her new heels and drive at the same time; she simply didn’t fit in the car. Her head was already pressing into the car ceiling, and with the heels, she simply didn’t have enough room for her legs. Grumbling a little, even as she shook her head and chuckled to herself, she took the heels off, drove home barefoot, and put them back on before going inside.

“Honneeeyyyy!” called Emma as she opened the door, “I’m — ” and here she almost got herself stuck in the door’s entrance. She was so tall in the new heels that the door frame only came up to her shoulders. From his computer chair, Daniel turned and was able to see the huge form of his girlfriend, but with the doorframe completely obscuring her head. He froze in shock. 

“I’m…haha, oh wow, this door frame is little…haha…ok, there we go — I’m hommmeee!” 

She spread her arms widely towards Daniel, who stood up slowly, looking up at her like he couldn’t believe his eyes. She strode over and hugged him, not even bothering to bend down this time. Instead, she just reached out, grabbed his head in her huge hands, and hugged it to her, squishing it into her lower breasts and upper stomach. The rest of Daniel’s body had no choice but to follow, and he stumbled into her. 

“E-Easy, easy, Emma!” he cautioned. 

“Oh, sorry, haha — a little too much?” she laughed, looking down at him. ‘Aw come on, Daniel,’ she thought, ‘It’s just a little hug!’ 

“You like my new heels?” she asked, extending a huge, shapely leg out in front of him. 

“They’re…very big,” he said, chuckling.

“Haha, yeah! Just like those other heels you got me before, remember? Haha, I know it was only weeks ago, but it seems like it’s been ages since then.”

“Yeah…uhh…w-wow, Emma,” was all Daniel could say. Privately, Emma wished that Daniel would just quit acting so…nervous around her. Or timid…or…whatever it was. She wished he would act more like Ms. Bisset. But she kept these thoughts to herself and told him the good news about her custom clothes. Daniel agreed that it was indeed good news, and the rest of the evening, and many evenings after passed by, at least on the surface, just fine.

But everything seemed a bit off, both to Emma and to Daniel, but for different reasons. Daniel, for his part, was feeling increasingly worried about his girlfriend. He was looking forward to hearing what Dr. Hartman would have to say about her new growth during her appointment that was coming up. In the meantime, he was just trying to act and behave in his usual steady manner; but internally, he was starting to experience real anxiety. It had been one thing when Emma was as tall as him, or even a little taller. But now she was walking around in those heels, towering over him by almost a foot and a half!? He was looking up at her nipples now! It was all a bit too much for him to handle. And she was still growing, though now at a very uneven pace. She might not gain an entire inch for four or five days, and then on the very next day shoot up an inch and a half! 

As far as Emma went, she was mostly enjoying herself and feeling normal, despite the craziness of what was happening to her. She had reached an almost zen-like state of acceptance regarding her condition, whatever it was, and it certainly helped that she was actually feeling good…great, even. Her appetite had increased to the point where she was eating nearly twice the amount Daniel was, which meant that he had to go to the grocery store almost twice as often. Emma again took to working from home, and everything seemed fine — she had her tailor-made clothes, which fit her nicely (and, because of their special fabric, could accommodate another 7-10 inches of growth if necessary — surely more than enough!), and she maintained a sense of youthful energy. Her appointment with Dr. Hartman yielded no more results than before, and the doctor had looked increasingly worried about the continuation of her growth. Emma, however, had spent most of the appointment marveling at how small everything looked in the doctor’s office, from the table she was sitting on, to the sinks, to the doctor himself. It was like she was back in her pediatrician’s office, except now she was an adult. The only thing missing were the blocks and toys designed to keep nervous children diverted. 

It was true that Emma had actually begun to get frustrated with a lot of small things: namely, indeed, how small everything was beginning to seem to her. It was becoming harder and harder for her to hold utensils right — why did they have to make them so small, anyway? And the shelves in the house! Only the top ones were any use to her — the bottom ones were so far down, they were almost as useless as the countertops! What did people expect her to do — just walk around in a permanent crouch all the time? As she gained inches over the weeks, it became harder and harder for her to take showers. Her feet and lower legs stuck off the end of the bed. And, after a couple weeks, she could even feel the elastic material of Ms. Bisset’s special clothes starting to feel tighter all over her body. 

On more than one occasion, she was surprised that Daniel actually had to ask her to reach things. One time, he was asking where the miscellaneous box was, that had a packet of AA batteries that Daniel needed. 

“Oh, it’s on the shelf up there, above the fridge,” muttered Emma from her position on the sofa, her attention arrested by work on her laptop. 

“The…top shelf?” asked Daniel.

“Yeah, it’s just like right there, no big deal,” said Emma, not taking her eyes off the screen. A moment later, though, she heard the sound of Daniel fruitlessly grunting and exerting himself, and she glanced up in surprise to see him reaching in vain, on his tiptoes, for the box on the top shelf. He wasn’t even close — the tips of his fingers were at least three or four inches away.

“I…can’t reach it…Emma!” he said through teeth clenched in effort. 

Creasing her brow, frowning a little, and not fully understanding, Emma got up from the sofa and walked over to the shelf. By this time, she was 7’8 in her bare feet. She lifted her arm up to eye level, calmly drew out the box, and handed it down to her boyfriend, giving him an odd, confused look before going back to work. She didn’t realize it, but in that moment, Emma standing beside him, reaching up, with her breasts just a bit taller than his eyes, made Daniel have flashbacks to when he was a younger child around his mother. He couldn’t help it — it was the last time he had been around a woman who was that much bigger and taller than he was. 

The weeks continued to pass by, and Emma went from 7’8 to 7’10, hit 8’0, and then finally barely cracked past 8’1. Before she passed 8 feet, however, Emma had to deal with the slow, unfortunate realization that she could not proceed along normally with her life. Daniel had already generally come to these realizations, but for Emma, the process was slower, and fraught with frustration and difficulty. First, after she hit 7’8, she discovered that she could no longer wear the platform heels she had bought. For one thing, they had become too painful for her feet (even though she had gotten them a size big, to accommodate any extra growth), but even more obviously, she discovered that she could not walk around the house as an 8’3 woman without knocking things over and making a mess. She simply was too huge; at that height, she couldn’t even raise her hands more than nine inches above her head without them smacking painfully into the ceiling. Reluctantly, therefore, she had to give up the heels, which put her in a bit of a foul mood for half a day, before she was able to shrug it all off and proceed along “as normal.”

But a few days later, she had another growth spurt, shooting up to 7’10, and with this new spurt came the unwelcome realization that Emma could no longer fit into the car. She and Daniel had been about to go out to buy extra groceries. Emma had helpfully offered to come with him, since, after all, she was the reason why their food stocks kept getting depleted at an increasingly rapid rate. She had even offered to drive. But once she ducked her head and gathered up her legs to try and squeeze into the seat, Daniel started shaking his head.

“I don’t think you’re gonna fit in that way, honey,” he said.

“What? No! No, I can totally fit,” countered Emma, jostling down to find the seat adjuster. “I just...need to pull the seat back some. It’ll work.”

“But you were the last one to drive,” said Daniel. “The seat’s already back as far as it’ll go.”

“That’s...no, that can’t be right,” grunted Emma, squirming her cramped curves in the seat, which sighed and sagged under her massive weight. “It’s...hmmmm, well you’re right...it’s back as far as it’ll go. But...here we go! I’ll adjust the back part of the seat. That should work!”

Emma pulled the lever to release the seat’s back for adjustment, and it immediately went backwards, responding to Emma’s weight. But that didn’t seem to help anything, because the end result was that Emma’s head became even further enmeshed in the car’s ceiling. It didn’t matter that the car seat went back; her head, neck, and torso were simply too big and too tall to budge.

“Uhhhh,” said Daniel, not wanting to upset her, but nonetheless seeing the hopelessness of the situation, “I don’t think that’s working, honey.”

“I just...I don’t get it,” huffed Emma frustratedly. “Everything was fine just a couple days ago. Why did we get such a tiny car in the first place?”

“Babe...the car is normal-sized,” said Daniel. “I think...it’s just...you’re the one who outgrew it.”

Emma continued to fruitlessly jostle and adjust her body for a few more minutes, but it was no use. She ended up having to admit that Daniel was right, and that she had completely outgrown the car. She couldn’t even fit in the passenger seat to ride along with him. Begrudgingly, she had been forced to watch Daniel drive out to get groceries alone, as she watched from the driveway. 

She had been so annoyed afterwards that she didn’t even return to her work. Instead, she had just started aimlessly surfing the internet, to try and take her mind off the irritation of everything seeming so small. After a bit of aimless scrolling and searching, she suddenly remembered the giantess fetish community. It suddenly occurred to her that this specific online community of people held a curious attraction for her; here were people who actually celebrated hugeness, who were actually attracted to the idea, instead of just being nervous and iffy around it like Daniel had been recently. In no time, she had found the Giantess City forum, scrolled through it, and created an account, openly identifying herself as a 7’10 woman who was still growing, even posting a few pictures of herself standing by a doorway as proof. Unsurprisingly, she soon amassed a fascinated and devoted following. 

Over the next couple weeks, Emma used the giantess community as a kind of catharsis, as a way of being able to document her growth without the unwelcome clinical setting (which she was beginning to tire of in general, since all the doctors were now visibly worried). The giantess community simply devoured her posts, asking her all kinds of questions, praising her, and offering to serve her in every way possible. Emma had to admit that she got a bit of a kick out of a lot of the comments these people made. On top of telling her that she was gorgeous, amazonian, and powerful (compliments that made her feel good, even though they were the sexually-motivated words of strangers), a number of people even offered themselves as her personal slaves, begging for the chance to worship her feet, feed her, and grant her every wish. Emma couldn’t help but smile at the desperate energy of some of these people. Be her foot slave? Get sat on by her lovely ass? She had to chuckle and shake her head.

‘These people are something else!’ she thought to herself. A few of them hadn’t hesitated to send her crude messages, about wanting to shrink themselves down and live in her pussy, and asking her to suck them off. A few of them had even asked her where she lived. 

‘Ugh...the things some of these creeps say!’ she thought with disgust. 

But even though she found a lot of the community ridiculous (and some of it downright gross), Emma still enjoyed having the catharsis and freedom it offered her. No one was burdening her with all the concern she had to deal with from everyone else in her life. It was almost like a fantasy world she could retreat to, one in which she was free to exercise the power of her body however she wished. 

This fantasy world seemed all the more attractive, the bigger she got. Once she hit 8 feet tall, she began having real difficulty navigating in the house. The door frames weren’t even as high as her shoulders anymore. Daniel was now looking straight into her stomach when she stood in front of him. He was beginning to lose his composure — how could he keep it together, with her growing so huge like this!? He couldn’t shake the thought that she was surpassing him, growing into something more. But Emma seemed to keep her wits about her. It was annoying, having to type with single fingers on her laptop, and having to sit on the floor instead of the sofa. 

Once, when she was still “only 7’10,” she had tried to sit on Daniel’s lap, but he had winced out in real pain and, a moment later, begged her in true pleading terms, to get off. She had done so, but she felt slightly miffed. What was wrong with him? She was just trying to be affectionate — why did he have to be so dramatic? Besides, he was the one who wasn’t able to reach things, who wasn’t strong enough to pull out that pipe she had the previous week, who had to use a stepladder when he was fixing the gutters. But Emma kept these thoughts to herself, not wanting to spoil the surface-level tranquility of the household. 

But one day, it boiled over. Daniel was having a refreshing moment of normalcy with her, flirting and rubbing her stomach. Emma was giggling at the touch of his small hands, pushing them away effortlessly with her huge fingers. But he remained persistent, and soon actually began tickling her. 

“Hahaha, stop it, Daniel!” Emma laughed. She was appreciating the contact, but she was very ticklish. He kept at it, ticking harder. 

“Hahahaha, knock it off, quittttt ittttt!!” exclaimed Emma, laughing harder. But he didn’t stop. A few seconds later, Emma responded more forcefully than she intended.

“I said stop!!” she yelled, still smiling, and pushed into his body with her forearm. What the 8’1 Emma thought was a nudge, however, was a violent shove to the 6’1 Daniel, and he flew off the sofa, landing hard on the floor multiple feet away. Thankfully, there was carpet where he landed. They both looked at each other, stunned. For a moment, Emma nearly panicked, feeling like she had almost hurt him, but quickly, upon seeing that he was fine, her mouth cracked into a grin. Even though he was shocked at her force, he smiled as well. 

“I’m gonna getcha!” she yelled, and went after him. Daniel took off and fled from her and she followed in hot pursuit. They ran around the living room for a few seconds, but it didn’t take long for Emma to catch up to him. But instead of capturing him in her arms, she suddenly decided to nudge him down onto the carpet again. She reached out and gave him a shove, and Daniel flew backwards from the force of her push, which had been far, far greater than she had intended. He crashed backwards into their coffee table and lay in a crumpled heap, wincing in pain. Emma immediately knew that she had actually gone too far this time, and ran up to him, her hands over her face.

“Oh my god, oh my god, Daniel!! Are you ok!?! Oh honey! I’m so, so sorry!! I…I didn’t mean it! It was an accident!!” 

“I…know it was,” said Daniel, his teeth gritting in pain, even as he managed a pained smile. Emma continued to comfort him, and fortunately he was not badly hurt. In the back of Daniel’s mind, though, a line had indeed been crossed. Emma didn’t know her own strength, and she didn’t accept what Daniel had come to realize: that she couldn’t keep living in this house. She was just too big and strong — it wasn’t safe. 

The next day, out shopping for more food for Emma’s titanic appetite, Daniel ran into Dr. Hartman in the check-out line. The doctor’s brow darkened when he saw Daniel’s expression. 

“I need to talk to you,” he told the doctor in a low voice, “About Emma.”

Part 7

“Are you sure you’re comfortable back there honey?” asked Daniel anxiously, turning in the driver’s seat to look behind him. 

“I think I’m as comfortable as I’m gonna get in this tiny little….uh…in this car,” said Emma, sounding cramped, but still smiling at her boyfriend. Since Emma was now too big to fit in the front seat, they had let the seats down in the back of the car, so that Emma would have enough room to half-lie on her side during the car ride to the Institute for Growth Disorders. They had put some pillows in, so Emma could at least be moderately comfortable, but she quickly found that, whenever she put the weight of her arms or elbows into the pillows, they just seemed to shrink away like little cotton balls. She was just too big, and too strong, to be comfortable in a normal-sized car, in any capacity. 

“Just make sure you drive carefully, babe,” said Emma, letting some humor bleed out of her voice. “You know I’m not wearing a seatbelt, and I’d hate for you to be on the receiving end of my inertia right now, haha! Imagine me flying out of the windshield — I’d totally take you with me! You wouldn’t stand a chance!”

“Haha, uhh…Emma, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about that kind of stuff right now,” said Daniel, chuckling through his nervousness. “I’m already anxious enough as it is.”

“Aww, I know you are,” said Emma kindly, reaching a big out and petting the side of his head from behind. She felt Daniel flinch a little, and withdrew her hand, feeling a little bad. Had she pet him too hard? Was she so big now that he was afraid of her? Emma didn’t really know. But what she did know was that she had spent much of that morning reassuring her boyfriend that everything was going to be fine while she was at the Institute. Dr. Kline hadn’t been able to say precisely how long she would need to stay there, but it definitely wouldn’t be for a huge, extended amount of time. Besides, once the initial few weeks of testing and treatment were completed, then Daniel would be able to come visit her. 

That was the hardest part for Daniel; going a few whole weeks without being able to see Emma — especially in the condition she was in — was not something he was looking forward to. Emma wasn’t thrilled about it either, but she could tell that her approach to the whole thing was just…different from his. As she reflected during the awkward car ride, Emma wondered how exactly she was feeling about everything. Daniel was anxious and sad; that was easy enough to gather. But was she anxious? Emma wasn’t really sure. She definitely had a few butterflies in her stomach when she thought of the myriad forms of treatment she would be exposed to. They were all simply unknown, and the unknown could be a bit anxiety-provoking, for sure. 

But for some reason, Emma wasn’t truly feeling all that anxious. She was definitely experiencing sadness around having to be apart from Daniel, but, if she was being honest with herself, there was a significant part of her that was actually relieved that she wouldn’t have to be constantly subjected to his incessant worrying about her. She had started to realize how exhausting it all was. So, although she loved Daniel dearly, she was seeing her extended stay at the Institute as a kind of welcome vacation from the cares and worries of their relationship. Additionally, Emma also couldn’t help but feel how surreal all of this felt — it was almost so surreal that she didn’t have the capacity to feel anxious about it. She was 8’2, weighed god-knows how much, could barely fit into the car, and had started actively engaging an online fetish community that had become transfixed by her size. If Emma had known how her life was going to pan out two months before, there was no way she would have believed it. Alone in the backseat, she felt that she had no choice but to smile a little at the craziness.

A couple hours later, they arrived at the Institute. Daniel got out and opened the trunk door, allowing Emma to finally exit the car. She looked absolutely enormous, stepping out, totally dwarfing the regular-sized car. She took a deep breath, reached her limbs up and out, and gave a long, mighty stretch. Daniel could do nothing but watch transfixed. The top of his head was right at her breast level, and he was staring straight into the upper part of her stomach. And when Emma reached her arms up like this and stretched, it made her entire body look even bigger. Daniel couldn’t help but shudder at her sheer magnitude, even though he was still very much attracted to her. 

“Ah Emma!” said Dr. Kline, coming out to greet them. “I see that you’ve made it here ok — welcome to the Institute! I hope your drive went ok?”

“As well as it could’ve gone,” giggled Emma, feeling immediately reassured by the doctor’s presence as she continued to stretch. “It’s a tight fit in there!”

“Haha, I bet it is!” laughed Dr. Kline. 

Emma was looking around at where they were. The Institute was a series of sleek, large white buildings that were situated nicely within a forest of tall pine trees. They looked to be up somewhere in the mountains, and, as she took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, Emma felt a rejuvenating, almost excited rush go through her. Everything was going to be ok — they would be able to treat her here. And she would get to clear her head. 

After a sad and awkward goodbye to Daniel (in which Emma was surprised and touched to see that Daniel had tears in his eyes), Emma reassured him that they would see each other soon, and that they could even facetime sometime later on in the week. Daniel drove away, and Emma turned to follow Dr. Kline into the Institute’s main building. 

The first thing that Emma noticed was how normal everything looked. During the past few weeks, she had become accustomed to everything being far, far too small for her. Everything, from utensils to her bed to her shower to her furniture, were all just way too small. But as soon as Emma walked through the door of the Institute, she realized that this place was different. To begin with, she didn’t even need to duck her head down to enter. And once they did, she beheld a sleek lobby, or common room, with chairs, sofas, and tables that all seemed the right size. Emma felt a surprising surge of emotion — finally, she was somewhere that was made for her. 

The second thing that Emma realized was that there were other people, all of them wearing knee-length white robes, who were just as big, or bigger, than she was. This was perhaps the most striking thing to see. Sitting at the tables, lounging in the chairs, playing board games with each other, reading, or just hanging out…were dozens of the biggest, tallest people that Emma had ever seen. Some of them (and all of the women) were smaller than her, some by a good deal. But a good number of the people (all of them men) looked totally huge to her. Emma couldn’t help but stare. Is this what other “normal” people felt like when they were around her?

“Everyone!” called Dr. Kline, tapping on his clipboard with his pen, “This is Emma, our newest resident!” 

“Hi Emma!” came a chorus of deep voices. Emma was struck by the sheer, effortless sound and volume of the voices. She could tell that none of these people were speaking very loud, but their voices were big and they carried strongly on the air.

“Hiii!” she said bashfully, blushing a little as she waved at the group. 

“We’re gonna take you in for processing,” said Dr. Kline. “But after we’re done with that you can join the others here and make some friends!” 

“Ok!” said Emma, feeling buoyant. 

A few moments later, Dr. Kline led her into an exam room, which had clearly been designed and fitted specifically for someone around her size. Emma noticed that other exam rooms had labels about their doors…”Sexta,” “Septa,” and “Octa” were a few of them…Emma noticed that they went into one of the “Octa” rooms.

‘Of course,’ thought Emma. ‘It’s because I’m over 8 feet tall.’ She wondered why there were “Sexta” rooms. Did people have this condition who were only 6-foot-something? Maybe they were children? She wasn’t sure. In any case, she was distracted by looking down and seeing just how tiny Dr. Kline looked in this room. He was not a short man himself, but he wasn’t any taller than Daniel. Seeing him stand next to the sink, the exam table, and the comparatively-huge door, just emphasized how small he was compared to her. Emma smiled, and felt a little like giggling. She knew he was an adult man, and a doctor…but he just looked so…tiny. 

“Ok Emma, the nurses will be in to get your preliminary measurements and stats in a moment,” said Dr. Kline, and left. Emma went over and sat back on the exam table, enjoying how nice and accommodating it felt. She even noticed that she had to jump up slightly to get on it. A minute or so later, a kindly-looking middle-aged nurse came in. 

“Hello Emma,” she said. “Welcome! Let’s get your measurements!” 

“Haha, ok!” said Emma. She didn’t know why, but she almost felt giddy. This all felt like some kind of fun little game…and it all revolved around her. Even though Emma was not one to seek or hog the limelight, she had to admit that it felt rather nice to have all these little doctors and nurses scurrying about, who were all there to treat her. She hopped off the exam table and went over to the height-measuring station. The nurse, who couldn’t have been taller than 5’4, reached out and pivoted Emma carefully into position. From way up above, Emma had to crack a smile. The size comparison between them was just ridiculous. This adorable little woman was staring straight into her hips! And she had to spread her arms wide to jockey Emma into position to the measuring contraption, which looked to be some kind of special sensor that started at the floor and spanned all the way up to the ceiling. 

“Alright good!” said the nurse. “Now stand still for a couple moments…really still there…ok good! Eight-foot-two-and-a-half!” The way the nurse spoke the last bit, it made Emma feel like there was something noteworthy about that particular measurement. 

“Is…is that normal?” asked Emma.

“Well! No, not for a woman,” said the nurse, taking a couple steps back and looking up at Emma impressively. “In fact, that’s the tallest initial measurement we’ve ever had from an incoming female patient.”

“I…uh, wow,” said Emma, feeling a little throb of something unpleasant inside her. 

“Aw, but don’t worry dear — that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” said the nurse kindly, smiling up at her. “Let’s get you weighed.” 

She led Emma over to the huge scale in the corner of the exam room. Before Emma stepped on, the nurse had her take off her (too small) clothes made by Ms. Bisset, replacing them with one of the knee-length white robes instead. 

“Ooo, I’m sure you’re glad to have those clothes off, huh?” said the nurse. 

“Oh my god, yes,” said Emma, nodding as she slipped into the airy, comfortable robe. It had a nice loose fit all over, although Emma also noticed that it was made of a kind of micro-fabric that was stretchy. But she hardly noticed it, because she was busy making small talk with the nurse. 

“I actually hired a personal tailor to make these,” said Emma, holding up her clothes. “They were made to fit someone, all the way up to 7’10, and that was just a couple weeks ago, when I was 7’0. We all thought it would be fine.”

“You’ve grown over a foot…in two weeks?” asked the nurse bluntly, betraying her surprise. 

“Um…uh, yeah, yeah I did,” said Emma, getting that uneasy feeling again. 

The nurse recovered quite quickly, however, brushing her hand in front of her face. “Aw, don’t worry about it Emma — we’ll cover all of that when we sit you down for your “past history” part of the initial exam. Alright, just go ahead and step on that scale there!”

Emma did, staring forward into the electronic weight display which had initially been blank. When Emma had first stepped on, it had “woken up” and gone to a “0 lbs” rating…but quickly, the “0” disappeared. For a moment, the scale was blank again; it appeared to be “thinking.” When the number suddenly appeared, Emma felt her jaw drop on its own accord. 

“O-k…394.7…and that robe is five pounds exactly, so your official weight is 389.7.”

Emma just stood there, staring at the huge number on the scale. The last time she had bothered to weigh herself, weeks before, she had weighed just over 250 pounds. And now…NOW…she was almost 400!? Emma couldn’t believe how much bigger she had gotten. She had been so focused on height and navigating the spaces of cars and doorways that she had forgotten how big the rest of her body had become, proportionally, to her towering height. The nurse seemed prepared to deal with Emma’s reaction, and she reached up above her head and put a kind hand on the small of Emma’s back. Emma appreciated the gesture, but also noted how she barely even felt the nurse’s touch; comparatively, her hand was not bigger than a small child’s. 

“It’s going to be alright, Emma,” said the nurse reassuringly. “A lot of our patients, particularly our girls and women, get a nasty shock when they see how much they really weigh. But Emma, always keep in mind that this is a condition, and that it says nothing about who you are as a person or your ability to control your diet.”

“I…I, ok, uh…yeah…yeah, thanks,” said Emma. She was struggling with unexpected and unwelcome feelings from weeks past, back when she was filled with anxiety, and even dread, about her condition. She had indeed been caught by surprise at just how huge she had become. She knew that she was big…but…almost 400 pounds?? It seemed absolutely crazy. 

“Am…am I the heaviest woman that’s ever come through here too?” she asked suddenly, hating how scared and vulnerable her voice sounded when she asked the question. It struck Emma as an absurd scenario — it was like she was airing her private fears to…to a child. She knew that the nurse was an adult, and a competent medical professional as well, but something in her brain just couldn’t get quite past the size difference.

“Um…I, uh, yes, yes i believe you are,” said the nurse, trying to sound casual about the whole thing. “But that makes sense, Emma! If you’re the tallest, and you’re all growing proportionally, then it’s just common sense that you’d also be the heaviest. Don’t let it make you feel weird or get you down. For what it’s worth, I think your shape and proportions are some of the…most aesthetically pleasing I’ve seen.”

“Really!?” asked Emma, staring down at the nurse. That little comment had really hit a nerve in her heart, a positive nerve, and Emma could feel herself brightening almost immediately. 

“Honest truth, yes!” laughed the nurse. “But that’s not to put down anyone else, of course. I just noticed how…um, nice your shape was, and thought I should let you know.”

“Well that’s very nice of you — thanks!” said Emma brightly. She knew that the nurse was probably just doing her job, trying to reassure her during a moment of anguish, but for some reason Emma didn’t care. She remembered looking at herself in the mirror, and how good she thought she had looked. The only thing that had changed since then was she was a lot taller and a lot heavier, but all in proportion — though her hips were perhaps wider than usual, and her ass might have been a bit bigger than what was proportionate. But the nurse’s compliment went a long way, and Emma could feel her old fears being carried away like smoke on the air.

The rest of the exam took another hour or so, and involved a series of basic body measurements, followed by another series of more complicated and nuanced measurements that the nurse performed using a whole host of strange, exotic-looking tools. None of it really hurt Emma, although the nurse did draw some blood from her arm for additional tests. Emma marveled at how big the needle looked compared to the nurse’s arm. 

‘Good god, if she got stuck in the arm with that needle, she’d bleed out!’ thought Emma. 

But eventually, after taking down her past history, the exam was over, and Emma was allowed to go mingle in the common room area. At first, she went over and sat down in a group of five women who were playing cards. They all greeted her warmly, and exchanged a series of pleasantries and little stories about their conditions and how they had come to be at the Institute. Jessica was an attractive redhead in her mid-twenties, just younger than Emma, and had started growing slowly and steadily ever since she had turned 22. Before then, she had been only 5’2, but gradually, she just kept growing and growing, reaching 6’0 by the time she was 23, 6’5 when she was 24, and, finally, 7’0 now at 25. Hitting 7 feet tall had been the last straw for her boyfriend and her parents, who were all worried about her, and so they had paid for her to come here. But recently, in the past two weeks, Jessica’s growth had slowed to the point where she hadn’t grown at all in 10 days. 

“So that’s hopeful, right!?” laughed Jessica, staring around at the rest of the group. They all responded enthusiastically with encouragement. Emma did as well, even though she had started to feel strange. She listened intently to the story of another young woman, Bethany, who was only 19, but who had started growing suddenly and rapidly at age 18, all the way up to 6’8. Like Jessica, she had been short initially, standing only 5’1 before the spurts began. But unlike Jessica, Bethany was still growing, though at an admittedly slower pace of an inch every month. Her treatment seemed to be working. Among the women, there was a sense of cautious optimism and camaraderie…and it made Emma feel good, on the one hand, but on the other, it kept making her feel strange. Maybe she had been out of women-centered environments for too long, but the constant encouragement and support that these women were all giving each other just…well, it made Emma feel like there was something else going on under the surface. Like…maybe everyone actually wasn’t so happy and optimistic about their situation, but no one wanted to say it out loud. They were going to be strong together, and not let their links break. Emma had to admit that she admired this group attitude, but, looking down at her own body, she also had to admit that it made her feel like a bit of an outsider. 

To begin with, aside from the remnant feelings of panic and vulnerability that had briefly passed over her when she saw her weight, Emma didn’t really know how she felt about her current condition. Sure, she wanted to be “cured,” if that was the right word, but the way these other women were talking about it, someone would have thought that they had cancer or something. The search for the cure, the cure that would end their nightmare, seemed to be the focus. And Emma didn’t feel like she was living in a nightmare. A surreal world, yes — a bizarre, almost fantastical parallel reality, perhaps. But not a nightmare.

The other thing was, Emma was already a good bit larger than all of the other women there. The one who was closest in size to her, Anastasia, was “only” 7’4. Even sitting down, Emma’s head rose up high above hers; the top of Anastasia’s chin didn’t even come up to Emma’s mouth. And…well…just everything about Emma was so much bigger than them. They were definitely much bigger than the other people like Emma had been used to, like Daniel, but they were just a degree or two bigger. When she looked down at her hands, and privately compared them in her head with the other girls’ hands, she still felt like a giant. And here they all were, talking about their barely-veiled desperation that they all be cured, and Emma was already the biggest of them all! It all left her feeling odd and out-of-place, and after a little while, she kindly excused herself from the group, deciding to wander around on her own a little instead. 

It had grown towards evening, and dinner was about to be served. Emma walked out into one of the courtyards, which was heavily and delightfully filled with all manner of vegetation. She looked up into the deepening sky, up towards the dying remnants of the sunlight that was passing away into the west. The moon, a fingernail-thin waxing crescent, looked almost archetypally beautiful in the sky of dark violet, superimposed upon the velvet background as if by some intentional hand. Emma took a deep breath of the fresh, cool, clean mountain air, and let it out again. She wasn’t going to let those other women get her down, or make her feel too weird. This was HER condition, and nobody else’s. If anything, hearing all the other women’s stories told her that, even if this was all the same condition (which it likely wasn’t), it affected everyone in different ways, both physically and mentally. And Emma was determined to have a good attitude about what was happening to her. As she took in the natural beauty of the young night, she felt like she was well on her way in this regard. 

“Nice evening, is it not?” said a deep, accented voice behind her. Emma turned around and looked up. A huge middle-aged man was standing before her, smiling politely. Emma noticed that if she stared straight ahead, she was staring straight ahead into this man’s neck. For the first real time in a long, long time, she felt truly small. 

“Oh! Oh yes, it is!” she said, having to catch her breath a little from the unusual sensation of looking up at somebody. She wasn’t aware of it in the moment, but Emma was feeling, for the first time that her growth had started, a feminine sense of smallness that she had so desired before. A warm rush went up in her torso and down her back. 

“I’m…I’m Emma,” she said, holding out her hand. 

“Igor,” said the giant man, stepping forward in one step and accepting her handshake in a warm, powerful embrace. Emma almost shuddered in pleasure at the feel of his massive hand. She had big hands, of course…giant hands…but compared to Igor’s they seemed tiny. 

“P-pleased to meet you,” said Emma, having to swallow a couple times to keep her throat from going dry. She was not smitten with Igor in a romantic sense really — it was more like she was smitten with his raw size. He was not an unattractive man by any means, but it was how he made her feel that was taking Emma by pleasant surprise. He was making her feel…like a woman again, in the most basically physical sense. 

“Likewise,” said Igor. “So, you’re the new resident here?”

“Yeah,” said Emma. “The nurse told me I’m the tallest, biggest woman they’ve had here.” Talking with this man felt so easy and natural.

“Hmm, that may be,” chuckled Igor. “But you still look maybe a little small to me, haha!” 

“Haha, well!” laughed Emma, trailing off. “How long have you been here?”

“Oh I’m not a permanent resident here anymore,” said Igor. “I come back a few times a year for treatment — lasts maybe a month or so each time. But my growth has slowed down to where I’m only growing an inch or two a year, so…”

“Oh! Oh well, that’s nice, isn’t it?” asked Emma, searching his face for clues as to how he felt about it all. 

“What’s that saying...What do they say? It is what it is,” chuckled Igor, spreading his huge hands out and shrugging his shoulders. Emma smiled up at this man. His energy was a little more relaxed, more mellow…and more to her taste than the women she had been hanging out with. She knew, in that moment, that she and Igor were going to be friends here. 

“So tell me about you,” said Igor. “What’s your story, Emma?”

Part 8

For the next few days, Emma felt like she was caught up in some kind of dizzying cyclone of tests, surveys and “treatment options.” Most of these few days were spent getting examined by nurses, having more blood drawn, getting interviewed by Dr. Kline and others, and more or less receiving the full brunt of the term “medical intervention.” Emma tried to keep a level head and straight face through it all, but this proved more challenging than she thought it was going to be. For starters, even though all the doctors and nurses (and particularly the nurse who had taken her first measurements, whose name was Martha) were relaxed and conversational around her, Emma couldn’t help but feel the weight of their underlying seriousness. They were medical professionals, first and foremost, and they were engaged in treating a disease, or syndrome, or whatever, that was still largely unfamiliar to them. They had come far enough to where they could dramatically stall growth in many patients, like they had with Igor, but by no means did they comprehensively understand the full nature of these growth disorders. As a result, even though they tried to keep the mood around Emma relaxed, she could tell that they were quite serious, and even grave, underneath. 

The thing was, even though Emma of course appreciated the doctors’ dedication to her case, she wasn’t able to avoid feeling like they were acting a little ridiculous, taking everything so seriously around her. As far as she was concerned, aside from the obvious conundrum of her growth, there was still not really anything wrong with her, per se. She felt totally fine, and even giddy at times. It certainly didn’t help that whenever the doctors or Martha or other nurses got close to her to perform an examination, it would become painfully, comically clear how much smaller they were compared to her. For example, when Dr. Kline had been conducting one of his customary formal interviews with her from behind his desk, Emma couldn’t help but notice that his desk, while being perfectly proportional to the doctor’s size, looked almost like a toy desk to Emma…one that a little boy might be given for Christmas so that he could imitate his mother or father, whose desks he had seen during “bring your kid to work” day. This odd, off-kilter thought had occurred to Emma right in the middle of one of Dr. Kine’s questions, and she had snickered slightly at the thought, bringing her hand up to her mouth a little to stifle it. Dr. Kline had given her a bit of a strange look, and then continued. 

Or when Martha had needed to take a saliva sample, and had asked Emma to bend down so she could reach, Emma had had to arch her body so far downward towards the floor that it became ridiculous. Giggling a little, she had stood back up to her full height, out of reach of Martha’s up-reaching hand, and instead got down on her knees…it was just easier. Martha had smiled appreciatively at Emma’s slight antic, and both women saw that, even on her knees, Emma was still a couple inches taller than the nurse. As Emma opened her mouth, and Martha reached a swab inside to get the sample, another strange thought had flashed through Emma’s head. For an instant, she had thought about leaning forward and engulfing Martha’s entire hand in her mouth, just as a little joke. Everything surrounding all these endless tests and interviews was so rigid and humorless and…over-professional…that Emma felt like livening things up with a little joke here or there. She didn’t end up following through on this thought, but she had noticed the strangeness of it — like, swallowing Martha’s hand up in her mouth? And closing her lips around it?? That would have definitely been a little weird…which is why she ended up not doing it. These were just some little thoughts that were dancing about in her mind, like little sprites trying to liven up the somber, sterile environment. 

Thankfully, she had her budding friendship with Igor to provide reprieve from all the tests. The two of them talked endlessly about their experiences with growth, and about how the syndrome had manifested. Igor had been in a relationship with a woman for a number of years, but when his growth got out of control and he came to the Institute, he found that she had been unfaithful to him. 

“What!?” cried Emma, feeling almost outraged that such a kind and mild-mannered man could have been treated like that. 

“Yeah, it really crushed me there, for a while,” sighed Igor, a little wistfully. But then he shrugged, and gave Emma a genuine smile, though it was still tinged with a bit of sadness. “But what are you gonna do, right? You can’t control other people’s reactions to this kind of thing.”

“But…” said Emma, not being able to comprehend it, “Like…did she ever say anything to you about it?! Did she ever apologize??”

“No,” said Igor simply. “She just never came back to see me.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so sad!” said Emma, reaching out and grasping Igor’s hands in her own. She had recently taken to touching his hands often — it was mostly an unconscious thing on her part. She just liked feeling how big they were; it took her back to how things used to be with her and Daniel, even though, of course, there was no thought in Emma’s mind of being unfaithful to him. Her connection to Igor, in her mind, was entirely platonic. He seemed to understand, even though he also didn’t at all seem to mind her grasping and squeezing his hands often. 

“Yeah it was pretty bad there for a minute,” he said. But then he chuckled, a genuine, merry gesture, that made Emma feel like he had more or less completely recovered. “But that was years and years ago, you know? Things pass, and you just get on with your life. You have to get over this kind of stuff, even though, in the moment, it feels like the pain is never going to end.” 

“Well…well I just think you’re awesome, Igor,” said Emma, feeling almost overcome by some kind of sudden, strange emotion that took her by surprise. She actually got some tears in her eyes, and had to blink them out to see him clearly again. “You…you just didn’t deserve that.”

“Haha, well…thanks Emma,” said Igor, genuinely touched by Emma’s empathetic show of feeling. They squeezed hands together and continued telling each other stories about their growth. 

“So, when was the moment when you really, you know…got irritated, or even mad…that something normal-sized was just too small for you?” he asked her. 

“Haha, oh man…how much time do you have?” laughed Emma. “There were soooo many of those moments. I guess they just built on each other, until…hmmm…untilll…”

“Yes?” asked Igor, grinning at her. 

“Haha, I guess it was when I realized I couldn’t fit in the car anymore,” laughed Emma. “I was trying to go to the grocery store with my boyfriend, and…like…it was just…haha, like, I couldn’t even fit my legs in! And I had to totally just bend my neck this way and it was super uncomfortable and…haha, I felt like I was in a little kid’s toy car or something!” 

“Except, of course, it was a normal-sized car,” said Igor. 

“Well…yeah, I guess,” said Emma. “But, I mean…I think that car was maybe a little too small in general though. Like, I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t have been so frugal and splurged an extra couple thousand bucks for a little more leg space, you know?” 

Igor let out a loud laugh that trembled on the air. Several of the other smaller residents turned their heads toward the giant duo in response, but Emma hadn’t even really registered that Igor’s laugh was so loud. It sounded pretty normal to her. 

“But Emma!” he laughed, “You guys got the car before you started growing right!?”

“I mean…yeah!” smiled Emma, understanding his point. “But still…freaking thing is tiny, is all I’m saying, you know?”

The two of them continued on talking for a while, and after the fourth day, they were talking for multiple hours every day. Emma felt for Igor, and his unfortunate past relationship, but not once did she feel afraid that Daniel would do something similar to her. The thought hadn’t even occurred to her — it wasn’t that Emma was talking Daniel for granted. It was just that, even though she was 8’2, almost 400 pounds, and getting treated at the Institute for Growth Disorders, she still felt…relatively normal. And any irregularities that she had been feeling, cooped up in her and Daniel’s tiny house, had been mitigated by the appropriate size and scale of everything at the Institute. The rooms, the ceilings, the furniture, and even the meal portions, were all exactly right; normalcy had been restored. On the fourth night, Emma didn’t even really realize that, for dinner, she had consumed three portions of what normal “8-footers” were eating. 

“Golly, you’re hungry tonight!” Igor had laughed, marveling at her portions. “That’s even more than I ate!” 

“Well, I was extra hungry!” replied Emma in a tone of feigned defensiveness, smiling up at him. She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Martha and Dr. Kline were whispering together from the corner of the dining hall, both looking in her direction, but she brushed it off. The doctors had to do all their tests and calculations and what have you…and they had to mark down what their patients were doing and eating and all the rest. She just wasn’t going to be bothered by it. 

She went to bed that night feeling more fresh and vibrant than she had in a long time…and possibly in her entire life. Things were going to be ok. When she finally managed to fall asleep, though, her dreams were strange, and troubled by visions of fire, and strange lights flashing all around. Booming thuds and explosions riddled themselves through her unconscious mind. Even though there was no one to hear or measure, her breathing was labored, and her heart rate spiked. When Emma woke up the next morning, her body was covered with sweat, an unusual occurrence for someone who generally slept peacefully. 

‘Well, I guess it makes sense, with all those dreams I had,’ thought Emma, shaking her head and staring up at the white ceiling. ‘Jesus, what was all that?’

She pivoted out of bed and made her preparations for the day, brushing her teeth and hair, and applying her pre-approved lotion to her face. She had wanted to wear a little make-up during her treatment, but Dr. Kline had forbidden it, since he and the other doctors suspected that some chemicals in the make-up might be partially responsible for throwing her growth hormones out of wack. Emma thought it was a ridiculous idea, but she had managed to keep her mouth shut. She threw on her white Institute gown, put on her shoes, and walked down to the dining hall for breakfast. She had the sensation of her thighs feeling a bit more exposed than usual, and she couldn’t help but notice that her feet were feeling a little confined in her shoes. But she shrugged it off — she had had a night of weird dreams, and her body was just adjusting itself back into the real world. 

She positively devoured her first portion at breakfast, and even after two more trips back down the cafeteria line, Emma still wasn’t satisfied. 

“Are you…are you sure you’re feeling ok, Emma?” asked Igor, still smiling, though with a bit of something else in his voice this time. 

“Yeah, sure! Why? What’s wrong?” she asked obliviously, opening her mouth and more or less inhaling a stack of four pancakes at once. 

“It’s just…well, haha! I’ve never seen anyone eat like that before!” he chuckled. 

“Oh that’s ridiculous, of course you have,” she chided him, with her mouth full. “After that story you told me about eating out that entire Chinese buffet? Please.” 

“Ha! Well…I guess you’re right about that,” said Igor slowly. But he was still looking at her a bit funny, until he had to get up and go for his round of daily tests. Emma remained sitting, essentially continuing to stuff her face until she had to leave for her own tests and measurements.

When Emma went in to get measured by Martha for her daily statistics total, her eyes had lingered for a moment on the top of the nurse’s head. Martha had always looked like a child to her, but now…Emma thought that her head looked even farther down than before. It was a strange thing, to be staring directly down…into the top of another adult’s head. Martha seemed to realize that something was amiss as well, and she creased her brow as she looked down at Emma’s feet, as if to check whether or not she was wearing heels. 

“Feeling all good this morning?” asked Martha, in a voice that did not hide its uneasiness. 

“Uh…sure! Yeah!” said Emma brightly, a bit puzzled and put off by Martha’s tone. “Um…how about you?”

“Oh, I’m…doin’ ok,” said Martha, looking up at Emma and nodding slightly. “Why don’t you, uh…step on up and get measured, huh?” 

A few seconds later, Martha was staring up at the number that the height sensor had measured. For a couple long seconds, the nurse looked stunned. Emma had a split-second moment where she felt like her stomach was about to drop out of her body, but, without any real explanation, it passed. Now she just felt curious. 

“What?” she asked inquiringly. “What is it, Martha?” 

“It…it says that you’re 8’6,” said Martha, in a voice that was almost a croak. 

“8’6?” asked Emma, looking behind her for no apparent reason, as if doing so would explain the measurement. “But…I was 8’2 and a half, like…yesterday.” 

“Yes,” said Martha, writing down vigorously on her clipboard. “You were.” 

Emma just kept standing there for a few moments, feeling like she was in a dissociated state. She felt fine; everything felt fine. Her heart wasn’t even beating faster. She wasn’t stunned or shocked like Martha seemed to be. She was just existing in the moment, taking in the surreal reality of what was happening, without much thought for the past or future. Further measurements showed that she had gained almost 50 pounds, putting her well over 400. This new number bothered Emma at first, but after a few moments of hapless gaping, she suddenly shook it off, laughing.

“Well,” she said, smiling, “I mean, if I’m gonna be that much taller, it makes sense that I’d be gaining all that weight, right?”

Martha just looked up at her as she continued to write in her notes; the nurse was too stunned to share in Emma’s odd lightheartedness. 

“Gotta keep my figure proportional, haha, like…right?” Emma ventured again, smiling down at the nurse. She wished that Martha would knock off the serious, ashen-faced bullshit. Of course she was still growing! This was why she had come to the Institute in the first place, wasn’t it!? And she had only been there four days! What, did they all expect to have cured her with a snap of their fingers? No! So why was Martha acting so…alarmed? It irritated Emma, but she knew that her nurse was just trying to wrap her head around how big Emma was. But it wasn’t Emma’s fault that Martha was, like, just over 5 feet tall, right? 

The rest of the day, and the next one after, passed in a bizarre kind of haze for Emma. She almost felt like she was walking on air, even though, at the same time, her feet felt more firmly planted on the floor than they had ever been before. Everyone was looking at her sideways…the doctors, the nurses, the women’s group (who, much to Emma’s annoyance, seemed to be whispering about her too), the shorter, 6-foot residents whose heads barely even came up to the undersides of her breasts…even Igor seemed alarmed by her sudden growth spurt.

“Aw, come on, not you too!” she laughed, punching him playfully in the shoulder when he had asked in a serious, concerned voice how she was doing. 

“What…what do you mean?” asked Igor. 

“Everyone’s all concerned about me!” burst out Emma, smiling and shaking her head incredulously as she gestured wildly with both hands. Close by, a 7’2 man around her age had been passing by, and Emma nearly clotheslined him with her hand by mistake. Seeing as the top of his head only came up to Emma’s shoulders, the result would have surely laid him out flat on his back. 

“Woah, oops! Sorry!” giggled Emma, making embarrassed eyes at Igor, as if to say, ‘Whew, that was close!’ The 7’2 man looked up at Emma blankly and shuffled quickly away. Emma was suddenly struck by the idea that this man was getting away from her because he was afraid of some kind of contagion…like he was going to “catch” some kind of “growth bug” from her. Once again, she felt a kind of irritation bubble up in her head. 

‘He’s not gonna “catch” anything from me,’ she thought to herself in a flash. ‘He’s already HERE at the Institute, for Chrissakes!’ But Igor’s voice snapped her back into the moment. 

“I mean…it’s just that, uhh…” he was saying, a bit awkwardly. Emma looked at him sideways, creasing her brow a little at him as she continued to smile. Why was he acting like this??

“It’s just that WHAT, Igor? Come on, spit it out!” she said, laughing good-naturedly at his tone. 

“It’s just that…I’ve never seen anyone grow so…fast before,” said Igor, finishing and straightening up, looking at her with an unmistakable seriousness. But then he blinked and seemed to try to make an effort to smile. Emma smiled back, eager to reciprocate his effort. 

“I’m…uh…I’m not trying to freak you out or anything,” he continued, launching into a kind of perfunctory chuckle. “It’s just like…’woah!’…haha, you know?”

“Yeah, at this pace, pretty soon I’m gonna totally be taller than you, huh?” chided Emma playfully. But her rambunctiousness ground to a halt internally when she saw Igor’s reaction to her joking around. There was really something like…fear in his eyes. Or at least…uneasiness. She wished he would just knock it off. 

A couple days later, Emma was sitting in Dr. Kline’s office, going over (yet another) list of potential treatments for her sudden spurt. She was sitting directly across from his desk, in a large chair that was designed specifically for people around her size. The thing was, though, that Emma was starting to think that actually, things didn’t seem to be quite so “normal” as they had been before. The chair had been fine a few days ago, but already, it was starting to feel a little too confining. She shook off the annoyance, chalking it down to having to get up early to meet Dr. Kline for her appointment. Suddenly, just as Dr. Kline was in the middle of a lengthy spiel about a promising new drug, there was an audible ripping sound. Emma’s right foot suddenly felt a lot better, and she realized in this moment how tight her left foot felt. Dr. Kline stopped speaking. 

“What was that sound?” he asked, blinking. 

Emma looked down and saw that her right shoe had split down the sides. She stared blankly at her foot for a few seconds, and then inhaled and smiled, holding up her foot to show Dr. Kline the split shoe. As she did so, he started back in his chair, nearly falling over. 

“Are you okay?” asked Emma, puzzled at the doctor’s reaction. 

“Y-yeah,” he said, a little shakily as he regained his composure. “You just…kinda threw your leg up there and it was just, a little sudden…and it startled me.”

“Oh…oh I’m sorry!” said Emma, looking at him a little sideways. Dr. Kline was so funny, getting all scared like that! Subconsciously, she realized that she should have probably warned him before she just…swung her leg up like that. But it was just her leg! What was the big deal? 

“Well, anyway, I was just showing you my foot — my shoe just tore, so, yeah…I think that’s what the sound was.”

“I…I see,” said Dr. Kline, frowning as he peered in closer. He was silent for a few moments, and then Emma just decided to put her foot back down…a little harder than she had intended. The whole office and Dr. Kline reached out to steady the papers and trinkets on his desk. 

“Hehe, my bad,” said Emma self-consciously, blushing. “I didn’t realize how, uh…yeah. I didn’t mean to shake everything just now.”

“It’s quite alright,” said Dr. Kline, now visibly shaken. Even though he was trying to maintain an unconcerned exterior, Emma could see right through him. She could tell he was troubled. She almost told him how good she felt, and that he shouldn’t be so uptight about everything, but she held her tongue. Dr. Kline was the head researcher, and she should be respectful to him. Still though, it was hard for Emma not to look at him in a slightly…condescending way. After all, sitting down at his fragile little box of a desk, he just looked so tiny. 

Later on that day, Emma was hanging out with 7’0 Jessica and 6’8 Bethany in the common area. Emma had caught the two young women staring at her earlier and, instead of just feeling annoyed at them, she suddenly decided to go up and hang out. She was feeling a little more gregarious these days, anyway, and she much preferred to instigate friendly social interactions than having to deal with everyone else’s awkwardness around her. 

‘I’ll show them that they have nothing to worry about,’ she thought to herself happily as she strode up to them. In the process, however, she nearly ran over a pair of middle-aged men, who were 6’4 and 6’5. Emma hadn’t even seen them, because they were underneath her breasts which had grown larger in recent days. 

“Oh man! Sorry!” said Emma earnestly, waving her hand in apology as the two men shuffled away. She turned to face Jessica and Bethany, who were both seated. “I've been a little clumsy the past few days!” she laughed. 

“Haha! Well…well I uh, I guess it’s understandable,” said Jessica, forcing a laugh. “You know, with you growing so…so suddenly and all.”

“Yeah, I guess,” laughed Emma casually, turning around and collapsing into one of the empty nearby chairs. The sound of something cracking echoed out into the air, but nothing in the chair’s actual structure seemed to change. Emma froze for a second, and then smiled, looking with wide, guilty eyes at the two other women. 

“You two didn’t see that, ok?” she giggled. Jessica and Bethany just stared for a couple moments, but then they both made an effort to smile. 

“Cross my heart, nothing happened,” laughed Bethany. 

For the next few minutes, the women had a fun little chat about unrelated things, and Emma was beginning to thoroughly enjoy herself. The other two were seeming to make a special effort not to bring up her recent growth, which Emma appreciated. 

“Oh, look who it is,” intoned Jessica, looking up past Emma suddenly. “The Gentle Russian Giant!”

Emma turned around and saw Igor walking towards them. They exchanged smiles and waves.

“Ladies,” said Igor in greeting as he stopped in front of them. Emma instantly felt the unspoken power of Igor’s presence amongst the other women. He was a man…and he was just so much bigger than they were. 

“I see you’ve decided to mix with the dynamic duo, Emma,” said Igor, grinning and shaking his head. “Bad idea. Sexta, Septa, and Octo women all hanging out together?! My god, you’ll start hatching plots before we know it.”

“Aww, what’re you afraid of, Igor?” mocked Bethany. “It’s not enough to tower above all of us, is it?”

“Well, I can pretend it doesn’t mean anything,” chuckled Igor, with a knowing cock of his head. 

There was a bit of a pause in the conversation, and Emma could feel Jessica’s eyes on her. 

“Actually,” said Jessica suddenly, in a strange voice, “I think Emma’s got you beat.”

“What?” asked Igor in an alarmed voice, but then he quickly recovered and laughed. “I mean, I know she just had a big spurt there, but…I don’t think she’s caught up to me just yet.”

“Stand up, Emma,” said Jessica. “Let’s see.”

Emma glanced around at everyone, feeling an odd, simultaneous mixture of lighthearted frivolity and gravity. She looked up at Igor, who was wearing a mask of a grin on his face. His eyes, though, were searching. 

Sticking her tongue into the side of her mouth, to emphasize how playful she felt, Emma stood up slowly. The world seemed to rush down beneath her as she continued to rise. Igor’s eyes got bigger and bigger, and his mouth opened up halfway. Emma’s eyes were even with his, and then she kept straightening her legs, until her knees locked. She was looking straight into Igor’s forehead. She had him…by three whole inches.

Part 9

For a few seconds that seemed to stretch strangely into eternity, no one said a word. No one even moved. Jessica and Bethany were still in their seats, their eyes wide, their hands clasped over their mouths in an overt display of silent wonder. Jessica had been the one to suggest that Emma was taller than Igor, but she had spoken in a bit of an offhand way, flippantly deciding to goad Igor with the possibility that he no longer held the primacy of height. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Jessica had truly felt that what she had suggested was true, but she hadn’t actually considered the possibility…not at the forefront of her consciousness, at least. That was why she was joining Bethany in silently gasping at the clear fact that Emma was now noticeably taller than Igor, the formerly “untouchable” 8’8” giant. 

Emma was studying the slight creases and wrinkles in Igor’s forehead, furrowing her brow slightly as she blinked blankly a couple times, struggling to take in the reality of what she was seeing. It worked in an odd way within her brain. First, as she stood up and extended her legs to their full length, it struck her as odd that Igor’s broad shoulders seemed so far down below her — they were almost even with the top of her breasts. She glanced back up at Igor’s forehead, against feeling a weird sense of surreality as she cocked her head slightly, chewing a bit on the inside of her cheeks as she studied the novelty in front of her. She was looking…straight ahead…at his forehead. And his forehead was…higher than his eyes…which could only mean, if she thought through it for a second or two, that her eyes…were higher than his eyes. Which meant…that she was in fact, taller than he was.

The line of reasoning that Emma had progressed through in her head was so oddly elementary, so basic, that once she realized the essential truth — the fact that she was now taller than Igor, and by a good bit — she blinked again, and her eyes seemed refreshed and clarified with her new knowledge. She smiled, a bit bashfully, and gave a little laugh, which was aimed more at her slowness in grasping the truth than anything else. But it was also a laugh that was tinged with something else: an “old school” type of gentle mockery, as if to say, ‘Haha, I’m taller than youuuu!’ in the same way that a young girl might tease a young boy on the playground.

Igor was looking up at Emma, his own brow heavily creased, but in an entirely different way. He looked genuinely alarmed and afraid, not of Emma’s pure physical presence per se, but rather because of the fact that, in the past few days, she had grown an absolutely unprecedented amount. He had just started getting close with Emma, and had come to think of her fondly as a “little sister” figure of sorts, who was struggling through her own height disorder, but who remained beneath him, in the very literal sense. But now, all of that was totally out the window, and he found himself staring into Emma’s bashfully grinning mouth. He felt all the shock, surprise, and alarm that an older brother might feel when his younger sister came back from summer camp taller than him…except that for Igor, this had all happened in a matter of days.

Bethany was the first to speak. 

“Oh…my…god,” she intoned through her hands. “She totally is taller than you!”

“B-But…but how?!” asked Igor in a voice that didn’t sound to him like his own. He was still busy studying Emma’s mouth, with his eyes darting around to her full cheeks, her playfully smiling eyes, and the top of her head, which seemed farther above his eyes than what was actually real. 

Emma looked up and down Igor’s body in wonder. His feet still looked huge…his hands were totally enormous…nothing about him had really changed. That was the truly strange thing to Emma right now — everything about her giant friend looked exactly the same, except for the fact that she was now taller than he was. She glanced down at her own hands, her mouth slightly open in a neutral expression of intrigue and inquiry. Her hands looked the same too. Surely they were still smaller than his! She looked back up at Igor’s face and saw how unsettled and…scared he looked. In that moment, a contrasting duo of emotions rifled through her. First, and perhaps most powerfully, she felt a quick tang of challenging, potent aggression towards him, verging on anger. So she had grown taller than him — so what!? She was still the same person, after all! Why did he insist on acting like Martha and Dr. Kline and all the other doctors who she had recently been catching looking at her, and whispering about her to each other in corners? It was part of the old story that Emma was really getting sick of: the contrast between the perfectly fine way that she felt, and the concern of all the other people around her who professed to care about her. What was their problem? So she was growing…so she was still growing…so what? Didn’t they care about how she felt!? Or were they really all that intent on trying to freak her out as much as possible?

Deep down, Emma was feeling this way because she had successfully repressed her own fears and anxieties about her disorder a while ago, way back weeks before, when she had been living in the house with Daniel, before he had gone on that business trip for a week, before they had fought. She had been the one to freak out, many times, in the earlier stages of her growth, but she had gradually managed to reach a point where she had more or less come to terms with the unassailable fact that she was getting taller and bigger, that no one seemed to know why, and that it seemed like there wasn’t really a firmly-defined end in sight. 

For better or worse, exempting little moments like her first weigh-in with Monica the week before, Emma had learned to accept her condition for what it was, and to just take it all on the chin, so to speak. It would have been an entirely different matter if her disorder made her feel sick, or tired, or otherwise negative in any way. But despite occasional muscle cramps and growing pains, Emma was now feeling fresher, more energetic, and more alive than she had ever felt in her life. She didn’t know if it was because of the physical aspects of the growth, or the psychological, or some combination of the two. All she knew was that, when she encountered concerned and alarmed expressions like the one Igor was giving her right now, they made her feel, first and foremost, irritated. 

There was also the slightly, very gentle smugness that came along with the mere fact of a girl being taller than a guy. Emma couldn’t really help her eyebrows going up a little as she locked eyes with Igor for the first time as a taller person, and in the same way, she couldn’t quite help letting out another slight exhale of amused laughter. Once again, it was almost an elementary response: that “tallest girl” in the class was laughing at the fact that she had exceeded the “tallest boy.”

“I…I have no idea,” said Jessica out loud, her voice cautious. “You feeling alright, Emma?” 

“I…uh, yeah!” said Emma, breaking eye contact with Igor and looking to the side and down at Jessica. “Yeah, I feel…the same.” 

“Well you…you grew like four inches…or more…in a single day,” said Igor haltingly, as if he still couldn’t really believe it.

Again, that same strange mixture of irritation and buoyancy flashed through Emma and she turned back to Igor. 

“You sure about that?” she asked, with a lightness to her voice that nonetheless carried something of a sharpened point. “Maybe you just shrunk!” 

Bethany and Jessica both chuckled nervously at Emma’s little suggestion, but Igor was clearly not in any kind of laughing mood. 

“I…didn’t shrink, Emma,” he said seriously. “Trust me, if something like that happened, I’d know. I’m experienced enough with this whole size thing to know that.” 

“Well excuuuuse me, I guess I have a lot to learn!” chided Emma, looking down to Bethany and Jessica for a little badgering support. “Because apparently, I grew four inches overnight and couldn’t even tell!” 

“Y-yeah, Emma…you did,” said Igor quietly. “This isn’t really a laughing matter, Emma. Something serious is going on with you.” 

“I…uhh, I mean, I guess so,” said Emma, dropping her teasing and trying to meet Igor someway in the middle. She could feel an onrush of something like panic suddenly and rapidly approaching her, and she started taking deep breaths. 

“But I feel fine, is the thing,” she said, looking slightly down at Igor hopefully, as if that would somehow convince him to lighten up a bit. 

“Well, uhh, that’s good,” he said. “But still, Emma. I think you really do need to go see Dr. Kline today and tell him about all this. I don't know what it means, but it could be really…uh, serious.” 

Igor saw that Emma had dropped her playful act and was now looking at him with a slightly ashen expression, her mouth open a little, as her eyes searched his. He felt his heart throb a little, and he suddenly felt very sorry for her, and very protective and empathetic towards her. She really was very pretty, and very sweet, and very…innocent. And even though she was an adult, and acted like an adult, there was something in her that Igor had detected, something almost childlike — and pure — that made her different from anyone else he had ever met, at the Institute or otherwise. She hadn’t asked for this; she hadn’t asked for this condition, or any of the heartache (or heartbreak) that came with it. Igor thought of her boyfriend, and feared that her relationship was now in serious jeopardy. But most of all, he was starting to worry that Emma’s condition had well and truly “grown” out of control, potentially pushing her to new and dangerous territory, for others, but most importantly, herself. 

Emma saw the concern in Igor’s eyes, and for a moment, it only served to fuel her impending panic. But she took a few more deep breaths, reminding herself that she felt totally fine, even invigorated, and that it was only natural that someone like Igor, who was so used to being bigger and taller than everyone (especially the women) should react like this when someone finally outgrew him. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and Emma had to admit, it was kind of crazy, and a little funny, that the person to outgrow him was her. 

“Look,” she said earnestly, blinking and taking Igor’s hands in her own, like she had done a couple nights previously. “I appreciate the concern…I really do! But…uh, i’m not gonna…umm…gonna worry too much, ok? I’m going to see Dr. Kline anyway today, so…so yeah, that’s taken care of…uh…of…already.”

Emma had been a little distracted in her speech, because she was realizing, holding Igor’s hands in her own, how…ordinary they felt. Just a few days before, she had been marveling at how big his hands were. But now, well…there didn’t seem to be anything that extraordinary about them anymore. Suddenly, on a whim, Emma released her hands from Igor’s and held up her palm.

“Hey!” she said brightly, trying to lighten the mood a little, “Let’s compare hands! I wanna see if mine are bigger!” 

Wordlessly, and frowning slightly, Igor looked up at her and then to her offered, upright palm. Mechanically, he brought his huge hand up towards hers and carefully lined it up, going forward until their palms and fingers met. After a second or two of jostling and arranging, the comparison was set. Jessica and Bethany had both stood up to get a good look, and only now did Emma realize how small the two of them actually looked compared to her. In fact, the difference between them was so dramatically vast that, for a moment, Emma became completely distracted from her hand comparison with Igor. The top of Jessica’s head only barely managed to reach Emma’s nipples…and Jessica was 7 feet tall. The huge curve of Emma’s mighty hips was even with Jessica’s breasts; Emma glanced down, feeling surreal, and saw that her knees were even with Jessica’s upper thighs. It just…didn’t seem real. Bethany, who was no slouch herself at 6’8, found herself staring straight into the top of Emma’s stomach. Her head didn’t even reach Emma’s nipples, and instead lightly brushed the underside of Emma’s breasts. 

Emma’s eyes flickered strangely from Jessica to Bethany, and back and forth a few times, like she was trying to make sure that she wasn’t seeing things. The two smaller women had known that Emma was big, but nothing had prepared them for the shock of this incredible, unbelievable comparison. Their mouths were hanging slightly open, totally unconsciously, and their eyes were staring far up at Emma’s face, as if they were having trouble convincing themselves that Emma was real. For several moments, they all just stared at each other. 

But then, Emma remembered the hand comparison and snapped her focus back to Igor; she readjusted her hand again, even using her other free hand to make sure that Igor’s wrist was just about even with her own. In doing so, she noticed with a start that her wrist looked a little wider…and a little thicker…than his. How could this be possible!? Igor was the giant one! Now their hands were even, and the result was plain to see: Emma’s fingers were all noticeably longer, and a little larger in general, than Igor’s. She had him…maybe by as much as a third of an inch. And it wasn’t just her fingers — Emma’s palm extended outward from Igor’s on both sides, showing that it too was larger and more substantial. 

Emma felt something like a little knot growing in her throat. There was no way this was real…Igor…and his huge hands…now shorter than her…smaller than her!?! But there was no arguing with the evidence before her. Emma gathered herself together and swallowed the lump in her throat, and she felt better afterward. It was like she had stopped some impending feelings of negativity in their tracks; she didn’t even bother to dwell on what they might have been. Instead, she adopted an attitude of relaxed, offhanded acceptance. How else was she supposed to feel? Her growth disorder had clearly started kicking into high gear, and everything that she had thought about the Institute’s mission to cure her was now out the window. She would have to deal with Dr. Kline…with Martha…with all the other doctors and nurses, and their stunned, uncomfortable reactions, no doubt. Normally, such a thought would have made Emma feel irritated, but right now, she felt almost flippant. A strange giddiness existed where her anxiety once dwelt, and she found herself amusedly wondering how tiny Martha would look to her when she went in for her daily measurements. 

All of this happened in a flash through Emma’s brain, taking up no more than a second in real time. Her eyes flipped back, slightly down, to Igor’s. He was staring at the hand comparison, his brow creased, like he was not understanding what he was seeing. Emma quickly realized that this probably was the first time that someone had been clearly bigger than him…possibly ever. She suddenly felt an urge to tease him. 

“Well…” she said, arching her eyebrow at him as her mouth curved into a grin. “How does it feel?”

“How…does it feel?” asked Igor, not seeming to understand. 

“Yeah!” laughed Emma. “How does it feel to be smaller than someone for once? Smaller hands…smaller arms…smaller legs…smaller everything!”

“I…I can’t….uh…I don’t…don’t know,” sputtered Igor, taking his hand away from Emma’s slowly as his eyes fixed on her huge palm, trying to make sense of it all. 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not even close,” said Emma, standing up straight and putting her shoulders back, so that she stood at her full height. “I’m like…at least a few inches taller than you now.” 

“Emma,” said Igor, his words labored, “I really think you need to go see Dr. Kline…right now.”

“Oh I’m seeing him later on today — what’s the rush?” she asked, waving her hand nonchalantly. 

“You’ve grown…an unprecedented amount…in a crazy-tiny window of time,” he replied, peering slightly up at her anxiously. 

“Yeah I guess I have, haven’t I?” said Emma, nodding to herself. “And you know what? It’s made me freaking hungry!” 

Jessica and Bethany laughed a little at Emma’s lighthearted disposition; but even still, they did so with more than a touch of nervousness and uncertainty. They were still stunned by the raw power of Emma’s sheer physical presence. 

“Hungry?” asked Igor, straining to understand. 

“Yes! Food! I want to eat…right now!” said Emma, opening her mouth and pointing inside. She didn’t quite know why she was acting so silly, but it felt right in the moment, and it was certainly making her feel like she was blunting Igor’s seriousness a bit. 

“I r-really think — ” Igor began, but Emma cut him off, putting her hand up close to his face in a playful “stop” motion. Igor found himself frozen; he still couldn’t believe how big her hands were. 

“Nope!” interrupted Emma, “I’ve made up my mind. Can’t do anything productive if my stomach’s growling. And judging by the size of me now, it would probably sound like a tiger or something, haha! Alright you guys, catch you later!” 

And with that, Emma was off, waving goodbye to her astonished friends as she walked away. She knew why Igor was acting that way: because he cared about her. Still though, that didn’t mean that she had to stand there and put up with the crushing, full weight of his concern. It reminded her of how Daniel had behaved the last couple of weeks before she went to the Institute. She suddenly had a throb in her breast, almost painful…she missed him so much. But almost as soon as the throb came, it was gone again. Yes, she missed him, of course. But it was nice, at least for the time being, to have a little time to herself, when she didn’t have to be suffocated by the anxieties of her loved ones. 

A little while later, Emma was finishing up her lunch in the cafeteria. “Finishing” was a relative term, since Emma didn’t really feel full — she was confident that she could have gone on eating for another twenty minutes at the same slightly-feverish pace she had been going at. Stacks of plates had been slowly building around her, as she kept going back to the food line for more. Cafeteria policy held that patients needed to use a new plate each time they got more food, and so Emma had ended up building herself a stack that was beginning to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Four, five…ten plates later, and she was still going. She knew that everyone was watching her; she had been attuned to their eyes ever since she came into the cafeteria. Conversations had stopped…people had turned around, whispering with hushed voices at the newly-burgeoned giantess in their midst. 

For a little bit, Emma had actually enjoyed the attention. She had been expecting it, given the reactions of Igor, Jessica, and Bethany, and when everyone had turned in lockstep, they were fulfilling her anticipation. It was almost hilarious how perfectly they had all fallen into the modes of behavior she had predicted, and Emma couldn’t help chuckling to herself a little as she went over to grab a tray. Even though it was certainly amusing how shocked and serious everyone seemed, her main concern remained the satiation of her hunger…with each passing moment, the pit seemed to deepen in her stomach, groaning out to be filled. 

And now, 45 minutes later, it still wasn’t full. But Emma had just looked up at the clock, realizing that she only had five minutes to get to the exam room for her daily measurements with Martha. She looked intently at the stack of plates she had accumulated, and the countless husks, cores, stems, seeds, and other food refuse that had become scattered across her tray. 

‘Good lord,’ she thought to herself, blinking her eyes at the scene in disbelief, ‘I seriously ate all that? Oh my god, I’m like a freaking animal!’

She made wide eyes to herself and shook her head slightly, chuckling a bit at the ridiculousness of what she was looking at. How many plates were there? Ten? Twelve!? Plus a whole felled thicket of forks, despite the fact that, halfway through her meal, Emma had largely abandoned the use of utensils, choosing to simply use her hands instead. It didn’t really seem to make sense for her to use the forks anyway — even though they were purposefully designed to be larger than average (to accommodate the large patients), Emma had found them almost pointless. To her, they seemed like slightly-larger-than-average, pronged toothpicks. After a little while, she felt silly even trying to use them and had instead decided to just put the food in her mouth herself. As she ate, she had a strange feeling that something was off, although her desire to feel satisfied distracted her from actually giving it too much thought. 

If Emma had paused enough in her eating, however, it wouldn’t have taken her long to realize why everything seemed a little weird: the food was just…small. Strawberries seemed like big blueberries; the bananas seemed miniature; a full-sized plate of chicken and rice was puzzlingly gone in a few bites; a large glass of milk was strangely empty after one sip. The whole structure of plates, glasses, and utensils seemed a bit silly — what was the point of having them if Emma had to go back over and over and get more? Wasn’t it all a bit wasteful on the part of the Institute? Shouldn’t they have larger dishes and silverware!? This was the Institute for Growth Disorders, after all! Hadn’t they planned for this kind of thing? 

But Emma didn’t let all of this get to her — these thoughts came across to her more as casual musings rather than indignant complaints. But it was definitely interesting to her…how ill-equipped the cafeteria seemed to be in accommodating her. It was around this point that Emma noticed that no one had come to sit with her. Such a thing was generally unusual, as, by this time, she had become friendly with a good number of patients and was used to chatting with them during meal times. She looked around the cafeteria, noticing a few people who definitely knew her…catching their eye, Emma waved at them heartily…they timidly waved back and turned away. Emma frowned slightly; what was going on? They were all acting like they were afraid of her or something. 

She glanced back to her empty dishes. She had made a bit of a mess…and come to think of it, the time she had eaten, she hadn’t really been thinking about much of anything. She had…kind of blacked out a little. Perhaps she had been a little too ravenous for other people’s comfort? Had she been making noises while she ate? She wasn’t really sure…a flash of hot insecurity went through her face, reddening her cheeks a bit. But it was just a flash…gone in no more than five seconds. She didn’t have anything to apologize for — she had been starving! What was she supposed to do? Eat all daintily, one morsel at a time?! She didn’t have time for that — she had literally been stuffing her face for over half an hour, and she was still hungry! 

She stood up from her chair (which had made her ass sore, since the seat had awkwardly and uncomfortably been pressing into the middle of her ass cheeks) and stretched a little. She felt something brush against the tips of her fingers…an insect? No. She glanced up at the ceiling, and suddenly realized that it was much closer than she had remembered it being before. She stretched her hand up again curiously, and was surprised to find that she was actually able to brush the ceiling with her fingers. 

‘God damn,’ she thought. ‘How about that?’ 

She looked again at the clock — she only had a minute to get to the exam room. She hurriedly reached down and snatched up the twelve empty glasses on the table, one for each finger, and another two in her palms, and carried them over to the dirty-dish area. People were watching her like something crazy was happening. Emma had been amused at the attention before, but snow she couldn’t help but be annoyed, probably due to her running a little late. What were they all staring at? What was so interesting about her putting away dirty dishes!? The same thought kept on in her mind as she returned to the table, snatched up the stack-full of dishes with one hand, and carried it over in the same way. As she did so, she shot a nearby table a challenging look, as if to say ‘What’re you looking at?’ The table’s occupants all quickly looked down, almost deferentially…or was it…fearfully? Emma couldn’t be sure. But she didn't have time to dwell on it. After putting down her huge stack of plates, she walked quickly out of the cafeteria toward the exam room. She didn’t realize it, but as she left, she had nearly run over a middle-aged man who was just about to walk in through the same entrance. He had fallen over backwards in Emma’s wake, but she hadn’t even seen him…he was only 6’5, the top of his head even with the middle of Emma’s stomach. 

Martha was waiting for Emma in the exam room, and the 5’4 nurse was shocked when she saw her patient bending her head to come through the doorway. 

“Hi Martha!” said Emma genially, but then stopped herself, putting her hand over her mouth in surprise. Martha looked so incredibly tiny that Emma wasn’t able to stifle a little burst of a laugh through her fingers. The nurse’s head was almost exactly even with Emma’s hips — she looked like a 3-year old! Emma stood there, staring for a moment, with her mouth opened slightly in fascination behind her fingers…and then suddenly, stepping forward, Emma bent down and picked Martha up gently, placing two hands around her waist (which easily went all the way around) and lifting her up. The nurse’s face, already frozen in shock, started contorting in alarm. 

“E-Emma!” she said quickly, her voice infused with panic. “Wh-what…what are y-you doing!?” 

Emma didn’t answer at first. She just held Martha up at eye-level for a moment, rolling her eyes curiously over Martha’s comparatively-miniature body. It was all so surreal — Emma knew that Martha was a full-grown adult, and that she wasn’t even that short for a normal person. But in this moment, those thoughts were so far away that it was like they didn’t even exist. To Emma, Martha had become like a little child, all dressed up like an adult. 

“Emma!” cried Martha, starting to squirm.

“Oh…oh, sorry,” said Emma absently, blinking her eyes as she put Martha back down on her two feet. “I just…uh…just wanted to see if I could, you know?” 

“I…um, ok,” said Martha, clearly frazzled from the incident. “Why don’t…uh…let’s just get your measurements, ok?”

It was quickly discovered that Emma was now 9 feet-plus a half-inch tall, and weighed 477.3 pounds. The numbers all sounded like gibberish to Emma, who was too preoccupied with the novelty of Martha’s tininess to really notice or care how much she had grown. 

“And you said you’re…f-feeling ok?” asked Martha, clutching her clipboard to her chest like it was some kind of shield as she looked up at Emma, who was sitting a bit awkwardly on the exam room table. 

“Huh?” asked Emma, who had been distracted by Martha’s tiny feet moving around on the floor. “Oh! Uh, yeah! Yeah, I feel totally fine. I mean…I guess…maybe a little sore or something? But I did go on that long walk with Igor yesterday, so maybe that’s why.” 

“Is it just your legs and feet that are sore?” inquired Martha cautiously. 

Emma took several seconds to answer; part of her felt like this all couldn’t be real. Martha’s clipboard looked like a doll’s toy. Her fingers were so tiny Emma almost couldn’t see them. It was like some kind of joke. And at the same time, Emma knew all of this was real. in her current frame of mind, though, it was hard to take anything too seriously. 

“My…legs?” asked Emma uncertainly, looking back at Martha’s face indistinctly. The nurse must have been able to detect the casualness in Emma’s demeanor, because her next words were tinged with irritation, brought on by stress. The nurse had intended to convey to Emma the seriousness of the situation, but her words came out sounding more annoyed than she meant them to. 

“Yes, Emma. Your legs and feet. I’m asking you if they’re the only things that feel sore. I need you to focus here, please.”

Emma fixed her eyes on the nurse, blinking away the flippant film that she had been staring through. Now Martha was just getting on her nerves. 

“Hey, I’m just trying to take it easy and be relaxed here, Martha,” she said. “You don’t need to grill me.”

“O-ok…ok!” said Martha, dropping her clipboard on the floor and putting up her hands in a motion of surrender. “Sorry! I’m not trying to make you angry!” Emma hadn’t realized it, but at her size, conveying something as tame as annoyance was frightening. 

Emma kept looking at Martha, not understanding why she was behaving so dramatically. 

“No,” said Emma, her eyes fixed on Martha. “My whole body’s actually kind of sore. Does that answer your question?” 

“Y-yes! Yes, it does,” said Martha, bending down to fetch her clipboard, dropping it again, and reaching to pick it up once more. Emma suddenly saw that the nurse was shaking. She felt a wave of guilt that nearly made her sick, but then, almost immediately replacing it was a streak of intensified irritation. She didn’t have to put up with all this nonsense. 

“So is that all?” asked Emma, making no secret of her desire to leave. 

“That’s…um, yes. Yes, I think that’s all, Emma,” said Martha in a shaky voice. 

Emma stood up and looked down for a moment at the tiny nurse beneath her. A sick wave of guilt passed over her again, and she suddenly felt very sorry for Martha. Not wanting to entertain the implications of her own complicated emotions, Emma strode towards the doorway, getting there in two steps. She didn’t want to leave Martha on that uncertain, negative-tinged note, so she turned around and tried to smile. 

“Hey!” she said, affecting a light, playful tone as she pointed to the doorframe. “Looks like I’ve gotten a little too big for the “Octa” exam-room door, huh?”

“Hehe…uh…y-yeah…yeah I guess you have,” said Martha, forcing a chuckle out of her body. 

“Well, guess we need to have the next exam in a…what would you call it…a 9-foot room?

“Ennea,” said Martha in a strange voice.

“Ennea? Is that what it is? I like the sound of that!” said Emma pleasantly. 

“But…we don’t have any of those rooms, Emma,” said Martha, in the same strange tone. “Octa’s as high as we go here.” 

Later on that day, Emma met with Dr. Kline — she went in feeling almost bouncy…breezy…in light spirits, despite the slight rancidity at the tail-end of her exchange with Martha. Emma’s mind seemed to be constantly finding new things to locate and fixate upon: the tiny little doorways, the miniature cars of the staff in the Institute parking lots, the effortless speed with which she was now able to walk, compared to the smaller strides of everyone else. It was enough to distract her, and make her forget. However, in contrast to her mood when she went into the doctor’s office, she came out feeling a glum, depressed, and annoyed. 

She felt like an old cycle was repeating itself; Dr. Kline had told her, in no uncertain terms, how serious this new and unexpected growth acceleration was. Emma had tried to bring him back down a little, and make him understand that she was feeling fine, but he didn’t seem to hear her concerns properly. He just kept repeating phrases like “rogue case” and “concerning developments” and “not taking this lightly,” and after a while, Emma had just had enough. She hadn’t quite “stormed” out of the office, but she had definitely left before Dr. Kline had wanted her to. But she couldn’t take it anymore — all the long-faced, somber, weighty words…the fateful tone…she just didn’t want to hear it anymore. If they didn’t know what was wrong with her, what good were they, anyway!? Good for nothing other than trying to freak her out, apparently. 

So she had left Dr. Kline’s office and gone to the gazebo in the courtyard garden, her favorite place to lose herself in her own thoughts. She was happy to see that Igor was already there, but it didn’t take long for her to remember that he, too, was not dealing with her condition too well. He greeted her anxiously, asking how the exam and visit with Dr. Kline had gone.

“Oh I don’t know,” sighed Emma, sinking down onto one of the benches that groaned underneath her. “Everyone seems totally freaked out by me all of a sudden. It kind of sucks.”

“Well, I mean…I understand Emma,” said Igor kindly, reaching down and holding her hand. It still felt so weird to him, to be holding a hand that was bigger than his own…particularly a younger woman’s hand…but he held on all the same.

“It’s just that…well, you know,” he continued, trying to catch her eye as she looked off a little sadly into the garden, “the way you’ve really…uh…sprouted up. It’s kind of unprecedented. Even here.”

“Really?” Emma asked quietly, still looking off into the garden. “This hasn’t ever happened before?”

“Not that I know of,” said Igor. A few seconds passed by, and as they accumulated, Igor felt the impending need to comfort her. 

“But,” he said, squeezing her hand and putting in the effort to smile genuinely, “But the important thing is that you’re still feeling good. I mean, even though you’re going through a little spurt now, you’re feeling ok, right?”

“I guess,” murmured Emma wistfully. A few more silent moments came and went, with the two giants sitting next to each other, hand and hand. Igor was starting to feel like his reassurances were doing the trick. 

“Actually,” said Emma suddenly, “I am feeling a little…I don’t know what it is…sorer? Than usual.” 

“Sorer?” asked Igor. “You mean, like, in your muscles?”

“Mmhm, all over,” nodded Emma, wincing slightly. “Almost like it’s in my bones too.” 

“Interesting,” said Igor. “You told Dr. Kline about it?”

“Ha! Yeah,” said Emma, laughing a little ruefully. “He was very serious about everything. Kind of annoyed me, really. It was like he was trying to scare me or something.”

“Well Emma,” said Igor, trying very hard not to sound condescending, “He is the head doctor here. I think his opinion matters.”

“Well if he’s such an expert,” countered Emma, turning and looking Igor straight in the face, “Then how come he has no clue what’s going on with me?” 

“I…uh, don’t really have an answer to that,” said Igor, looking down in Emma’s lap, away from her challenging stare. She was a little intimidating, even though she didn’t realize it. 

And then…he saw it…and felt it…happen. His eyes had been resting on Emma’s hand, which he was holding in his own, when suddenly, he saw it grow. Her hand…and her wrist and arm attached to it, visibly lengthened and swelled in size. It couldn’t have lasted for more than a couple seconds, but to Igor, the time seemed to stretch on for far longer. His eyes went wide as he felt Emma’s hand expanding around his. He saw her fingers grow longer and thicker, and along with her widened, heavier palm, felt even huger in his grasp. 

In alarm, Igor pulled his hand away from hers — it was more a “fight-or-flight” response than anything else…but it was the only thing that his body was capable of in the moment. Emma, who had returned to staring melancholically at the garden, turned her head towards him inquiringly. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“E-Emma…Emma, are y-you…are you feeling ok?” asked Igor shakily. 

“Yeah, why?” she responded. “I mean…definitely still sore. Got a bit of a flash of it there. But I’m fine. What’s going on, Igor? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“I…I just saw you grow,” he breathed, his heart hammering away in his chest. 

Emma narrowed her eyes at him. A few moments of silence passed before she spoke. 

“What?”

“I j-just…like, literally saw you grow, Emma.” 

She kept her eyes on him, seeming to search for something. 

“Igor, come on,” she said a couple seconds later. “You didn’t just see me gr—”

“I know what I saw Emma,” interrupted Igor, looking up at her. There was no doubt; she was sitting higher than she had been, covering more area on the bench; even her white Institute gown had started to adhere to her form. She had grown everywhere.

“And I felt it too,” he continued earnestly. “I felt your hand grow…your fingers got longer…got bigger! Look at you, Emma! I can just tell — you’ve grown everywhere!” 

Emma was looking at him with her mouth pursed shut, her brow starting to furrow. She didn’t believe him. He had to somehow prove it to her. He showed her his palm.

“Here, Emma — j-just…just let’s compare, ok? Just for reference? We did it this morning; if you didn’t just grow now, it’ll be the same.”

Emma hesitated, and then put her hand up to his. Igor’s fingers didn’t even reach her first knuckle now — there was no question. 

“See!?” he cried. 

Emma stood up suddenly. She didn’t know what was happening; she didn’t know what to think. She just needed to get away from Igor’s panicking energy. She had had it. Igor stood up with her, hoping to stave off her flight. He was shocked to see that he was looking straight into her shoulders. 

“I don’t need this,” muttered Emma. “I don’t need this right now…at all.” 

She fled the gazebo, nearly knocking her head on the underlay as she left. Igor called out to her to wait, to stop, but she didn’t hold back. She needed to find somewhere peaceful, where she could relax and just…be alone. Her dorm room seemed to be the only option…but when she reached it, she found a group of doctors and nurses waiting for her there, Dr. Kline and Martha among them. There were 6 or 7 in all. Emma stopped dead, her only hope for refuge totally dissipated. Dr. Kline’s head was right at her navel; the other doctors looked even smaller. What the fuck were these little people thinking, getting in between her and her bed?! 

“What’s this!?” she asked, a little out of breath, making no secret of her displeasure. Although she didn’t realize it, her voice had become deeper, more substantial, and louder. The doctors drew back a little.

“E-Emma,” said Martha, stepping forward. “W-we…we’re all concerned about you and…and I think we need to admit y-you to…to our intensive care unit overnight for…for some more tests.”

“More tests?” asked Emma, feeling her blood start to boil as she stood up to her full height. She felt her Institute gown beginning to stretch on her body. Who was this tiny nurse to tell her what to do!? She didn’t even come up to her belly button! Emma suddenly had a flash of a thought: ‘No one under my breasts can tell me what to do,’ but it was quickly lost, because Dr. Kline was stepping forward to back Martha up.

“It’s for your own good, Emma,” he said, affecting a brave voice as he came up to her cautiously. As he did so, the other doctors and nurses slowly followed, beginning to form a half-circle around Emma, trapping her against the hallway wall. Emma saw that Dr. Kline was holding a syringe in his hand. 

“I know it’s been stressful for you, Emma,” he said as soothingly as he could, “So I’m just gonna give you a little something here to help calm you down…to make you feel better…so we can get you in and run those tests.” 

He started to aim the syringe at her lower stomach, the other doctors and nurses tensely poised. And right then, Emma snapped. She angrily slapped the syringe out of Dr. Kline’s hand, sending it shattering into the opposite wall. Dr. Kline cried out and jumped back, and the other staff did the same, their eyes full of fear. 

“No more tests!” Emma bellowed, stomping her foot. “I don’t want any more tests or examinations or measurements or ANY of it!!”

“E-easy Emma!” called Dr. Kline, his voice trembling. 

“Emma, Emma, it’s all right!” called Martha. 

“No it’s NOT alright!!” yelled Emma, stamping her foot again, cracking the marble floor underneath her. “I’m surrounded by all you…you tiny little people who are just SOOO worried about THIS and THAT…and all you wanna do is run more TESTS!! You have NO IDEA what’s wrong with me, do you!?!”

Everyone was breathing hard as they stared up at Emma, having no clue how to handle her. 

“DO YOU!?” she screamed, stomping again and further cracking the floor. Her fists were balled up and shaking. One of the nurses fled down the hall; the others didn’t look too far behind her. 

“NO, Emma, you’re right!!” yelled Dr. Kline. “You’re RIGHT…we…we don’t know yet!” 

Emma stood there, panting with rage, glowering down at them. 

“Which is why,” continued Dr. Kline, “We need to admit you to the intensive care unit for the — ”

“I’M NOT GOING!!” shouted Emma, stamping her feet and shaking her head wildly, so that her hair flew all around her face. With a shot to her brain, she suddenly knew what she wanted. 

“I WANT Daniel!!” she screamed. “I WANT MY BOYFRIEND!!! I WANT TO SEE HIM!!”

There was no reply, as everyone else was petrified with fear. Emma took a single step towards them, and they yelled out as their backs hit the wall. None of them had ever been so terrified in their entire lives. 

“DID YOU HEAR ME!?” she bawled, tears starting to gush out of her eyes. “I…WANT…Daniel!!!” 

“OK, Emma, OK!!!” yelled Dr Kline. “We’ll get him!! We’ll call him right now!! Ok!?” 

Emma stood there, hunched aggressively over the staff, breathing hard, her face flushed, and her eyes full with tears. 

“O….ok,” she said. Her rage quelled, and looked down at Martha…at Dr. Kline…at how terrified and tiny they all looked. It was all a little too much. Her face contorted and she burst into tears, backing into the opposite wall and collapsing into a sitting position. After a few moments, Martha cautiously came over and comforted her, easily dabbing her eyes from a standing position. 

Later that night, Daniel drove up to the Institute. Needless to say, he had been worried sick by Dr. Kline’s phone call and had gotten there as quickly as he could. His heart stopped when he pulled up to the entrance: Emma was standing there, in her white medical gown, her hands clasped eagerly in front of her, waiting for him. There was no question it was her — she was so beautiful, so innocent-looking, but…HUGE. 

His heart fluttering with surreal energy, he stepped out of the car and jogged up to her. Emma shouted out and ran towards him, and as she did so, Daniel could feel the ground shaking a little beneath his feet. She grew huger and huger with each passing moment, until they were right in front of each other. Daniel only had a moment to register that he was staring straight into her lower-stomach area, right where her belly button would have been, before he felt his organs drop in his body as two huge, powerful hands hooked down under his arms and lifted him up. Before he knew it, more than half of his face, from his upper nose to his chin, was engulfed in a wet, warm, syrupy kiss, mixed with the slight saltiness of Emma's tears. 

“Daniel!!!” she sobbed, squeezing the air out of him. “Let me out of here — get me out!! I wanna go HOME!”

Part 10

For the next several minutes, Daniel felt like he was trapped in some kind of crazy kaleidoscope of big, gushing tears, hot, sweet breath, and huge, moist lips, as Emma kissed him on his face again and again, sobbing into his shoulder all the while. The crazy thing was that she had swooped Daniel up off the ground, dangling his limbs multiple feet off the ground as she hugged him to her, squeezing in desperate affection, to the point where he was barely able to get his words out anymore. 

“Emma…” he panted weakly, hardly able to make a sound as she compressed his lungs into his chest. “Emma…p-please…please…”

“Oh Daniel!!” she cried, continuing to hug him to her as she nuzzled his shoulder over and over, interspersing her innocent, almost animal-like emotion with wet, sloppy kisses directly on his face. “I’ve missed you soooo much!! You…you can’t even know!! Oh my god, oh my GOD…I just…I never want you to leave me again!! *Smoochsmooch* Promise me, Daniel!! *Smooch* Promise me that you’ll take me away from here!!”

“Emma…” Daniel forced out, as his face began to turn pale white from lack of oxygen, “C-can’t…can’t breathe…”

“Huh?” she asked, sniffing her nose and blinking the tears out of her eyes as she looked up from his shoulder (which at this point was sopping wet with her tears). She stared into Daniel’s face for a couple moments, puzzled at his wide-eyed panicked expression, and it was only after Daniel started gaping wildly like a fish out of water that she realized that she was holding him too tight, and that he couldn’t breathe. Quickly extending her arms outward, she gave Daniel the space he needed to catch his breath; his legs, though, were still dangling well off the ground. It wasn’t lost on him that Emma’s huge hands (which felt extra enormous under his armpits) were having absolutely no trouble in holding him off the ground, at arm’s length. 

“Oh! Sorry!” she said quickly. “Are…are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” he answered, coughing a few times before he blinked rapidly and made a notable effort to give Emma a reassuring smile. He had known, from the conversation on the phone with Dr. Kline, that Emma was having a kind of breakdown…or at least some kind of panic attack, and that he needed to prepare himself to deal with it. But nothing could have prepared him to see his girlfriend this huge. It didn’t matter that he was 6’1 — she was well over 3 feet taller than him, and frighteningly strong…and worse, she was frightened and upset. 

“It’s all good, Emma!” he added bravely, maintaining his smile in an attempt to calm her down. “It’s all ok! I’m here, and…and we’re not g-gonna be…be separated again, ok? You understand? I’m…I’m not going anywhere.”

“But WE are, aren’t we!?” asked Emma. “We’re not gonna stay here…You’re gonna get me out of here, right!?”

“R-right…yes,” said Daniel, nodding vigorously. What else was he going to say? He didn’t know what was the best decision, medically-speaking, but he was in no doubt that it would have been dangerous, in that moment, to say anything except what Emma wanted to hear. For the next few minutes, he continued to give Emma exactly what she wanted, comforting her and reassuring her over and over that he wasn’t going to leave her again, and that he would pull her out of the Institute as soon as possible. He was never really comfortable in her arms, even if she had stopped inadvertently squeezing the life out of him, because, in her unstable state, Daniel didn’t quite trust her to know her own strength. Several times, he had to remind her not to squeeze too hard under his arms, and to not kiss him too hard.

“I…Ow! G-Emma!” he exclaimed, after one such kiss directly on his face felt like she was about to suck the skin off his nose and cheeks. “Th-that…that hurts!” 

“Aw, I’m sorry Daniel!” Emma said immediately, shaking her head. “I j-just…it’s soooo good to finally see you again…and…and touch you!” 

“I…y-yes…it’s good to see you too,” he replied, quite truthfully. But the more nuanced truth was that Daniel was feeling more shocked and stunned at Emma’s sheer size and strength than anything else. She was basically using him as a teddy bear, a role that he had not prepared for as he drove up to the Institute. But he resigned himself to this temporary position, calming his gigantic girlfriend in the middle of the night, in the Institute parking lot, bathed with the strange and surreal illumination of his car headlights, which he had forgotten to switch off the moment he saw Emma.

A little while later, Daniel had convinced Emma to go back inside the Institute and get some rest in her dorm room. She had been reluctant to go at first, but after he promised that he would be taking her home the next day, Emma finally relented. Ever since her emotions had snapped earlier that night, when she confronted the legion of doctors outside her dorm room, Emma had not been able to think very clearly. She knew that, in her tantrum, she had reverted to a strange kind of childishness, which took on a new flavor and dimension when she embraced Daniel. Her free-flowing emotions had changed, at that point, from anger to desperate and unfettered infantilization. She was aware that it was probably embarrassing for her to be seen in such broken pieces, in such a tattered and regressive state, but she didn’t care. Even after she had calmed down, she didn’t really regret her emotional outburst. It was the only way that she could have thought to react to the situation…and anyway, it had gotten her what she wanted, hadn’t it? 

The one big aspect of her behavior, though, that Emma remained oblivious of was the sheer extent of how terrifying she was to all around when her emotions were unstable, particularly when she was angry. Somewhere in her subconscious, Emma remembered the pale terror on the faces of the doctors as she stomped her feet in the hallway, screaming and shouting down at them…somewhere in her brain, she knew how badly she had scared them all. But Emma didn’t want to think about any of that now. If she started to go back to that memory, she got sick to her stomach. In any case, Daniel was here and she had calmed down, so it was all over. And besides, if she was really being honest about the whole thing, Dr. Kline, Martha, and the others had kind of set themselves up for everything that happened — what had they been thinking, gathering like that at her door, like they were setting some kind of trap for her, with all their syringes filled with god-knows-what drugs!? What had they expected to happen??

Emma was so exhausted that she ended up just going back to her dorm room and falling asleep, with Daniel by her side, of course. Once she was asleep, Daniel sat there beside her bed, staring strangely at her bare feet that hung off the bed, a bed that was already designed to accommodate a 8-foot-plus giant or giantess. But Emma, being almost nine-and-a-half feet tall by this point, was just too big for it. Minutes later, however, she was asleep. Daniel peered into her face, which had softened with sleep…he felt so sorry for her, to the point where it seemed like his heart would break. She didn’t deserve any of this. She was just an unassuming, kindhearted girl who wanted to fit in and be loved, eager to love back in return. He noticed that his shoulders and armpits were already sore from her tight, affectionate squeezes…as was his entire diaphragm. He would really need to somehow teach Emma to be cognizant of the effects of her size and strength, or else she was really going to hurt someone one of these days. Her huge chest rose and fell…rose and fell…as Daniel helplessly watched her massive breasts go up and down, up and down. What were they going to do now?

“Daniel,” whispered a voice from around the door. It was Dr. Kline. Daniel waved to him, smiling sadly. Dr. Kline motioned for him to quietly join him in the hallway, and Daniel rose and followed, pulling the door to very gently so as not to wake Emma up. 

“So…um, yeah, she’s out,” said Daniel, shaking his head ruefully. “She’s…uh, had a tough night, I think.”

“We all have,” said Dr. Kline seriously. “I’m sorry, Daniel, but…I just have to be honest with you. I’ve never seen anything like the growth that Emma has been experiencing recently.”

“Like…the, uh, the extent of the growth? The speed?” asked Daniel.

“Both!” said Dr. Kline immediately, speaking barely above a whisper. Even though his voice was quiet, it carried a tone of true alarm and perplexity. “It’s unprecedented, at least in my experience. I wish I could say that we knew what was going on with her, but…we…we just don’t know.”

“So…all those tests? Nothing came up?” Daniel was doing his best to ask these questions without making the doctor feel more stressed than he already felt. 

“Nothing,” replied Dr. Kline. “Usually we’re able to locate certain enzymes or hormones or proteins that are out of whack, and once we pinpoint the cause we can usually begin some kind of proactive treatment. But with Emma, we haven’t been able to find anything.”

“Do…do you think that, uh, if she…stayed here longer, you might be able to, uh…to find anything?” asked Daniel uneasily. He was pretty sure he knew what the doctor’s answer would be, but he felt like he had to ask anyway. 

“Well, I can’t really say anything for sure,” Dr. Kline began, sighing as he shook his head, “But…and I’m sure you’ll understand, Daniel…I have to say that we…can’t keep her here anymore.”

“No?” asked Daniel, feeling his stomach jump a little, even as the doctor gave him the answer he had expected.

“No,” Dr. Kline repeated. “It’s just…well, it’s essential that our patients, whoever they are, actually WANT to be here, you understand? Because of the nature of this particular family of disorders, um…”

“You mean growth disorders?” asked Daniel.

“Yes…yes, growth disorders,” replied Dr. Kline, looking almost embarrassed to say what he was saying. “Because of…well, you know…the fact that our patients here are…much bigger and stronger than ordinary humans…you understand, then, that we’re not really in a position to force any kind of treatment on anyone, even, uh…even if we think it’s for their own good.”

“But…but you said that you had tried to do that with Emma,” Daniel countered, feeling a sudden need to argue a little. “You had…what was it? A sedative ready for her?”

“Y-yes,” said Dr. Kline, “And, believe me, Daniel, I didn’t want to use it on her, but…well, there didn’t seem to be another option. She was clearly not going to stand for any more tests.”

“But you weren’t able to do it?” Daniel didn’t know how he felt right now. On one hand, and most prominently, he was angry at the thought of Emma getting sedated against her will. But on the other hand, he understood why Dr. Kline had attempted it. With these competing emotions within him, Daniel felt frustrated by the fact that he couldn’t feel one emotion purely. 

“No,” said Dr, Kline in a low voice. “And, well, I think that was the breaking point, Daniel. This is not a punitive decision on our part, you understand? But here at the Institute, the doctors and staff need to feel like we’re…um…you know…safe. And what happened tonight…we didn’t feel safe. None of us did. And before you say anything, please, please understand that I don’t blame Emma in any way whatsoever. She’s a sweet girl…so sweet, actually, that it breaks my heart to have to say this. But it’s clear that she doesn’t want to be here, and…after tonight, we just…can’t have her here.”

“Because the staff is too scared of her?” asked Daniel, his voice sounding odd out loud. 

Dr. Kline simply spread his hands open, tilted his head slightly to the side, and raised his eyebrows slightly as he gave another sigh. Daniel quickly decided to spare the doctor any further questions — he knew what he had said. A few minutes later, he was back in the room with Emma alone, sitting in the chair by her bed. 

‘Jesus, look at all this here,’ thought Daniel anxiously to himself as Emma slept away, ‘I’m sitting here next to her bed, like she’s…in intensive care or something. Like she’s really sick, and I’m…just, like…holding vigil.’

He felt sick to his stomach, with pity for Emma, with anxiety and anguish at the situation, with the unknown, and with the mere unreality of everything that was happening. He was finally able, an hour or so later, to nod off in the chair, falling asleep to the paradoxical sound of Emma’s heavy breathing.

The next morning, Daniel snapped awake to the sound of Emma bounding awkwardly around in her dorm room. He saw her struggling with something white on her body, and finally, after a few seconds, he realized that it was the white Institute gown that she had been wearing the whole time…but now, it had become uncomfortably tight, and she was trying to stretch it out to make some breathing room for her growing body. And it wasn’t just that — Daniel saw that her head was even closer to the ceiling than it had been the night before. Or maybe he was just…bleary-eyed or something, after just waking up. 

“Oh, sorry!” Emma exclaimed, seeing Daniel move in his chair as she looked up from struggling with the gown. “I didn’t mean to wake you up! I felt so bad for you, sleeping in that uncomfortable chair! You should’ve come and snuggled with me!”

“I…uh…I didn’t want to wake you up!” said Daniel, stretching in the chair and standing up. The truth was, he hadn’t even considered joining her in bed…not because he wasn’t attracted to her. He just…hadn’t considered it.

“Damn thing’s too small for me now,” muttered Emma, returning abruptly to her task as the fabric slipped out of her grasp and snapped back down onto her skin. “I need to get out of this thing before we leave!” 

She paused a moment, eying Daniel carefully. 

“We…are leaving today, aren’t we?” 

“Yes! Yes, of course we are!” replied Daniel, coming up to her, having already decided not to tell her about the conversation he had had with Dr. Kline the night before. “We’re gonna get out of here…just as…just as soon as…we get those papers…signed.” 

Daniel had not been able to help trailing off as he approached Emma, because, if he had been shocked by her size the previous night, seeing her for the first time in the bright sunlight that bathed the room…well…it was something entirely different. There was no question that Emma had grown again during the night. The thick curve of her mighty hips was now just above Daniel’s eyes, and he found, if he looked slightly downward, that he was looking straight into her pubic triangle, which was clearly visible, since her vaginal lips pressed tightly into the interior of her formerly-loose-fitting white gown. He blinked his eyes blankly as he swallowed without realizing it. He felt like a child in front of her, which was all the more strange for him since, looking up at her, it was Emma who was behaving a bit peevishly. 

“Freaking thing’s ridiculous,” she muttered to herself, pulling on the fabric as her hands flexed around it, trying to make it expand. As she did so, Daniel saw the tendons in her hands tighten powerfully, as the muscles in her forearms swelled high over his head, under her efforts. Daniel quickly registered, with a kind of surreal coolness, that her arms were unquestionably bigger and stronger than his legs…it wasn’t even close. 

A ripping sound began to cut the air, and Emma once again let the fabric snap back on her skin as she threw her arms up in frustration, rolling her eyes and sighing out exasperatedly. The sudden movement of her arms, in addition to her mighty sigh, actually forced Daniel to take a step back, to shield himself from the wind they created.

“It’s…it’s gonna be ok…honey,” Daniel managed to say. “We’ll…we’ll get you some new clothes. Ms. Bisset will be —”

“Huh?” asked Emma, her voice much louder than she thought it was. “What’re you saying, Daniel? It sounds like you’re just mumbling.” 

She bent down toward him, putting her hand to her ear as she furrowed her brow in concentration. Daniel unconsciously took another step back as she descended toward him, since, from his perspective, it looked a little bit like the sky was falling.

“I…I was j-just saying,” Daniel spoke up louder, “That Ms. Bisset can make you some new clothes. You won’t be stuck with, uh…with…that gown…for long.”

Once again, Daniel felt himself trailing off, since Emma had apparently heard all she needed to from him and had stood back up to her full height, nodding and closing her eyes as she did so. 

“Yes, you’re right,” she sighed, looking out of the window toward the sunlight. She was silent for a few long moments. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna miss a few friends here,” she said wistfully, out of the blue. 

“Your…your friends?” asked Daniel. 

“Well yeah! said Emma, turning back down and looking at him, smiling sadly. “I made some really nice friends, and now…I guess…I’m not gonna be seeing them again.”

“Aw, well…well I’m sure you can, uh, you know…see them again sometime,” said Daniel, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, upon remembering that Emma had been living her own life here in this strange place for weeks without him. 

“Yeah, maybe,” she said, a bit absently. She went back to staring out the window for a while, and Daniel’s discomfort increased as he just stood there, watching her. He had never felt awkward like this before, around Emma. But something about their incredible size difference, and, perhaps more than anything, the simple fact that her head was so far away from him, made him feel like she was perhaps acting more distant from him than she was intending. or was she intending it!? He had no idea.

Emma suddenly turned back down towards him and smiled warmly, blinking her eyes, for all Daniel could tell, like a sweet, innocent little child. 

“But no one here treats me like you do!” she exclaimed. And she bent down again and swooped him off his feet, squeezing his body to hers as she sighed pleasantly into his body. Daniel panicked for a moment, feeling her enormous breasts squish around him on either side, like firm, giant balloons, and the hot pressure of her huge hand on his back, seemingly covering a good portion of its upper region, as she held him to her. He felt the vibration of her sigh go through every atom in his body, from the center of his diaphragm out the top of his head, and down to the tips of his fingers and toes. In that moment, he hardly felt human — once again, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had become her living teddy bear. 

“Mmmm, oh my god!” Emma burst out, the brilliant white row of her teeth showing as she leaned back and gave a delightfully musical laugh (which was somehow deeper than Daniel had been expecting). “You’re, like…haha! You’re soooo tiny now, Daniel! Look at this, haha! I can just…just pick you up and hold you, and…and caress you and…and just be with you! Aww, this is sooo nice! Isn’t this great!? You’re like…my big stuffed animal now!”

“It’s…it’s nice…yes,” Daniel forced out with effort. 

“Mmmmm, you smell nice,” breathed Emma, nuzzling him with her nose as she flared her nostrils, inhaling in his scent. Daniel didn’t know why, but even though he knew that Emma was complimenting him, and clearly enjoying his presence, he had never felt more objectified in his life. He knew that she meant nothing by it, but he couldn’t help struggling a little in her grasp as she proceeded to sniff and smell all over his body.

*sniffsniffsniffsniff*

“Mmmmm, I’ve missed that smell soooo much,” she cooed to him, holding him out in front of her huge face as she smiled toothily at him. Almost playfully, and a little flirtatiously, she closed her eyes again and brought his body up to her nose once more, sniffing around his neck, his chest, under his armpits, and then, finally, down towards his crotch. Daniel felt himself getting hard, but he wasn’t really enjoying all of this. 

“Emma…Emma!” he said, trying to push her away. “Wh-what…what are you doing?!” 

“Haha, just remembering what you smell like, silly!” she giggled at him, crinkling her eyes and winking in his face. “And maybe…you know…reminding myself what…certain parts of you smell like, ya know?” 

“Ah…haha, uhh…yeah,” said Daniel, forcing himself to chuckle a little. “That’s uh…haha, yeah, that’s good, Emma. But let’s, um…let’s focus on getting home before we, uh…before we do any of that stuff, huh?”

Emma pouted her face at him, and for a moment, Daniel thought that he had made her feel bad…maybe he had, but if so, Emma chose not to show it. She rotated her head to the side a little, cracking her neck (which made Daniel jump in her grasp, since it sounded almost like a gunshot), and then smiled, perhaps a little sadly, and set him back down on the ground. Daniel felt puzzled by her cryptic reaction, and felt like he should say something, but for the life of him, he didn’t know what to say. 

“Well alright,” said Emma, sighing a little and returning to some semblance of her normal adult-sounding voice. “I guess…umm…I guess I need to pack all my things up.”

“I’ll help!” said Daniel brightly, feeling like he needed to convey to her how much he was behind her, supporting her in this whole process. They spent the next half hour or so packing everything up, and though their conversation was covered by a sheen of normality, neither of them felt the least bit normal in it. Daniel felt awkward, both in his inability to appease Emma’s strange jubilation in holding him, and in his pure inability to wrap his head around how huge she was now compared to him. Her hands could hold three, four times as much as his could…and they were undoubtedly many, many times stronger. Just…every movement she made was…was more. Emma simply left a bigger imprint on her environment than he did. And it was making Daniel feel small and insignificant in a way that he was not yet prepared to handle.

Emma didn’t know what was going on. Whenever her mind landed on something concrete, she felt wave after wave of unmitigated sadness. She regretted losing control; she regretted scaring the doctors and nurses; she hated how she had reverted to being a big old baby…she couldn’t stand how helpless she felt, and how it contrasted so ironically with how huge and powerful she had become. As she and Daniel packed, she couldn’t help but notice it all in a cold, almost brutal way — compared to him, she was an amazonian beast, who could have her way effortlessly if she wanted to. She shook the floor when she moved…she ruffled his hair whenever she talked close to his head, or made a gesture with her arms. Sitting down next to him on the floor, she noticed her stomach bulging out a little, and couldn’t avoid thinking that she probably weighed about three times what he did now. Emma knew she wasn’t fat…she knew that her figure had developed almost flawlessly, in strangely perfect proportion to her increasing height. But none of that really seemed to matter right now. She was sad about how monstrously big she was…sad about Daniel having to deal with her…sad about making him come get her, and take her away. 

‘I’m such a baby,’ she thought savagely to herself. 

But at the same time, directly conflicting emotions were simmering just as prominently. She was still angry at the doctors for trying to trick her…for trying to catch her, capture her, like some animal. She kept seeing them gathered at her dorm room door, all huddled up together, staring up at her as she advanced on them. 

‘Fucking pipsqueaks,’ she thought aggressively. ‘Thinking they can just inject me to make me do what they want. Fuck them! They barked up the wrong tree, I’ll tell you what. Look at me! They actually thought they could have their way with me…pathetic bunch of midgets.’ 

Even as she thought these things, she looked at Daniel, his little hands folding her old clothes (far too small for her now, of course) and putting them in her suitcase. He looked like a big doll. She just couldn’t help thinking it — he looked like an oversized doll, complete with the suitcase that was sold with him. Little hands…little feet…little head. He was just too precious. And he had come for her. There he was, folding her huge clothes (compared to him, anyway) as best he could. She felt a strange concoction of emotions well up in her, and her heart felt like it was going to burst for him, in a new way. 

She reached over silently and engulfed his tiny body in a hug. She felt his motions freeze in her embrace, and she leaned in harder, completely enveloping him in her arms. For two whole minutes, she just sat there on the bed, holding him from behind in her arms, rocking gently back and forth, with his body in between her breasts. She said nothing the whole time, and neither did he. He didn’t even move…he just sat there, taking it, feeling utterly unable to do anything else.

Chapter 11 

After a couple minutes, Emma finally let Daniel go, and he stood up, stretching himself out a little as he “walked off” her tight embrace. Emma had silently turned back to packing her things; she knew that holding Daniel like that for a few minutes, without any explanation, might have been a bit weird for him, but she had already convinced herself that he would understand where she was coming from. 

‘He came for me…he knows I’m in…a bit of an emotionally fragile state,’ she thought to herself as she watched his (comparatively) small body stretch itself out from the corner of her eye. ‘He knows that I just need some simple love and affection right now — that’s why he didn’t try and say anything, or wriggle away when I held him.’

Emma didn’t particularly enjoy having to admit to herself that she was feeling emotionally fragile, but the more she thought back on her outburst the previous evening, the more obvious it was becoming that she was mentally “walking on eggshells.”

‘But that’s only because I’m here, stuck in this bizarre, incompetent place where they can’t even treat me,’ she reminded herself, as she looked down affectionately at Daniel giving her a slight smile as he continued to stretch out his limbs. She didn’t realize it, but he was actually in some discomfort — in holding him tightly to her for those long minutes, she had inadvertently bruised a few of his muscles. It wasn’t anything too serious, however, and at this point, Daniel was determined not to make a big deal out of it. 

‘Once Daniel takes me away from here,’ Emma continued thinking, ‘I’ll be ok. I’ll be back to my old fun-loving, confident self.’ She suddenly felt a tide of anxiety start to build over her. 

“Daniel!” she exclaimed suddenly, making wide eyes down at him. Even though she was sitting on the bed, and he was standing, his head barely even came up to her nose. 

“What!?” he replied immediately, echoing her distress with some of his own. 

“How are we going to get out of here!?” she asked, her voice taut with energy. 

“Wh-what…what do you mean?” asked Daniel, with a degree of pleading in his voice. He was hoping desperately that she wasn’t about to have another breakdown. 

“I’m not going to be able to fit in your car!” she cried. “So how am I gonna go home with you!?” 

“Oh…ohhhh, haha!” said Daniel, breathing a sigh of relief as he chuckled a little in response. “Don’t worry, Emma — I’ve, uh…I’ve already made some, ah, arrangements.”

“Arrangements?” she asked, peering down at him intently. “What do you mean?”

“N-nothing serious, Emma!” laughed Daniel, falling once again into his slightly bad habit of laughing when he was nervous. The truth was, the way Emma was looking at him made him feel rather intimidated. And…well, his “arrangements” might not make her feel super great about herself. He had hoped to reserve any talk about them for right when they were leaving, so she would want to just get out of there and not make any fuss. But she was still looking down on him, completely serious and scrutinizing in her look, despite her accompanying anxiety. He had to just go ahead and tell her what was going on. 

“S-so…so Emma, please don’t feel weird about any of this,” he started, knowing that the more he stalled, the worse it sounded. “B-but…well, it was, uh…the only way I could think of to, umm…to make sure that you had enough space on the ride back.”

“What’s going on?” she asked bluntly, starting to blink her big eyes rapidly. “What’s going on?” 

Her mouth twitched at the corners, and Daniel was scared that she might burst into tears at any moment. He had to just tell her. 

“I…I rented one of those…those horse containers, Emma! You know? The kind you see on the highway, that they use to transport horses?! B-but I…I m-made sure that there are gonna be plenty of…of mattresses and…and pillows and soft things in there so you’ll be comfortable! I…I know it’s n-not ideal Emma, but, I…I j-just wanted to make sure that…that we didn’t have to spend a whole lotta extra time here deciding how to, uh…how to get you into some sort of…of container to…ugh, god, I know this sounds bad, honey. A horse container!? Hahaha, I m-mean, I know it’s ridiculous, but…just, p-please understand that it’s all just for a couple hours, and it’s all just so that we can…can get you home as soon as…as possible.”

The words had spilled out of Daniel’s mouth, like he was trying to expel them as quickly as possible into the air, just to get it all over with. He realized, as he spoke the words, that he was a lot more nervous about Emma’s reaction to his idea than he had realized previously. He didn’t know what she was going to do, or how she was going to react — he suddenly appreciated that he was even afraid she was going to be so insulted that she would refuse to ride in it. Her initial reaction gave him nothing to go on; she simply sat there on the bed, unmoving, staring down at him. 

“Pillows?” she asked, her voice cutting through the air, breaking the silence. Once again, Daniel subconsciously registered that her voice was noticeably deeper, and…and just…more…more everything. Deeper, more timbre, more force, more power…he had no idea what her tone was right now.

“Y-yes, Emma,” he answered, his voice sounding pitifully small in his own ears. Emma kept looking at him with that same inscrutable expression, and for Daniel, it was like torture. 

“So I’m not going to be able to ride with you?” she asked after a few more moments, her voice lowered a bit to a murmur, even though it still carried weight. 

“Well, uhhh,” said Daniel, caught off-guard, “N-no…um, no, b-but…but it’s only like a two-hour drive back home. We’ll be able to be together again once we’re home, ok?”

Emma breathed in through her nose and sighed, blinking her eyes. Daniel could tell that she was disappointed, but at the moment he felt almost elated — he could deal with her slight disappointment. But even so, as he himself sighed in relief, he felt sorry for her. His sweet, innocent, gigantic girlfriend…having to travel by horse container. She didn’t deserve that. 

“I thought I was gonna be able to ride with you,” she said quietly, looking down at the floor. 

“Aww, honey,” said Daniel compassionately, becoming afraid again that she was going to cry. He walked over quickly to her and stopped in front of her huge lower legs…her massive knees were as high as his waist. How was he supposed to hug her? To comfort her? He decided that he couldn’t tarry any longer, and chose to lean in, a bit awkwardly, toward her lower torso, as he embraced as much of her left-side hips and waist as he could, and squeezed. He felt stupid and inadequate as he did so, but what else was he supposed to do? It didn’t help that Emma didn’t really react to his gesture — she just kept sitting there, staring at the floor.

“It’s only a couple hours, babe,” he spoke into her flesh. “And…and if you want…if…if you feel extra lonely…we can talk to each other on the phone on the way! Haha, I know it’s silly, but…hehe, I mean, maybe it could be fun!”

“Ok,” said Emma thickly, and Daniel suddenly felt the splash of what he felt like was a cup of water come down on his head. He started and looked up to see Emma blinking fat tears out of her eyes. 

“I’m…I’m s-sorry, Daniel,” she sputtered, her mouth twitching again at the corners as her nostrils flared and unflared. “I’m s-sorry I’m being s-such a baby right now…I just…I just wanna get out of here. And…oh god, Daniel, you’re soooo sweet. Thanks for thinking of me and…*sniff*…and planning for everything. I…I’ve j-just been too out of sorts to even…think about any of that stuff.”

“Well that’s where I come in!” exclaimed Daniel, standing back a little to keep from getting even more wet, even though he was now holding Emma’s hand in his own. The gesture itself seemed almost laughable, since Emma’s hand totally swallowed his up, to the point where Daniel even wondered if she could feel his hand at all. 

“You’re my hot, sexy mare that I’m taking back to the homestead!” he blurted out, and as soon as he had spoken, he knew that he had hit exactly the right harmony of silliness and affection. Emma choked and exhaled a hefty laugh, even as a few more tears ran from her eyes, and Daniel could feel the flesh of her torso shaking and jiggling mightily as she flexed and unflexed her stomach in laughter. 

“M-maybe you need to…to go to the bathroom and dry yourself off,” laughed Emma, recovering herself as she wiped her tears away. “They have these amazing heated towels here…that’s, uh…that’s one thing I’ll actually miss.” 

“Hehe, ok I’ll do that,” replied Daniel, grinning up at her as he felt the top of his wet head. “Which way is the men’s bathroom?”

“Uh, I think…turn right out of here, go down the hall a bit, and then it’s on your left before you turn the corner,” said Emma, once again turning to finish her packing. But then she suddenly winced a little, making Daniel pause in the doorway. 

“You…you ok?” he ventured. 

“Yeah…yeah, I’m fine,” she said, shaking her arms out a bit. Daniel was surprised to see how fleshy they had become — they were still totally proportional to the rest of her body, but when she moved them like that, he could see how…big they were. 

“Just a little muscle aches is all,” she added, reassuringly. “I’m used to it by now, haha. Get them all the time.”

“Ok,” said Daniel, and ducked out into the hall. When he was gone, Emma put her folded clothes down and resumed staring back at the floor…she knew she had just grown a little more. 

A few moments later, Daniel was walking down the hallway, marveling at how big everything was compared to him. Everything, from the wideness of the hall, to the height of the ceiling, to the size of the water fountains, seemed to be made for bigger people. It made him feel like a midget, even though at 6’1 he was taller than the average man. He was about to go into the men’s bathroom when a huge figure suddenly emerged from its doorway. Daniel stopped in his tracks, and even drew back a bit. He wasn’t in danger of being hit by the out-swinging bathroom door, but he couldn’t help stopping and staring. A gigantic man stood before him, and Daniel quickly saw that his head reached no higher than the middle of this giant’s stomach. He looked to be around middle-aged, and he moved with such an easy, swaying power, that Daniel somehow knew that this man had been huge for quite some time. 

“Oh! I’m sorry,” said the man in a deep, bass voice that seemed to vibrate the very air around Daniel’s ears. He took another step back; this man…he was just…a little too much. Daniel didn’t feel frightened of the man’s intentions per se — he seemed pleasant enough. But Daniel’s body seemed to be moving on its own accord, driven by a sense of self-preservation. He became conscious of the man’s hands, which looked about three times the size of his own. He knew Emma was big, but damn…this guy had to be bigger. How many more of these giants were there around here!? 

“Uh, n-no…no, that’s…uh, ok,” stammered Daniel, looking up to meet the man’s eyes and then looking away again. He had seen other huge people at the Institute last night, so he didn’t quite know why he was stumbling over himself like this. This particular man was bigger than all the rest of them, though, surely. Maybe Emma was close to his size…but this guy…his voice…his hands…just his sheer size — it all threw Daniel for a loop. 

“Are you lost?” asked the man. 

“Lost?” asked Daniel. 

“Well, I can see you’re not a doctor or a patient,” said the man. “Are you here on a visit?” 

“I’m…yeah, yeah, I’m actually here to take my girlfriend home,” said Daniel, starting to recover himself. 

“Oh?” asked the man, looking down at him intently. Daniel could see the man open his mouth, as if he was about to ask another question, but then he saw him close it again, like he had thought better of it. 

“Y-yeah…yeah, but…but no, I’m not lost,” said Daniel. “Just going to the restroom here…but thanks!”

“No problem,” said the man, stepping aside and holding the huge door for Daniel, gesturing for him to go in. Daniel did so, nodding appreciatively up at the huge man, as he walked into the bathroom under the massive, outstretched arm.

After drying himself off with an admittedly pleasant (and extremely large) heated towel, Daniel went back to Emma’s room. They soon finished packing up, and headed for the main entrance. Daniel had insisted on carrying Emma’s bag, which was half as large as he was. Emma didn’t put up too much resistance in trying to carry it herself, and so they proceeded along as such down the hall, with Emma leading slightly, and Daniel trailing along a bit, struggling with the bulky bag over his shoulder. 

Emma noticed, as they went down the hall, that other patients were poking their heads out of their dorms, silently watching her leave. She felt a defiant wave of hostility pass through her, and she even turned and shot challenging glances at a few of the faces, which responded by retreating quickly back into their rooms. She knew that her episode last night must have spread through the rumor mill like wildfire, which made her irritated for making such a spectacle of herself. More than anything, though, it made her feel even more childishly hostile toward the doctors, which she immediately blamed for spreading the story of her meltdown around the Institute. As they passed a few doctors in the hallway, Emma felt her heart start to beat faster: the result of her ill-will. She was glad to be getting out of there, because the level of antipathy she felt toward those pathetic little midgets in their stupid white jackets was really starting to get out of control. She even went so far as to purposefully walk in the path of several doctors, who were forced to get out of the way, with Daniel giving them a glance of apology as they passed by. 

Emma was well aware that her actions and attitude could have been interpreted as immature or petty, but she just didn’t care. She had gone to the Institute to find an answer to her growth problems, and they had failed…and worse yet, her growth had accelerated. They were worse than incompetent. And to add insult to injury, they were a bunch of cowardly, scheming know-it-alls, who had tried to corner her…and give her drugs against her will. 

‘They’re lucky I didn’t freak out more than I did,’ she thought as she and Daniel neared the front entrance. ‘They’re lucky I’m leaving now…I’d tear this place to pieces otherwise.’ As far as Emma was concerned, she was just brooding moodily. She had no idea how dangerous her energy actually would have been if she had once again lost control. 

Dr. Kline and Martha were waiting for them at the front entrance. Emma felt herself sour further as she realized that she would have to pass them by one final time. Her negative feelings were mostly reserved for Dr. Kline — she liked Martha, even though she felt that the tiny nurse was operating a little over her head. If anything, as far as Emma was concerned, Martha’s main fault was not knowing when the job was too big for her. Dr. Kline, by contrast, was a trickster, and a threat. 

“So sorry to see you go, Emma!” Dr. Kline said as she and Daniel came up on them. 

Emma didn’t even respond; just like she had done with the other doctors, she walked directly toward Dr. Kline. He appeared confused by her rapidly-approaching figure, and eventually realized what she was doing and scampered out of the way. Martha did the same. Emma chuckled down at them derisively, shaking her head….Martha’s head was a full six inches under Emma’s waist. Dr. Kline, even though he was a full-grown man, barely rose above her hips. 

‘The nerve of these tiny little doctors!’ she thought to herself. ‘Even now, they think they lie through their teeth to get me to stay. I’d like to see them try.’ 

“S-Sorry things didn’t work out!” said Daniel, trailing behind with her bag, feeling like he needed to end the whole exchange on a good note. “I know…I know you all tried as hard as you could!”

“Let me just, one final time, encourage you both to reconsider,” said Dr. Kline, putting his hands up in a motion of pleading reconciliation. “We can run more tests…we can…try a few other things.”

“Are you…are you sure about all this, Emma?” asked Daniel. 

She stopped dead; a number of things had just happened at once. She had seen the horse trailer that was attached to Daniel’s car. If they had just been allowed to walk straight out the front door, without any interruption, then Emma would have probably started laughing at the sight. Instead, though, just before she saw the trailer, her anger had flared up — not only was Dr. Kline twisting the knife by trying to guilt her into staying, but Daniel was taking his side!! And now she was faced with the horse trailer that she was forced to travel in, like an animal. She felt the hot tears pool in the sides of her eyes again. But this time, she was furious. 

She whirled around abruptly, her eyes flashing as the tears started to run down her cheeks. Martha took several tottering steps backward and ran away; Dr. Kline stepped back and put his hands up higher, in front of his face, and said, “Easy, Emma, easy!” in a halting, shaking voice. Daniel dropped the bag and nearly tripped over it. Emma saw the fear in his face…saw the fear in the doctor’s eyes, and it all somehow nipped her crying in the bud. She straightened up and wiped her eyes, looking down on them. Something new was stirring in her…and it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. She felt slightly sick…and yet, at the same time, strangely elated. Her emotions were going haywire, but she felt like she was able to float above them all, like they were a poisonous fog that was creeping low along the ground, but that couldn’t reach her…she rose above it all. 

She felt the ground shaking a little and looked up curiously. Igor was hurrying up to her, and behind him, Jessica, Bethany, and a number of others were cautiously gathering at a distance to watch. 

“Emma!” he cried, nearly running over Daniel by accident as he rushed up to her. “I..I just heard! You aren’t…you aren’t leaving, are you!?”

Emma stood up to her full height and took a great deep breath, swelling herself up even bigger. Igor looked even smaller — his head didn’t even come up to her nose anymore. She wanted to respond angrily, but she suddenly felt too calm for all that. She smiled, almost coyly, at him.

“Yes, Igor, I’m leaving,” she said, putting her hands on her hips in a challenging motion. “They don’t know what’s wrong with me, and they tried to dose me last night against my will. That’s it for me — I’m going home.” 

“B-but…But Emma!” begged Igor, “You…you can’t just leave now! Not when your growth is accelerating like it is!”

“And why not, Igor?” asked Emma, her voice beginning to take on a sharpened edge, despite her calmness. “They can’t do anything for me here. I’m gonna be growing no matter what they do. So I may as well go back home, back to my sweet boyfriend who loves me and will take care of me.” 

She gestured down to Daniel, who was still struggling with picking the bag back up. Igor creased his brow as he looked down at Daniel; their eyes met. 

“Wait,” said Igor, pointing down to Daniel, “So…he’s your boyfriend!?” 

“Yeah. And?’ asked Emma. She was preparing herself to viciously defend Daniel against whatever Igor had in store for him. 

“We…we just met,” said Igor, looking down at Daniel with a slightly puzzled expression, “In the hallway.”

“Oh…oh…ok,” said Emma, having to change her plans. She brushed the air with her hand. “But anyway, I can’t stay here, Igor. Not after last night.”

“Please Emma, please don’t just leave,” begged Igor. “I’m worried about what’s going to happen to you!”

“Well I’m worried about what’s going to happen to everyone else here if I stay!” Emma blurted out with real energy. “You don’t understand, Igor! I’m losing my mind here! I’m leaving, and that’s that!”

She made a motion towards the car, and Igor stepped quickly over to block her path. Everyone behind them, all the doctors, nurses, and patients, started buzzing with anxious whispers. A showdown was about to happen…and Daniel had a front row seat. His jaw felt slack — he didn’t really know what his face looked like. He was too busy trying to put the pieces back together of his shattered brain. That gigantic man in the hallway…Igor…was totally dwarfed by Emma, in every conceivable way. His massive legs, those enormous paws that he had for hands, his deep bass voice…all of it was neutered in Emma’s presence. She towered over him. His eyes weren’t even as high as her shoulders. It didn’t matter that he was the hugest man Daniel had ever seen. Next to Emma, he looked quite ordinary…almost small. There was no question that she weighed a good deal more than him. The only thing he had on her was the possibility that his shoulders might have been a bit broader. But even that was questionable. Every other aspect of his body was utterly put to shame by Emma’s. 

And now…they were both facing each other down. Daniel didn’t know what to think — his mind was frozen. The whole host of the institute was frozen and hushed behind him in kind. 

Emma’s lips curled slowly into a smile as she slowly tilted her head, her eyes intently on Igor’s.

“Emmmaaa,” he said, his voice rising with anxiety, “Emmmmaaaa, I don’t like that look you’re giving me!”

“No?” she responded brightly, starting to chuckle, “Then get out of my way.”

“Y-you’re…you’re not in your right mind!” declared Igor, remaining firmly in place, despite the obvious fear in his eyes. 

“I know!” laughed Emma, spreading her arms wide, as if he had just made her point for her. “I literally just told you that I’m losing my mind here!”

“You’re not making rational decisions right now,” said Igor, starting to breathe hard, as his face colored red. “Just…just come with me to the gazebo in the courtyard, ok? And we can just…just talk this out.”

Igor made a grab for Emma’s hand, but she yanked it away from him, and, in the same motion, took her other hand, planted it firmly into Igor’s chest, and shoved him powerfully back with such force that he stumbled back three whole paces before falling to the ground. 

“I SAID,” Emma repeated, “That I’m LEAVING.” She strode a couple paces over to Igor’s prone form, standing over him with her hands on her hips, in an obvious show of power. She pointed a finger down at him. 

“YOU can’t make me stay, Igor. YOU can’t make me do ANYTHING.” She looked up at the rest of the Institute and pointed at them, raising her voice. 

“NONE of you can make me do anything! Come on, Daniel, let’s go!”

She didn’t stop to look at Igor’s baffled, pleading face one last time; she didn’t stop to look at anything. She just marched right up to the horse trailer, ducked her head, and got inside. She found an array of mattresses, pillows, and blankets waiting for her. Just like Daniel had said. She felt her lips quivering again.

‘Fuck, not again,’ she thought to herself savagely as her vision blurred again from the tears. 

“Daniel, you’re so sweet,” she whispered to him through the opening of the horse trailer as he latched the door shut.

“Wh-what? What, Emma?” he asked blankly. He was still wrapping his mind around what he had just seen…and that, somehow, he was with someone as powerful as Emma had become. 

“It’s just like you said it would be in here,” she whispered again shakily, smushing her face up against the opening. “All the pillows and blankets and…soft things. I love you, Daniel!” 

“I…love you too!” he responded genuinely, not understanding her sudden shifts of mood. “O-ok Emma, you’ve…you’ve got your phone in there if you…wanna talk to me, ok?”

“Ok,” said Emma quietly, snuggling up to a mattress like it was a particularly large pillow. She almost felt like sucking her thumb. 

“It’ll just be a couple hours,” said Daniel. “Let’s get you home.” 

Neither of them had noticed the man in sunglasses at the far end of the parking lot, in an unmarked black sedan, watching the whole proceedings with binoculars.

Chapter 12

After a strange drive back home, Daniel finally pulled the car into their driveway, towing the horse container behind, with Emma lounging fitfully inside. During the journey, Emma had called Daniel several times on the phone just to talk and hear his comforting words, and he had done his best to say the right things to Emma while also paying attention to the road. It was a delicate balance — he knew that she was feeling on edge, and so he made a point to refute any insecurities that came up during their talks. 

“I feel like a big old animal in here,” she had complained to him over the phone. “A huge, giant farm animal.”

“Aww honey,” Daniel had replied, “Don’t feel that way. This container was the only thing I could find that was…you know…self-contained…safe enough to take to go on the highway. It’s just a matter of practicality, Emma. try not to overthink it.”

“I can still smell the horses that were kept in here before!” she whined. “It feels like you’re driving me to the Kentucky Derby or something…I feel like…like a giant piece of meat.”

“Emmma,” sighed Daniel, smiling a little to himself and shaking his head, despite a slight twinge of irritation at her slightly infantilized behavior. 

“I know, I know,” she answered immediately in an apologetic, retreating tone. “There I go again, being a huge baby again. And after all the time you spent putting all these soft pillows and mattress in here…oh Daniel, I’m sorry I’m being such a stick in the mud! I’ll try to just shut up now.”

“Emma…honey,” chuckled Daniel, “Don’t sweat it, ok? I know you’re stressed out right now. Just…try and relax, ok?” 

“O-ok,” she said thickly into the phone, and promptly hung up. She didn’t want him to hear her crying again, and or the next several minutes, she buried her face in one of the soft pillows, softly crying here and there. She wished that she could pinpoint what it was exactly that was making her feel so emotional and helpless. 

‘It’s the disorder…it’s as simple as that,’ she told herself. But as soon as the thought dropped into her mind, she knew it wasn’t entirely true. Yes, she was feeling scared, from time to time, of the uncertainty of everything. But her growth alone didn’t seem to explain why her emotions and hormones felt so out of whack. A few minutes later, she called Daniel again…

But now they were back home. Daniel came around and unlatched the trailer door. His breath caught in his throat again when his eyes fell on Emma again. Yes, it had only been a couple hours, but already, he had almost forgotten how huge she really was in person now. Emma was palming the ceiling of the trailer, half-standing and looking rather uncomfortable, as she struggled forward under bent knees toward the entrance. Daniel unconsciously took a couple steps backward as she came on — her massive, curvy body seemed to fill most of the entire trailer opening as she stepped out.

“Aww, we’re home!” cried Emma, clasping her hands together joyfully as she looked at the house. Her gaze lingered uneasily for several seconds at the front door, and Daniel could tell she was thinking exactly what he was thinking: how on earth was she going to fit through it!?

But Emma had already expelled her negative emotions on the ride back, and she was determined to maintain a sunny disposition. 

“Haha, well…uh, it’s…everything looks a little different now, doesn’t it?” she chuckled, walking towards the house as Daniel followed with her huge bag. 

“I’m sure it does to you!” answered Daniel. “You were…like, how tall when you left? I forget.”

“I forget too,” murmured Emma, now at the front door and staring at it curiously. It was just too crazy — the door itself only came up to her elbows. For a couple seconds, Emma just stared blankly down at the door, almost as if it was some kind of joke. 

‘It’s like…a big dollhouse door,’ she thought to herself. She raised her eyes, looking straight ahead, and found that she was actually able to see the black shingles of the roof, which twinkled in the sunlight, as if welcoming her to a new world. 

“Here, let…let me go in first, ok, Emma?” asked Daniel, gritting his teeth with effort as he lugged the bag up the steps. Emma had forgotten that he had been standing behind her, exerting himself. 

“Oh…oh! Sorry!” she replied, doing her best to step aside to let Daniel by. Looking down, she watched him unlock the door, and pull her bag inside…she saw his form disappear under the door frame far below her. Of course, since his head only came up to her hips, she had marveled at his relative tininess before, but there was something about watching Daniel vanish into that miniature door that hit home his smallness in a new way. 

“Wow! You just…you just walked right in, no problem, huh?” laughed Emma, bending down at the waist as she ducked her huge head down under the door frame, watching him walk into the house. She inhaled the familiar, but half-forgotten scent of their home, and she felt a tide of happiness well up inside her.

“Uh…yeah…I mean, it’s just a door, isn’t it?” laughed Daniel, depositing her bag down and turning back around. 

“Well, a tiny door for tiny people, at least,” said Emma, half out-loud and half to herself. Daniel almost spoke up to correct her, to remind her that neither he nor the door were “tiny” — she was the one who was the anomaly here. But he thought better of it.

“Now, how…how am I…gonna…fit through here?” Emma ventured, grasping onto the top of the door frame as she bent down even further. She felt absolutely massive in the space of the door, and momentarily, she felt like a monstrous abomination. 

‘Positive attitude!’ she reminded herself as she arched her head and neck awkwardly down and through the door.

“Yeah…yeah, I think you’ll fit!” Daniel was saying, coming up to her and holding up his hands anxiously in midair, poised to do something, but able to do nothing. 

“I…think so too,” Emma said, wincing slightly as she felt her shoulder rub up uncomfortably and tightly against the top of the door frame. “Ow! I just…need to make sure I just…arrange myself the right way here. Oh damn…now I’m stuck.”

“Here,” said Daniel, “Wh-why…why don’t you just, like, turn sideways?”

“Well I’m already kinda sideways,” Emma returned. “It’s not my hips…it’s…my height.”

“Right, right,” agreed Daniel quickly, “But I’m just saying, maybe, uhhh, like turn sideways and then…maybe come in headfirst. Like in a kind of, um…side crawl or something.”

“Like this?” asked Emma, dropping down to her knees and straightening her back. Even on her knees like this, the top of her head still easily cleared the doorframe.

“Yeah…and just…sideways…that’s right,” Daniel encouraged, feeling dazed by the sight of his girlfriend’s eyes being even with the top of the door frame…when she was on her knees. 

“And then, let me just…yeah, ok, there we go,” Emma grunted slightly, as she ducked her head down and pivoted her shoulders to the side and forward, awkwardly pushing through the doorway. The momentum of her huge torso, however, was a little more than she had expected, and she found herself beginning to fall towards the floor.

“Watch it!” cried Daniel, rushing forward to do something, although his motions were more reflexive than anything else, seeing as how he had no hope whatsoever of cushioning Emma’s fall. Emma, however, had realized what was happening in time, and had responded by shooting out an arm towards the floor to arrest her fall. Her hand widened itself out and smacked down on the floor, right in the area that Daniel had been about to step. The loud sound of her hand drew his eyes downward, and he was stunned to see Emma’s massive hand all splayed out next to his feet, straining visibly from the immense weight it supported. Daniel couldn’t believe it — her hand completely dwarfed his feet, and that wasn’t all. He suddenly felt distinctly intimidated by the obvious power and strength in Emma’s hand; he knew that his entire body would have crumpled under such weight as Emma’s hand and arm were supporting, and yet she was apparently able to manage it quite easily. Daniel’s eyes travelled up her bare arm, which looked incredibly strong, dense, and solid, while at the same time maintaining its feminine plush and shape. Emma was strong…and her arm itself, measured next to Daniel’s body, was as long as one of his legs. Her shoulder was even with his waist. Daniel found himself wondering if her arm itself was just as big — or perhaps even bigger — than each of his legs.

“Ooops, haha!” Emma laughed, scooting her big ass through the doorway as she lugged the rest of her body inside, “Almost fell there. I’ve been a total klutz recently!”

“Hehe, uhh…don’t worry about it,” said Daniel uneasily, stepping back a little from Emma’s big, powerful arm. “I…uh, haha, it’s…it’s only natural that you’re…you know, getting used to…um…to your body as it…as it grows.” 

“Yeah, well, I can at least try and not bang around, messing everything up,” said Emma self-deprecatingly. She extended one of her toes and behind her and flicked it against the door, causing it to swing back and slam closed violently. 

“See? Like that!” Emma exclaimed. “I’m sorry Daniel! I’ll be gentler around here, I promise!”

“It’s ok!” he laughed, inwardly shaken at how easily she had slammed the door…with her toe.

“Oh my GOD, it’s sooooo good to be home!” Emma cried. As she raised her voice joyfully, the plates and glasses in the cupboards audibly rattled and shook against each other. Aside from her increased size, Daniel could tell that something had indeed changed in her — her voice itself was just…more. Its sonority, its pitch, how it carried, and how it seemed to penetrate the air…it was all just…bigger…more substantial. And it made him feel even smaller than he already felt. 

“It’s…so nice to have you back!” Daniel responded genuinely. 

“Now, let me just…see if I can stand in here,” Emma said, and attempted to rise to her feet. 

“I…I don’t think you’re gonna be able to, Emma,” warned Daniel, but she ignored him and kept trying to stand up. Once she had her feet under her, she tried rising up, extending her legs, but she was never able to lock her knees, or straighten her neck, for that matter. Her head came into soft contact awkwardly with the ceiling, and Emma was forced to turn her head sideways, so that her cheek was actually flattened out against the ceiling itself. She looked down at Daniel and made a pouty face.

“Awww, it’s…it’s ok, Emma,” Daniel said diplomatically. “Uhh..standing inside is overrated anyway. Big deal, right? Besides…um, like, you’re not gonna need to be standing up much while you’re in here, remember? I’ll be doing all the cooking and everything — you can just…just lounge comfortably on the sofa in here!”

“Yeah, I guess,” she said quietly, obviously bothered by not being able to stand up straight.

“Why…don’t you go sit down in the living room, you know, just to decompress a little after that ride?” Daniel proposed. “Here, I’ll unpack your bag, and…and you just relax, ok?”

Emma blinked down, looking at him sideways from her awkward position against the ceiling. For a few long moments, there was silence between them, and Daniel began to have the uncomfortable feeling that Emma was looking at him…well, in a new kind of way. It was almost like she was taking in the novelty of him as a tiny entity, and for some reason, being back in their shared home space magnified the size comparison between them even further. 

“You’re such a sweet little guy,” Emma murmured down at him, shaking her head slightly. “What on earth have I done to deserve such a…cute little helper like you?”

“I…uh, hehe, I’ll just…I’ll just be in the bedroom, unpacking the bag,” he chuckled awkwardly, shuffling away and feeling the buzzing pinpricks of discomfited circulation impinging all over his skin. He suddenly had the sensation of feeling objectified, like a little animal…like a pet…in Emma’s eyes. And as he dragged her bag towards the bedroom, he could feel her eyes following him; he even glanced back, and saw that she had an affectionate smirk on her face. He smiled back edgily and escaped her gaze, into the bedroom.

Emma heaved a great sigh and looked around at the living room and the kitchen. Everything looked more or less the same as before, arranged identically…everything smelled the same too. But it was all terribly “off” in one single sense: to Emma, it seemed like everything had been shrunken down considerably, to the extent that, once again, she couldn’t help but wonder if all of this was some elaborate joke being played on her. She knew that it was all just because she had grown so much bigger, but oddly, in her mind, that fact in and of itself didn’t adequately explain how strange she felt in this “home space.” 

‘I just need to sit down in my old chair,’ she thought, reasoning that returning to her old furniture would soothe her anxiety. She eyed her “arts and crafts” chair in the kitchen, still sitting there reassuringly, like an old friend. Emma smiled and started haltingly walking towards it, but after a single step, she laughed and shook her head to herself. 

‘This is ridiculous,’ she chuckled to herself. Feeling not a little silly, she sank down onto her knees, fell forward onto her hands, and proceeded to crawl towards the chair. 

“Is everything ok!?” asked Daniel, bursting back into the room with an alarmed expression.

“Huh?” asked Emma, turning around to look at him from her “all fours” position. “Yeah…everything’s fine. What’s wrong?”

“It was…just…that bang! Did you hear it!?” He was clearly rattled. 

“Bang?” asked Emma, puzzled. “Uh…no, I didn’t really hear a…a bang. I mean…maybe my hands kinda shook the floor a little, but…uhh, well anyway, sorry I startled you!”

Daniel stood there for a moment, not seeming to understand how Emma could have made such a loud noise without even realizing it. But he tried to recover, backing away.

“O-ok,” he said, trying to sound natural. “Just…making sure you were ok.”

“Haha, I’m fine!” Emma laughed, turning back around and crawling up to her chair. She looked down at it, sitting up there close to the kitchen counter. It certainly looked far smaller than Emma remembered, but she knew that her mind was playing all kinds of tricks on her, and she resolved to just quit worrying about everything and sit down. She rose up over the chair, taking care not to rise too high towards the ceiling and then sat down…or at least, she tried to. Her butt came down over the chair’s armrests — on both sides — and refused to let the rest of her body go down. 

“Damn it!” Emma muttered under her breath. “Is it seriously this small now!? Come onnnn!” 

She jostled and wiggled her ass, trying to shimmy it into the chair, but all that she got in the response was an even more uncomfortably tight fit. And even worse, as she pushed her weight down into the chair, she heard the sounds of splitting wood begin to cut the air. She became fearful that she was about to break her favorite chair, and promptly got back down on her hands and knees, taking her weight off the chair.

“Geez!” she grunted to herself in irritation. “I can’t even…sit down anymore!?” She felt a strange sensation still tickling her butt, and she turned around to see that the chair was actually stuck to her ass, with its legs pointed crazily up at the ceiling. 

“What the?” she almost laughed. She hadn’t even realized that she had whisked the entire chair up off the ground…by getting her ass stuck in it. She shook her butt a few times, trying to dislodge the chair, but it only shook and bounced along with her huge cheeks. After it became clear that this particular idea wasn’t going to work, Emma reached back, latched her hand around the chair’s seat, and tugged in what she had meant to be a gentle gesture. She underestimated her own strength, though, because the chair popped out from her butt instantly, and swung upwards toward the ceiling in the trajectory of her hand’s motion. She realized too late how strong this motion had been, and the chair’s legs banged loudly into the ceiling, making four dents in the sheet rock.

“It’s ok! it’s ok!” Emma called, correctly anticipating Daniel running back into the room with another equally-alarmed expression. “I just…got clumsy again. Sorry!”

“What…what happened?” asked Daniel, looking with stupefaction up at the dents in the ceiling. 

“Just got my ass stuck in the chair,” said Emma, trying to put on a smile as she waved the chair towards him in the air with one hand. She had no idea how intimidating this simple and innocent gesture was for Daniel — his girlfriend was nonchalantly waving around a big wooden chair…with one hand. 

“And then…well,” continued Emma, feeling like it was better not to explain the whole thing. “It’s ok, babe. It’s all good. I’ll just go sit on the sofa.”

Daniel lingered for a moment longer, and this made Emma feel suddenly irritated. Was he going to just be standing there gawking every time she made a clumsy fool of herself!? Didn’t he understand that she had been back home for literally five minutes and just had to get used to the space again?? But as soon as he had gone back into the bedroom, these feelings dissipated, and she crawled over to the sofa, managing to carefully lie her body out on top of it, with something approaching comfort. The entirety of her lower legs, however, hung off the edge — she was just too tall...But Emma managed this by finding a way to put her feet comfortably on the floor. She snuggled up to the sofa pillows, doing her best to ignore the fact that almost a third of her width was unsupported. Looking around for the TV remote, she saw that it wasn’t in its usual spot on the coffee table. 

“Daniel?” she called out. “Where’s the remote? I can’t find it.”

“Uhh…it should be on the coffee table,” his voice came from the bedroom. 

“Well I looked there and I don’t see it,” Emma called back. She knew that she could easily just poke around and look for it herself. But she really just didn’t feel like it. After a little sound of shuffling, Daniel reappeared, frowning slightly as he went over to look on the coffee table. Emma watched him innocently, still not able to quite wrap her mind around how small he looked. Even as she lounged on the sofa, she was as tall as he was.

“Well…it was…hmm,” muttered Daniel, looking around the room. “It was there before…but…oh! Here it is!” He had just overturned a magazine on the coffee table, revealing the remote. 

“Oh…hehe, oops, sorry honey,” said Emma sheepishly, accepting the remote as Daniel held it out to her. “Guess I’m just feeling a little lazy today.”

“Heh! No problem,” chuckled Daniel genially. He was about to go back into the bedroom when he stopped himself, because Emma was clearly having trouble again. Her face was slightly contorted in frustration as she aimed the remote at the TV, trying to press down the buttons. The TV, however, wasn’t coming on. 

“What’s the matter with this thing?” she said exasperatedly. “Is it broken or something?” 

“Uh, no…it shouldn’t be,” Daniel said, taking a step closer to examine. “Are you…are you sure you’re actually pressing the button, Emma?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked in irritation, screwing her face up as she kept pressing. “Of course I’m pressing it! Look!”

“But…but…here…Emma,” said Daniel tentatively, reaching out and taking hold of the remote. For a second, both he and Emma were holding it, and once again, Daniel got an uncomfortably close glimpse of the size comparison between her hand and his. Her pinkie finger alone was WAY longer…and thicker…than his middle finger…to say nothing of the size of her massive palms. He swallowed nervously, getting a sudden cold chill in the pit of his stomach. For her part, Emma was too annoyed to notice this particular comparison. 

“Here…just…you show me how to do it, then,” she huffed, letting go of the remote and laying back onto the sofa, pouting. Daniel carefully pointed the remote at the TV and turned it on — a football game suddenly appeared on the screen. 

“H-How?” Emma began, but Daniel was already answering her. 

“It’s just…your fingers are too big for it,” he said gently, blinking at her hands. “Or, I mean…haha, the buttons are too small.”

Emma stared at him for a couple seconds, and for a moment Daniel was worried that she would get angry with him. But instead, she sank back into the sofa again. She was already getting tired of all these tiny little toys that the little people played with…even the TV looked discouragingly small. Looking for something to complain about, she suddenly realized how hungry she was. 

“What’re we gonna do for food tonight?” she asked, hating how moody she sounded, despite her genuinely sour disposition. ‘Get ahold of yourself,’ she spat savagely at herself internally.

“Well…” said Daniel impressively, “You know, I was thinking…in celebration for you being back…that we order takeout from El Camino!”

“Oh YES!!!” cried Emma, sitting up abruptly on the sofa, causing the wood to creak and groan. “Yes, I LOVE this idea!!” 

“Haha, I thought you would,” laughed Daniel, feeling his cheeks warm as he saw Emma’s genuine smile again. Even though she was absolutely gigantic now, she was just as pretty as she had been…and maybe…he thought, with surreal realization, maybe even prettier. 

An hour and a half later, they were both chowing down, just like old times, except for one major component. Daniel was eating the same verde burrito he always got, but Emma…well, her typical order of two chicken tacos, beans, and rice, had undergone some alterations. She had decided to go with her same order, just for starters, but had multiplied it by six — and that was only the beginning. 

“Are you…uh…are you sure you’re gonna need more than that, honey?” Daniel had asked, putting his hand over the mouth end of the phone as he paused in his order. Emma hadn’t even needed to answer; she just stared at him blankly, and Daniel nodded his head rapidly and continued on with her order.

“Yes, and two large chimichangas, supreme…twelve (twelve??)…twelve beef tostitos…three large cheese quesadillas, and…two more verde burritos. A party? Haha…uh, yes…you could say we’re having a party…of sorts…haha, yes…ok…ok, great, thank you!” 

Daniel hung up and stared at Emma, who made wide eyes at him as she licked her lips expectantly. He thought she was flirting with him, but she was just genuinely hungry and excited for the food. 

“Emma,” he said slowly, “There’s…hehe…I know you’ve grown quite a bit, but there’s no way you’re going to be able to eat all that.” 

“Oh,” said Emma, totally deadpan, “Watch me.” 

Now, twenty minutes after the food had arrived, Daniel was chewing his burrito slowly, looking over at Emma in disbelief. She had already eaten her food…all of it. Her meal hadn’t been slovenly or messy by any means — she had just quietly consumed it all, sliding entire tostitos into her mouth like they were little morsels; she had dispatched the verde burritos in a clean seven bites, the chimichangas in six, and she had folded up each of the quesadillas into smaller little triangles and stuck them into her mouth, like she was eating finger food. Daniel wasn’t even half-done with his burrito. 

Emma eyed his food playfully.

“Not really hungry tonight, hmm?” she teased.

“I…y-yes I’m hungry!” he replied in slightly-indignant humor. 

“Well, there’s just a bunch of food still left on your plate, is all,” Emma retorted. She suddenly reached over and took a chunk of his burrito, plopping it swiftly into her mouth and swallowing without even chewing — that’s how small the piece was to her. 

“Hey!” Daniel exclaimed, now genuinely indignant, “I was gonna eat that!” 

“You should probably eat a little faster then,” teased Emma, finding his indignation very cute, “Because I’m still hungry!”

Over the next few days, Emma busied herself with practical tasks to distract herself from how out-of-place she felt in her own home. She hadn’t wanted to say anything about it, but she was finding everything quite vexing — from the shower to the bed to the utensils to the height of the table and counters…everything was just WAY too small for her. Her legs hung off the bed at night, making it difficult to sleep comfortably; she had to sit in the shower now; it was far more practical to stand around on her knees when she was inside, which was all well and good until her knees got sore; and as for utensils, and things like the TV remote and keys and anything else small, it wasn’t even worth trying to use them. Forks seemed like little pronged metal toothpicks at this point. 

Emma had gotten back in touch with Ms. Bisset, her personal tailor, as a distraction to all of this nonsense around the house. The sweet, tiny old French lady had come and done some measurements on Emma a couple days after she and Daniel had arrived back home. 

“Dearie dear!” exclaimed the genial old woman, “You’re almost 315 centimeters tall!”

“Uhhh,” said Emma.

“Oh! Haha, I’m sorry dear — I’m still used to the metric system, even after all these years in the States! That’s…just over ten-foot-three.”

“Ten…foot…three?” asked Emma blankly. 

“Yes!” declared Ms. Bisset. “And…I’m guessing…still growing, are we?”

“Um…yes,” said Emma, surprised that she wasn’t having any kind of strong reaction to the news that she had grown four or five more inches in the past two days. 

“Any idea how big we might get?” asked Ms. Bisset gently. 

“Uh, no…I mean…no, not really,” said Emma, shrugging her shoulders, getting a strange enjoyment out of how neutral and relaxed she felt. 

“So how about…we just make you some outfits that can accommodate you now…and even if you were a foot and a half taller, and bigger all around, proportionally?”

“So, if I was, like…over 11 and a half feet tall?” asked Emma.

“Yes dear,” said the amiable old woman, “That’s probably the best course, isn’t it?”

Now, a couple days later, Emma was lounging again on the couch, dressed up in a comfy red skirt that Ms. Bisset had express-made for her. Emma had been surprised, and immensely impressed, at the French lady’s speed and skill. 

“You’re my special little project, dear!” Ms. Bisset had said.

Emma smiled to herself remembering those warm words as she scrolled through the internet on her tablet. Daniel was at his desk, doing work. Emma hardly thought about her old job anymore. It seemed like some kind of distant dream. She had instead been spending more and more time recently on the giantess forums that she had only cursorily explored before. A couple days after being back, she had posted a couple pictures of herself posing next to the door frame of her bedroom, both standing in her cramped position, and kneeling, with half of her head still obscured. “Still growing!” had been all that she had written to caption the photos, but within 24 hours, her post had already received thousands of views, and had unleashed an absolute torrent of adulating comments. 

“OMG IS THIS REAL!?” cried one viewer. “You’re an absolute GODDESS, and I worship at your feet!!” called another. “Hate to break it to you guys,” said someone else, “but this is photoshopped. High-quality photoshop, I grant you…but photoshopped. No doubt about it.” 

“What?!” Emma said out loud, feeling an annoyed prick to somehow prove this idiot wrong.

A few more comments went back and forth, debating the photoshop point. Emma didn’t know why, but the whole argument made her more irritated than she expected to be in reaction to a bunch of strangers arguing over her. She WAS that big!! And she wanted them all to accept it! And what’s more, the comments themselves were not the end of it. Her forum inbox had exploded with private messages…no fewer than 45 in a single day. Most of them were quite respectful, with the authors simply praising her for her stature and beauty. Some more of them were a little more searching; “I just have to ask…and please feel free to ignore me if you want to…I’m just a nobody compared to you, after all…but…are you REALLY that big?”

‘Jesus,’ thought Emma, ‘Some of these guys really beat around the bush, even though they’re totally desperate to know…very weird.’ 

A few of the messages were not so pleasant. “Are u single?” asked one message, “Because I will treat u right if u choose me..ill let you sit on my face evry night and you can jerk me off like yr bitch pet.”

‘What the fuck!?’ Emma thought, feeling shocked and slightly violated by the forwardness. 

“Do you have a boyfriend?” was all another message said. 

“HEy bitch,” said the most unpleasant one, “It’s all well and good to post photoshopped images, ok? But don’t go around pretending that you’re actually that size…it’s insulting to all of us who actually have these fantasies. Stop lording yourself over us on the forum. You’ve only been a member for what, like a few weeks? Fuck off.”

Emma felt her blood boiling. Who the fuck were these pathetic little men, typing all this nastiness out on their little keyboards?! It made her so angry, obviously because of the mean tone of some of the messages, but also just because they were dead wrong. She WAS actually that big, and she DID have a boyfriend, and she was NOT looking for romance. 

She tried typing an angry response to the nastiest message, but she had to give up in a huff after realizing that her fingers were too big to type at an acceptable speed. She looked over at Daniel, and was about to ask him to type the message for her, when suddenly, like a flash of lightning through her brain, she got an idea…an idea that would kill all the birds with one stone. 

“Hey Daniel!” she sang out into the room, very pleased with herself, and barely able to contain her excitement. 

“Yeah?” he asked, looking up from his work. 

“Take a little break, ok? We’re gonna shoot a little video together."

Chapter 13

“A video?” Daniel didn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea as he turned in his work chair to face Emma, who was still lounging on the sofa, her shapely legs completely hanging off one end. 

“Yeah!” she said enthusiastically, sitting up quickly, causing the sofa to groan out in anguish, nearly to the point of fracture. 

“E-easy there, babe,” said Daniel, holding out a cautious, steadying hand. “It…it sounds like the sofa’s about to break.”

“Whatever,” said Emma flippantly, waving him off. She was too excited by her idea to be bothered by such things. “Anyway, come on, Daniel — get your camera! You still have that fancy digital one you got a while back, right?” 

“Uh…yeah,” said Daniel, still not budging from his chair. 

“Well go and get it!” said Emma, eagerly indicating with her big hand that he should hurry up. Even though she didn’t realize it, her hand motion created a wind current that Daniel could actually feel, even though he was sitting about 15 feet away from her. 

“Emma…what for?” he asked. He didn’t want to sound like some stick in the mud, but Emma’s enthusiasm was making him feel nervous, rather than encouraged. 

“To take some pictures of the two of us together!” she responded immediately. “Some smart guys on these giantess forums don’t believe that I’m actually this big and tall — they said that my pictures were photoshopped! Can you believe that!?” 

“I…uh, yeah, haha, it doesn’t sound too far fetched,” Daniel admitted, folding his hands in his lap. 

“What?” cried Emma. “You too!? Come on, it’s obvious that this is all real!”

“I…I understand that, Emma,” said Daniel, trying not to sound condescending, “But…I mean, to an internet audience…uhh…well, they might not believe that anyone could be so…big, you know?” 

“Well that’s why you’re going to get your camera and set it to auto mode and then we’re gonna do some poses for these people. Haha, they’re not gonna be able to have any doubts now!”

“B-But…but Emma,” protested Daniel, “I…I don’t know if I really wanna be in these pictures that these…uh, other guys are gonna be looking at. It’s kinda weird for me. I mean, c-couldn’t you just, uh…take pictures of yourself, like…on the sofa like that? Or comparing with something else?”

“I already did all that!” countered Emma, getting off the sofa and rising up into a kneeling position. Daniel couldn’t help but feel shocked every time she rose up in this position; even on her knees, she was well over 7 feet tall, and looked absolutely immense. The fact that she was on her knees only added to the enormity of her presence. 

“I took pictures of myself next to our bedroom door frame over there, for comparison, and I even tried to stand up, just to show that I couldn’t — and a lot of them still won’t believe me!” 

“But..s-so what, Emma?” asked Daniel, feeling like she was getting worked up over nothing. “So what if they don’t believe you? What does that matter?”

Emma stood there on her knees, regarding Daniel with her mouth slightly open. She couldn’t believe how dense he was being — was it really that hard to understand that these little online men needed to be put in their place? It was all so simple…it wasn’t like she was asking him to do anything crazy or unreasonable. Surely he was just…pulling her leg or something. She suddenly decided not to pursue the more negative emotions that were creeping around at the corners of her mind. This was going to be fun, and she was going to make sure that they both enjoyed it. 

“Come on, silly!” she laughed, moving towards Daniel on her knees. “Stop whining and moaning and let’s have some fun with this!”

Emma was far quicker on her knees than Daniel could have ever believed — because she was so huge, it only took her about three “strides” to reach him. Before he could react, she had reached down, hooked her massive hands under his armpits, and whooshed him out of his chair.

“Emmmmmaa!” yelped Daniel, his voice going up to a higher pitch as she yanked him into the air. “Wh-whaaaa!! Wh-what are you doing!?” 

“Helping you get moving!” she responded, taking an extra few moments to hold him up in front of her face, shaking him gently to convey both her buoyant mood and her sense of urgency. Holding him up like this, his feet were dangling more than a foot off the ground, and even then, his head wasn’t as tall as hers. To Emma, it felt like she was holding a child. Her eyes went wide with something like humor as she looked slightly down at her boyfriend’s bewildered expression. 

‘If things are gonna work out now that I’m back,’ Emma suddenly thought, ‘He’s gonna have to get used to this kind of stuff. If I wanna play with him, I’ll play with him!’ 

“Ok,” she said smartly, setting him down on his feet, and then extending her arm out over his head, pointing to the bedroom, “now go get your fancy-shmansy camera and let’s take some comparison shots!” 
Daniel balked for a moment as he stared up at Emma’s finger, pointing authoritatively toward the bedroom. Her arm was extended out over his head, so that he actually felt the shadow that it cast over him. He had no idea why all of this stuff mattered to Emma so much all of a sudden, and the prospect of taking comparison pictures with her — to be plastered all over the internet — made him feel more uncomfortable than he was willing to admit. He tried to remind himself that he had pledged to himself that he was going to take care of Emma through all of her volatile emotions and mood swings that were associated with her condition, but already, he was starting to second-guess himself. How far was he really willing to go to placate her? 

Emma hadn’t put her hand down, and Daniel quickly realized that he was taking too long. He shuffled off to the bedroom, not wanting to find out what would happen if he continued pushing back against her on this point. In less than a minute, he had found his camera. 

“Awesome, ok so let’s do a normal, run-of-the-mill picture first,” said Emma, moving about excitedly on her knees as she went up to their bedroom door frame. “You set the camera to auto mode and then come over here and stand next to me, alright? We’ll get the door frame in the shot, just to show how you compare to it.”

“O-ok,” muttered Daniel, attempting to swallow down his doubtful thoughts as he walked quietly over. Emma watched him approach, her eyes following him steadily. Generally, when people came towards her, they looked bigger and bigger the closer they got. However, as Daniel came up to her, Emma was getting the opposite feeling. 

‘God he’s tiny,’ she thought to herself, almost not quite believing it. She was on her knees, and yet she was more than a foot taller than he was. But it wasn’t just the height difference that was so noticeable to her — as he came up and stood next to her, everything about his body looked minuscule…his head, his neck, his little shoulders, his tiny little hands…everything. And his head didn’t even come up to her shoulders. Emma found herself just staring down at him, lost in the incredible size difference between the two of them. Daniel’s eyes travelled up to meet hers, but he wasn’t able to hold her stare for more than a couple seconds — he had to break away, because he didn’t quite like the flabbergasted energy that was emanating from Emma’s eyes. 

“It’s…it’s on auto,” he mumbled, gesturing over to the camera.

“Ah! Ok, great!” exclaimed Emma, blinking and shaking her head slightly, as if she was coming out of a slight trance. “So ok…let’s both look over at it…like that…uhh…yeah, ok…how many is it taking?”

“Like…uh…one every few seconds,” said Daniel. 

“So ok, good — we can do a bunch of different poses,” muttered Emma, half to herself. “Just so they can’t have any doubts…ok, so now…hmmm, yeah, now you come over here and stand in front of me here.”

Emma reached out and grabbed Daniel by the upper arm, her hand easily going all the way around it. Daniel was shocked at the effortless strength that was in her hand and fingers, and he was under no illusions that Emma had the power to yank his arm out of its socket or snap it in half if she so chose. To her, it was like holding a medium-sized twig. 

“G-Emma! Ow!! E-easy!” he protested, as he stumbled from the momentum of her tugging at his arm. “That hurts!”

“What hurts?” she asked, puzzled. “I’m just moving you around a little — that’s all.”

“B-But Emma,” complained Daniel, hating how his voice sounded, but continuing to speak nonetheless, “Y-you’re…you’re being kinda rough. Please…be more gentle!” 

“I am being gentle!” replied Emma, a little indignantly. “Come on now, face the camera and stop talking for a minute — we don’t want everything all blurry. They’ll say it was photoshopped.” 

They stood there silently for a few moments, with Daniel in front, and Emma’s gigantic hands on his shoulders. Daniel could feel his knees starting to buckle under the weight of her hands and arms. 

“And stand up straight!” Emma commanded. “Come on, Daniel, help me out here. If your knees are all bent, they’re all gonna say that we made it seem like you were shorter than you really are.”

“I…” sighed Daniel, trying to straighten his knees, “I’m trying to, Emma. But…your hands are, like…pressing down on me.” 

“I’m not pressing down on anything!” she countered. “My hands aren’t that heavy. Ok, so that’s good, we got that pose down. Now…hmmm, let’s see…ok now, I’ll try to actually stand up…over you…just to show them what happens when I’m actually on my feet, haha.” 

She rose up above him, and Daniel felt the enormity of her presence over him, even as he felt the heavy pressure lift off his shoulders. He looked up to see Emma’s smiling face was directly above him, looking down, her neck and shoulders running along the ceiling. With her legs straightened out, her hips were well above his head, and her knees were even with the middle of his stomach. 

“Heheh…wow, ok, yeah, they’re gonna like this one,” Emma laughed. “This pose totally makes it obvious how short and small you are next to me…haha, and how tiny this house has gotten! I mean, look at this! If I spread my legs like this, you can, like…literally stand in between them.”

“Or if I, uh…move over here to the side,” said Daniel, feeling uncomfortable as Emma spread her big legs out on either side of him, “They can, uhh…maybe get a better view of everything?” 

“Where are you going?” Emma whined. “No, no, stay in the middle, in between my legs…yeah, right there. It’s a good pose. Yeah…yeah there we go. Stand up straight…ok, yes. Let’s be still for a couple more.”

Emma had reached down and put her hand on Daniel’s shoulder again, and once again, he felt the inexorable weight and power of her strength. His knees buckled once more, but he was able to press back for a few moments, standing up straight, before finally collapsing down to the floor on one knee. 

“Oh come on Daniel,” complained Emma, “What’s the deal? Why are you being so dramatic?” 

“I…Emma!” he replied, rising and speaking up at her in an irritated voice. “I told you…you’re stronger than you realize! You need to be gentler! I know you don’t realize it, but please! Just…look out a little for me, ok?” 

Emma couldn’t quite shake the feeling that Daniel was being sour about all this because he was uncomfortable with the thought of other men looking at her with sexual intent. Of course! Surely that must be it. It didn’t matter if it was online — all these weird, horny men who were going to be looking at these pictures…yeah, of course it made sense that he wasn’t comfortable with it all. 

‘I need to reassure him somehow,’ she thought. ‘I need to show him that he doesn’t have anything to worry about.’ 

“Aww, you’re so cute, you know that?” she said out loud, looking down at him as she put her hands on her hips, a full foot above his head. “I know all these guys are gonna be looking at me a certain way, but I’m just doing all this for fun, you know? It doesn’t really mean anything to me, Daniel. It’s no threat to you!” 

“Uhh…what?” asked Daniel, puzzled. He didn’t really understand what Emma was getting at. 

“Who cares if a bunch of guys think all this is sexy?” she cooed down at him. “They don’t have anything on you. You know that, right?”

“I…w-well yeah, Emma, but — ” His words were cut short as Emma bent down again to lift him up. There wasn’t anything he could do to escape — he felt his organs bounce around inside him as she lifted him, bringing him all the way up to where her head was pressed up into the ceiling. He was staring up at her huge face, which filled his vision almost completely when he was this close. 

“And you know that no matter what anyone says, there’s nothing…no one…who could possibly replace you.” Emma was smiling down at him, but her eyes were serious. Daniel could smell the slight minty flavor of her breath, which felt like it was cascading over him. 

“Y-yes…yes, Emma, I know that —” he tried to begin, but once again, Emma cut him off. This time, though, it was with her lips, as she engulfed him in a wet, sloppy kiss. Daniel felt his head and neck get pushed back by the force of her lips; it seemed almost absurd to try and kiss back, since Emma’s lips more or less were able to cover his entire face. But Daniel did his best, puckering his own lips as he attempted to kiss her back. But it was like spilling a cup of water in a rainstorm — in every way, she overpowered him. 

Emma was moaning into the kiss, her eyes shut tight. He really did mean so much to her…and he really was so cute, bumbling and mumbling around underneath her, humoring her whims even though he wasn’t really into them. He was too sweet — he was her special little man. Right then, she suddenly got an idea. Still kissing Daniel, she moved toward the camera, going down on her knees right in front of it, still holding Daniel with both hands under his arms. She held him there, legs dangling more than a foot off the ground, for several long moments, as she continued to kiss him deeply, gently munching on his lips, his nose, and his chin as her huge tongue explored his mouth. Once or twice, she heard him gagging on her tongue, and she drew herself back, chuckling a little self-deprecatingly at her own enthusiasm. 

After these long moments had passed, she opened her eyes and let him go, setting him back down on the floor again. He swayed a little, dazed. 

“There,” she purred down at him, feeling like she had solved all the problems at once, “Now they’ll all know how I feel about you.”

They proceeded to pose for more pictures for the next 45 minutes or so. It was far longer than Daniel had anticipated (or wanted), but after that epic and prolonged kiss, he found himself more amenable to all the ideas Emma was excitedly suggesting. They did a few poses by the sofa, with Emma lying down across it, and Daniel sitting down on the floor in front of the sofa. This pose made him look particularly small, since he was merely sitting down on the floor, while Emma was stretched gracefully and elegantly out behind him. They did another pose with Emma sitting up on the sofa, with Daniel perched on her right knee. Even in such a pose, the top of his head barely even came up to her shoulders. Emma playfully bounced him on her knee a couple times, before he got rattled and asked her to stop. It took a couple times asking before she finally relented.

The poses didn’t stop there — Emma was determined to explore the fun intricacies of their size difference, and the more they played around with them, the more ideas she got. She realized how funny it would be if she had Daniel wear some of her old clothes, the original ones Ms. Bisset had made her, when she was “only” a little over 7 feet tall. Shooing away any protest Daniel made about wearing dresses, she made him try it on, delighting in how loosely it fit him.

“Hahaha look at that!” she cried, her huge body shaking gently with genuine laughter, “It barely even stays on you it’s so loose!”

“Ok, can I get out of it now?” asked Daniel, a little sullenly, despite taking it relatively well.

“Just a second, babe,” she laughed, taking the camera and attempting to take several up-close pictures herself. “Just…ugh, I can’t seem to…damn it! I can’t even press the button down! It’s too small!”

“Well…I’m definitely not going to take a selfie in this thing,” remarked Daniel. 

“You will if I make you,” chuckled Emma, her eyes widening at the word “make.” Her threat was an empty one, though, as she grinned and managed to set the camera back to auto mode with a fingernail. 

She also made Daniel try on the Institute gown that she had outgrown. This time, the comparison was absolutely ridiculous — it looked like he was just draped in a giant white bed sheet. 

“Uh, Emma?” he said, looking up at her and smiling innocently. “I don’t think it fits.”

“Hahaha, you think!?” she burst out, clutching her sides from laughter. “Daniel…oh my god…and to think! To think that that thing was, like…hurting me, it was so tight.” 

It was completely mind-boggling for Daniel, standing there, utterly engulfed in this massive article of clothing, to think that Emma’s body had not only filled it, but stretched it out, almost to a breaking point. This huge gown, that was cartoonishly large on him, didn’t even fit her anymore — it was far too small. 

“Uh…honey?” asked Daniel uneasily, still enveloped in the gown, as he watched her sit down on the floor. “What are you doing?” 

“Just taking off my shoe!” she said brightly. “I wanna take a couple pictures with you in my old gown holding my shoe.”

“Emma,” sighed Daniel, “Can we pleeeease just call it a day on the pictures? I feel ridiculous.”

“Just one more, one more!” she chirped, reaching over with one arm and handing him her shoe. Daniel sighed again, extending both of his arms to accept the shoe; Emma dropped it down into his arms with her fingers, and Daniel stumbled forward, his knees buckling slightly. He hadn’t expected her shoe to be so huge…or so heavy. The shoe was over a foot and a half long, and Daniel realized that he actually had to hold the shoe with two hands, almost cradling it like a baby. 

“Oh my godddd!” cried Emma, bringing the camera closer as it continued to take pictures on its own. “Daniel! You look sooooo cuuute like that! Haha, oh man, I just got an idea — take your shoes off and put your feet in my shoe. Here, I’ll take the other one off, so you can put both feet in! Oh boy, this is gonna be great!”

“Emmmmma, please!” complained Daniel, “Can we not? I’ll look totally stupid!”

But Emma wasn’t listening to him — she had taken her other shoe off, and had already put it down on the floor next to him. She pointed down at it excitedly, and Daniel knew that she was going to keep on insisting until he did as he was told. Sighing again and rolling his eyes, he took his shoes off, and stepped into Emma’s. She brought the camera closer, giggling.

“This is too perfect!” she laughed. “I had no idea how…tiny you’d look in my clothes, Daniel! The shoes really are the icing on the cake — they’re like clown shoes to you, hahaha!” 

They continued on for a little while longer, until Emma finally had her fill of fun and brought the photo session to a close. She spent the next couple hours uploading the pictures to her computer, and then editing and cropping the images — or, more specifically, she had Daniel do all of it, since her hands were too big. He had done so reluctantly, but Emma was not taking “no” for an answer.

“You should hear what all these other guys are writing about me,” she reminded him, bearing down on his reluctant attitude. “They’re TOTALLY jealous of you right now.”

Daniel had thought about responding that he wasn’t some kind of freak like they were, but he thought that using such language probably was not the best idea in the current situation. For whatever reason, Emma had been drawn to this online community, and as her boyfriend, it would just be best for him to humor her. 

Indeed, over the course of the next couple weeks, Daniel found himself more or less stuck in this frame of mind. He wished that he could somehow escape it, but he had no idea how. The longer he lived with Emma in their house, the more it became clear that there was no returning to the life they had before she went to the Institute — even that life had been fraught with the difficulties and turbulence of Emma’s growth condition, but compared to now, Daniel was beginning to look back on the pre-Institute time with unadulterated nostalgia. Emma was in an entirely different boat from Daniel, and she found it difficult to look back into the past — it was challenging enough, dealing with existing comfortably in the present. But there was no denying that it was becoming harder and harder, with each passing day, for her to function inside the house. 

To start with, Emma was hardly able to use their bed in any meaningful way. She took up the entire mattress herself, and her legs were hanging almost completely off the sides, touching the ground on either side and extending out a good bit in both directions. It was an absurd prospect, sleeping in such a bed, but Emma was determined to make it work. She refused Daniel’s suggestion of sleeping on a hodgepodge of mattresses on the floor.

“No!” she answered him defiantly. “I want to sleep in our bed! Not like some teenager at a slumber party!”

“But…honey,” said Daniel carefully, “You don’t fit in the bed anymore.”

“I don’t care,” returned Emma immediately. “It’s our bed and I’m sleeping in it.”

“Well…then where am I going to sleep?” Daniel was making sure to phrase his questions gently.

Emma looked at him, her brow furrowing slightly. Whenever she gave him this look, Daniel couldn’t help but feel intimidated. She was sitting down on the floor in the living room, and even like this, her head rose above his by a couple inches. He knew that she didn’t mean to look scary, but the way she had — of pausing and scrutinizing at him with silent incredulity, as the seconds ticked by — well, it just made him tense up and shiver a bit. She still didn’t realize the effect that she had on people. 

“What do you mean, where are you going to sleep?” Emma asked, her voice tinged with reproach. “You’re gonna sleep in our bed with me!”

“But…but how!?” asked Daniel. “How am I gonna fit, if you’re…uh…if you’re…sleeping there? You take up the whole bed, Emma.”

“Well then I guess I’ll just have to snuggle you on top of me then,” said Emma. 

“Uhhhh,” replied Daniel, not quite relishing the thought of having to sleep on top of Emma every night. 

“Yeah, it’ll be sweet and cozy,” continued Emma, and as if to prove it to him, she reached out and snatched him up off his feet, surprising him once more with her strength and quickness. She caught him up in her arms and squeezed tightly, compressing the air out of his lungs. 

“Mmmmm, we’ll fall asleep together, and it’ll be just like it was before,” muttered Emma blissfully, laying back onto the floor as she stretched herself out, snuggling Daniel like a large teddy bear. “just like old ti—”

But a sudden crash startled her out of her thoughts; she had kicked out her leg too far, and it had knocked over the lamp table, shattering the lamp into several pieces. 

“I’ll clean it up — don’t worry!” panted Daniel quickly, attempting to escape from Emma’s embrace. More than anything, he was just trying to get out so he could breathe freely again. But Emma just held him there, staring up at the ceiling. His arms squirmed and his legs kicked slightly, but she hardly noticed — she just kept holding him there silently for several long moments until, with a sad, perturbed sigh, she let him go. 

Emma was trying her best to stay as positive as possible, but as the days passed by, she was finding it harder and harder to avoid the inevitable cycle of enthusiasm, frustration, disappointment, resignation, and then back to enthusiasm again. For the first couple days, she had gone about her tasks with an almost-overly exuberant attitude — she was thrilled to be back home, away from all the doctors, and she felt determined to make this work. 

But gradually, though, her exuberance became replaced by chronic frustration. The bed wasn’t comfortable to sleep in, it was true, but she had managed to somehow convince herself that it was working, and was able to fall asleep in it. The same could not be said for the shower. Even kneeling down, Emma’s head was much higher than the shower spigot, and when she had ducked her head down even further, she inadvertently knocked into the spigot, causing it to come flying off the pipe, spraying water everywhere.

“Daniel!!” she had cried, feeling hopelessly inept with the job at hand, “Help! I broke the shower!”

Fortunately, Daniel had been able to fix the broken spigot by running to the store and getting a new one, fitting it in easily once he had returned home. Emma watched all of this happen as she sat sullenly next to the tub, holding her knees to her chest, a giant white towel (made by Ms. Bisset) draped around her head. Even sitting like this, her body nearly filled up the entire space of the bathroom that wasn’t inside the tub. 

“There…uh…all fixed!” Daniel had said, as cheerily as he could sound. “Don’t…don’t worry about it babe. Go on in and…and take your shower.”

“Ok, thanks,” mumbled Emma, feeling her lower lip trembling a little. Daniel sidled over, stood on his tiptoes, and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek before sliding past her body and out the door, to give her privacy with her emotions. Emma reached over and turned the water back on, the tears starting to run down her face. A minute later, she was sitting in the shower, her head slightly bowed forward, with the water hitting the crown of her head directly. She was glad that at least with all the water around, her tears blended in.

But despite these moments when her emotions got the best of her, Emma was making a conscious effort to stop her exhausting mood swings. At first, she tried to distract herself with food, since her appetite had not slowed down one bit. However, these attempts only fueled her frustration, since Daniel couldn’t buy food fast enough. Inevitably, she became cross with him, when he underestimated how much she could eat. 

“Are you trying to make me lose weight!?” she burst out at him one day, incredulous that he could have thought that a half dozen large bags of pre-made salad, five ears of corn, a two-pound drum of baked beans, three large potatoes, and three pounds of slow-cooked pork ribs would be enough to satisfy her appetite. 

“I…was sure this would be enough!” Daniel stammered, totally taken aback by how quickly she had consumed her food. 

“Do you really think a body this big is going to be satisfied with…with — you know what, just…just forget it, ok?” she huffed, crossing her arms.

“I…h-honey, I can go get more food!” Daniel ventured, going over to her and cautiously touching her forearm. Emma “humphed” again and frowned, not moving or responding. She hated when she acted this way — she knew it was immature and childish, but she didn’t feel like she could help it. The truth was, Daniel not getting her enough food was hitting home to her, more than anything else, how much bigger she was getting…and how he wasn’t able to quite keep up. 

Emma knew, from the occasional aches and pains in her bones, joints, and muscles, that she was continuing to grow. The spurts weren’t coming as dramatically as they had been during her last couple days at the Institute, but they were definitely still happening. Emma wasn’t able to notice her growth spurts in real time (as Igor had before), but as the days went by, she was increasingly coming up against clue after clue that told her, ever so subtly, that she was getting bigger. 

First it was the door frame to their bedroom — Emma had been surprised to see, the first day she had come back, that her head rose a good number of inches over the door frame, even when she was on her knees. The frame itself, which was 6’8 tall, had once been a point of contention for her, in the early days of her growth; the day she had returned, Emma had noticed, upon ducking her head down to enter her bedroom (on her knees of course), that there was a large dent at the top of the door frame, right around the middle. Emma had puzzled over it for a moment, until, with a sudden flash of insight, she realized what it was — it was the dent that she had put into the frame when she had inadvertently smacked her head against it while video chatting with Daniel! It had only been a number of weeks before, but to Emma, it seemed like years. At the time, it had come as a strange, almost-otherworldly shock to her, that she had grown taller than the door frame, but now, she was looking down on the dent she had made…as she knelt on her knees. 

For a moment, Emma felt a rush of strange and powerful emotions: she became terribly nostalgic for the time when she was “only” 6’9 or 6’10…she felt a renewed and invigorated sense of hopelessness at her growth condition…she felt an odd and totally unrelated rush of power, that she could have felt so big and tall then, compared to how huge she was now…there was even a dash of humor sprinkled in to all these other emotions: ‘Gosh, I really left a big dent there,’ she thought to herself, ‘I bet it I smacked my head on it now the whole door frame would cave in!’ 

As this sudden, strange, and unexpected amalgamation of emotions whirled around in her brain, Emma had unintentionally made an odd kind of noise, a mixture of a laugh, a choke, a huff, and a sniffle. 

“You ok there, hun?” asked Daniel, who was lying on the bed, preparing to be supplanted.

“Uh, yeah…yeah I’m fine,” said Emma, ducking under the door with difficulty and turning her body sideways slowly and carefully, so that she could get in. “I was just…um, noticing the dent above the doorway.” 

“Dent?” asked Daniel, “What dent?”

“You know!” answered Emma, getting temporarily stuck in the doorway and sighing in frustration as she tried to wrench her shoulder forward. “The one above the doorway. I hadn’t seen it before…I guess because I’ve been away.”

“I…haven’t seen any dent there, Emma,” said Daniel, sitting up a little in the bed.

“Well,” said Emma, gritting her teeth as she pushed herself through the doorway, causing the frame to buckle and expand a little bit, shaking the walls as she finally managed to press herself through, “It’s there. It’s from when I hit my head on the doorway all those months…uh, weeks, ago. Remember? When you were on that trip and we were video chatting?” 

“I remember,” said Daniel uneasily. “But I just…uh, I guess I’d never noticed that it had left a dent there.”

“Well, I know why you never noticed,” chuckled Emma, happy to be in their cozy bedroom as she got on her hands and knees and crawled over to the bed. She had a grin on her face that was intended to convey amusement and pleasure, but to Daniel, it almost looked threatening. As she approached the bed, he couldn’t help but think of a giant tigress leering at her prey. She was just so huge, too big to look gentle. 

‘It’s just Emma,’ Daniel reminded himself, ‘Sweet Emma…’

“Uh, why is that?” he asked out loud. 

“Because!” she laughed, reaching down, grabbing him, and lifting him off the bed as she carefully stretched herself down on the mattress, filling it completely as she held him up over her torso in the air like a little child. “You’re way too short!” 

A few days later, however, as Emma was about to enter the bedroom on her knees again, she noticed something. The dent, which had been just a tad below her eye level before, now looked even lower. It was about even with her nose…no…it was actually below her nose…right about at her mouth. She frowned slightly, thinking that this couldn’t be a good sign, but she shrugged it off. Two days later, though, she couldn’t help but check again — now the dent was even with her chin. There was no question: she was still growing. The summer dresses that Ms. Bisset had made for her still fit nicely, but Emma could feel them, bit by bit, becoming tighter on her burgeoning frame. 

Daniel had been afraid to suggest it before, but gradually, he too noticed the unavoidable truth that she was still getting bigger. A substantial part of him (and Emma as well) had been privately hoping that her growth would just inexplicably stop one day, never to resume — this hope had temporarily replaced the hope for medical intervention, since that plan had veritably crashed and burned. A few times, Daniel felt tempted to gently nudge Emma back in the direction of Dr. Hartman, or even Dr. Kline, but he was too nervous about what her reaction would be. He still couldn’t get that image of her wild, unhinged expression out of his head, on that final day at the Institute. But as Emma frustratedly abandoned the use of utensils, (which she couldn’t really hold anymore), her laptop (which she couldn’t type on anymore), and even books (which she had a hard time reading because the type was so small), Daniel finally had to at least see how much she was growing.

“Honey?” he asked carefully one day, after Emma had accidentally bumped her head on the ceiling for the umpteenth time, “Why don’t…why don’t we measure you?”

“Measure me!?” she asked, rubbing her head and frowning down at him. 

“Y-yeah!” he said, trying to sound casual. “Just…you know, to see how much you’ve been growing recently? I’m, uh…haha, I mean, I’m kind of interested. Aren’t you?”

Emma had been about to pretend that she hadn’t noticed her own recent growth, but she quickly decided that would have been juvenile — she wished Daniel hadn’t brought up the prospect of measurement (since it reminded her too much of those doctors), but as she looked down at him, blinking up innocently at her, she felt her heart soften. He was such a little sweetheart…her little sweetheart. 

‘And heck,’ she thought to herself, making it a point to give him a warm smile, ‘Maybe he’s even getting into the idea of me being bigger, and still growing…kinda like all those fun little guys on giantesscity.’

Her mind flashed briefly to the internet forums, which Daniel was now scrolling through for her, since her fingers were too big. The pictures she had posted had caused a sensation. Her inbox was filling up with more and more messages, nearly all of them adoring, and some of them downright head-over-heels hysterical. She remembered what a few of them had suggested — that she start an OnlyFans account and upload paid content — but she quickly shook these thoughts away. Daniel was staring up at her expectantly with his sweet little face; Emma knew he didn’t intend this, but he couldn’t help but think that he was looking more and more like a cute little cartoon character to her. 

“Of course I’m interested,” she said with a slow smile, perhaps sounding more sensual than she had meant to. “Let’s measure me!” 

Daniel started to clear away furniture to make room for Emma to stretch out on the floor, but she stopped him, putting the large pad of her finger down on his shoulder.

“You go get the tape measure,” she purred, “I’ll move the furniture.” She didn’t know why she was feeling so sexy all of a sudden — maybe it was the remembrance of all those thousands upon thousands of admiring, revering, and even worshiping messages that she was receiving. 

“Uhh…o-ok, hun,” stuttered Daniel, a little confused by Emma’s strange and sudden voluptuousness. It was in her smile, her movements, her voice, her touch…she was moving slower, more sensually, her smile was softer, her voice deeper and more resonant, her touch warmer. He could feel the force of her blood pumping through her finger as it touched his shoulder. He felt himself harden in his pants, but he also shuddered. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be turned on right now. 

He went into the bedroom to get the tape measure, and when he came back out, about twenty seconds later, Emma had already moved the sofa, the love seat, the coffee table, the large chest, the whole entertainment station, and the bookshelf into a corner of the living room. She was sitting there, her legs splayed out to the side, grinning down sexily at him. 

“Impressed?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“Y-yes, actually!” he managed to say. 

Emma laid herself down on the floor, and Daniel tok the tape measure and, with a little difficulty, was able to get an accurate measurement. 

“So?” asked Emma, staring up at the ceiling, “What does it say?”

“Uh…so you’re ten-foot-seven, Emma,” said Daniel, trying to sound normal, but finding that his throat had gone dry.

“Ten-foot-seven,” she repeated, her eyes still on the ceiling. She suddenly had no idea how she felt — once again, a flood of emotions and worries seemed to wash over her, but for some reason, in this moment, she was able to push them all down and sit up abruptly. Daniel staggered back, surprised at her sudden movement. 

“Ten-foot-seven!” she laughed, feeling surreal. “How about that?” 

A couple days later, Emma was taking a nap in the bed, while Daniel worked at his desk. He didn’t know why Emma still insisted on sleeping in the bed, but there wasn’t much he could do to change her mind — for whatever reason, she was determined to sleep there. Daniel was at his work desk, with his headphones in, but even still, he could hear Emma snoring. She had always made little noises in her sleep, but recently, with her increased size, she had started outright snoring. Daniel was a heavy sleeper himself, so he wasn’t usually awakened by it when he was asleep too. But now, at his work desk, it was distracting. 

He went over to the bedroom door, put his hand on the knob, and started closing it. But he stopped himself, taking a long look at his gigantic sleeping girlfriend, snoring away. He shook his head slightly, even as his heart ached with tenderness at the sight of her — her legs were splayed out on either side of the bed, going along the floor a long way in either direction, and her arms were also spread open, down all the way to the floor, in a kind of “open eagle” formation. The bed looked ridiculously small underneath her — to Daniel, it was beginning to look like something out of a weird fairy tale, when a giant girl finds her way into a tiny house and is overcome by sleep and humorously tries to sleep in the miniature bed. Daniel smiled a little to himself as he moved to shut the door…and then he saw it. 

He had just happened to glance at Emma’s stomach, and, in a crazy moment that seemed to sear itself into his brain, Daniel saw that her stomach appeared to be rising. What made the moment so notable was that, in this instant, Emma was blowing out a particularly large exhale. Even though his brain wasn’t going through the conscious process, Daniel knew that Emma’s stomach should only be rising if she was inhaling, not exhaling. But it didn’t stop there — it wasn’t just Emma’s stomach that was doing weird things. Daniel saw that her legs seemed to be traveling slowly across the floor, with her right foot getting closer and closer to him. And Daniel saw that her legs themselves appeared to be swelling. Her arms were too, as they lengthened and traveled out across the floor…and her breasts! They were ballooning too, in proportion along with the rest of her body! Her head was rising up even higher on the wall, and her midsection was expanding out onto the headboard, further obfuscating it. And all through the process, Daniel could hear the telltale sign that made it exactly clear what was happening: the gentle, but audible tightening of her clothes against her expanding, broadening body. He could even hear the slight creaking, a deeper sound, coming from within her body, as her bones lengthened, expanded, and thickened.

Daniel realized that he was watching Emma have a growth spurt in real time, and he felt his eyes bulge out. For several long moments, he felt totally frozen in time, even as he knew from the real-time growth that time was indeed passing. He just couldn’t believe it — he couldn’t believe how dramatically her growth had accelerated, and he felt rooted to the floor by the sheer extent of her increase. And then, he heard the whining of the wooden beams of their bed suddenly inundate the air, but Emma’s growth spurt paid no heed. After several more agonizing seconds of creaking lumber, the bed beams suddenly broke, sending the mattress crashing down a foot down onto the floor. Daniel jumped in surprise, and Emma startled awake. 

“Wha-what!?” she exclaimed blearily, blinking her eyes as they darted around, seeing nothing from the film of sleep in front of them. “What happened??” 

Daniel rushed over to her and grabbed her arm to comfort her, but upon touching her, he almost drew back. Her spurt was nearing its end, but she was still growing a little, and he could feel the firm flesh of her forearm expanding slowly beneath his touch. He felt incredibly intimidated by the inherent power of what was happening to her, but he managed to shake it all off, instead focusing on Emma’s alarmed, sleepy face. 

“It’s ok babe, it’s ok!” he said reassuringly, petting her arm. “It’s just…you just…uhhh…it’s ok.” 

“But what was that sound?” asked Emma, now looking around beneath her, realizing that something wasn’t quite right, “There was a loud…uhh, and I was just…did I…oh my god…Daniel? Did I…just break the bed!?” 

“It’s ok, hun, really it is!” said Daniel quickly, trying his best to soothe her. “We can…we can get another one! Easy! And…and, haha…we can make sure and upgrade a size or two, huh?” 

Once Emma woke up enough to realize and accept what had happened, she became emotional and fell into a depressive state, sitting in the corner of their bedroom, clutching her knees to her chest, and sniffling softly. Daniel was standing next to her, massaging her, comforting her through it all, but in the process, he noticed a large tag on a splintered beam not too far away. As Emma held her head in her hands, he peered down closer at it. 

“Weight limit: 1,050 pounds,” it said. Daniel gulped. He weighed about 200 pounds…which meant… 

“Wh-where are you going?” asked Emma a couple moments later, looking up.

“Just thought we should get some of these, uhh…sharper pieces all cleaned up,” Daniel said quickly. “You know…before they hurt anybody.” 

Emma was depressed for a few days after the bed-breaking incident, but she was cheered up by a phone call from Ms. Bisset, who was checking in on Emma (whom she had great affection and empathy for) to see how she was doing. 

“I broke the bed!” complained Emma unhappily into the phone. “Daniel has been so sweet and he ordered us an Alaskan-king-sized bed, which is, like…well, it’s the biggest bed available, and…and, but, uh, I just…my clothes fit fine and all, but…I’m just…my emotions are all over the place, and I just hate that I’m still growing, but, like, uhh, I mean, that’s not even really true because sometimes I DO actually like it, especially when I read all those messages, and…and when I can pick Daniel up and cuddle him, and…uh…oh Ms. Bisset, I’m sorry, I don’t even really know what I’m saying!”

“It’s ok, dear,” Ms. Bisset said gently over the phone. “It’s ok not to have consistent feelings about what’s happening. Just, when you feel positive about it, and when you DO feel good about your size, run with it!” 

“Yeah…yeah, I, uh, I like that way of looking at it!” said Emma, whose mind was already turning. An idea had suddenly appeared in her mind, and as soon as Emma became cognizant of it, she knew that she was going to put it into action. As she spoke into the phone, she could feel her depression melting away like morning fog. 

“So Ms. Bisset,” she began, “Can you make custom…heels as well?” 

A few days later, after a lengthy process of navigating, Emma was able to leave the house.

“So…you’re meeting up with Ms. Bisset?” Daniel had asked. “Getting new clothes?”

“Not…exactly,” said Emma, winking down at him through the doorway as she bent over it. 

“So…what, then?” he asked, puzzled. 

“You’ll seeeee!” sang Emma, standing up to her full height outside (which gave Daniel a direct view of her lower butt cheeks, which were just beginning to be visible underneath her summer dress if it fluttered a certain way in the breeze. Daniel gulped as he got an eye-level view of her black satin panties, which, like Emma had a moment before, seemed to wink at him. 

Out in the world, Emma was free to stretch her legs as much as she wanted, straighten her back as much as she wanted, and stand as tall and proud as she wanted. It had been a difficult couple of weeks, being back home, but now that she was on the way to see Ms. Bisset, for a very special little treat, she felt her spirits lifted. Her face felt closer to the sky than it ever had been, and she was able to see up higher, into the branches of trees. Being almost 11 feet tall now, she felt strangely closer to nature, if only because other people were so far below her. She knew that, whenever she went out for walks, people stopped to stare. Cars ground to a halt; children pointed; people tried to come up and engage her in conversation, some flirtatious, some perplexed, some worried, some horrified, all astounded. But Emma didn’t have to listen to them. She had her headphones in, and if she looked straight ahead, she couldn’t even see the people who came up to her. They were all below her hips at this point, and because of her long, effortless strides, they had a hard time keeping up with her without getting tired and giving up. 

The police had stopped her a few days before, during one of her walks, but Emma hadn’t been afraid. She had felt more amused than anything else. 

“So…what’s the problem again, officer?” she had asked. 

“Uh, ma’m,” stammered the officer, not really even knowing what he was doing, “I just…I just wanted to make sure…um…that everything was alright.”

“Fine, just fine!” Emma had said brightly, putting her hands on her hips. 

“Well…uhhh…w-well, o-ok then!” replied the officer.

“Yes, ok!” laughed Emma, nodding as she went on her way. The officer thought that he could feel the ground shaking a bit beneath him as she walked away, but surely, he thought, it was his imagination. 

Now, back in the present, Emma met up with Ms. Bisset at a local park, and returned home about twenty minutes later, carrying a large box, about over a foot and a half wide, and more than 4 feet long. 

“Daniellll!” she called, plopping down excitedly on their front lawn. 

“Uh…yeah?” he asked, opening the door moments later. Emma hadn’t even really thought about it, but her voice was now powerful and loud enough to easily penetrate their brick house, even though she was all the way outside in the lawn. 

“Look what I’ve got!” she laughed, holding up the large box in one hand. 

“Haha, uh, ok — what’s in the box, Emma?” he asked, smiling through his uneasiness. He had noticed that Emma had taken off her shoes; she had placed them next to her, and she was wiggling her toes in the grass. 

“Why don’t you come over here and find out?” she said, with that same strange sensuality that she had used a few days before, when Daniel was measuring her. 

“Er, ok,” he said, coming down off the stoop. He came up to her, trying not to marvel too hard at the fact that, even sitting down on her butt, Emma was a couple inches taller than he was. She had an odd grin on her face, that was made all the more alarming to him by the bright glint in her wide eyes. 

“Here!” she exclaimed suddenly, thrusting the box into his arms, “Why don’t you open it for me?” 

“Oof, uh, ok,” replied Daniel, staggering back a couple paces from the force of Emma shoving the box into him. He started opening it standing up, then realized it was too heavy, and put it on the ground, kneeling beside it, as he tore off the tape and opened it. There, wrapped in white tissue paper, staring back at him with coquettish splendor, were a pair of long, black leather platform boots, longer, bigger, and taller than Daniel had ever seen. He gaped, moving his mouth like a fish out of water, finally looking helplessly up at Emma, whose mouth had also opened, but in delight rather than incredulity. 

“I knowwww, right!?” she cried, balling her hands up into fists and shaking them excitedly on either side of her face. “Ms. Bisset had them specially made for me by a shoemaker she knows, and…and…aaaahhhhh! I’m so excited oh my god I can’t wait to try them onnnnn!” 

“B-b-but…but Emma!” cried Daniel, “H-how…I-I…uhhh…how are you gonna…fit in the house…with these!?” 

“I’m not gonna fit in the house, Daniel!” she laughed. “These are my “going-out” heels, haha! Come on, come on, take them out and help me put them on!” 

Emma leaned back on her butt, extending out her arms on either side of herself for support, as she lifted her right foot up in Daniel’s, shaking it suggestively in a slow circle. Daniel blinked at her bare toes — inches away from his face — for a moment, and then did as he was told. A lot was happening in his head right now, but even as he struggled to understand why on earth Emma would want to make herself even taller, he recognized that she was clearly in a good mood because of all this, and that he was definitely not going to do anything to dampen it. He pulled out the right-foot boot, completely astounded at how big it was. 

“Wait, wait!” giggled Emma, “Before you put it on me, line it up next to you…yeah, like that…now hold it up…all the way….haha, oh my god! It’s way over half as tall as you are!” 

Emma was right — with the platform boot on the ground, and Daniel holding up the black leather legging, it went all the way up, past his waist, right up to about the middle of his stomach. 

“Ok ok now me, now me!” Emma chanted.

Daniel picked the boot up and began sliding it up over Emma’s extended foot. It took a bit of time for him to finagle the boot onto her foot, and then even more time to pull it up over her ankle and lower leg. Emma watched him the whole time, clearly getting a kick out of the whole thing. After a couple minutes of trying, Daniel stepped back, out of breath. 

“Ok,” he breathed heavily. “I think…I think that’s as far as it’ll go.”

“As far as you can make it go, at least,” chuckled Emma. She extended her hands out, grasped the leather legging, and pulled it up her leg a good 5 or 6 more inches, up past her knee, and to about her mid-thigh. Daniel couldn’t believe how strong she was, even if it had already been plainly obvious before. 

“Haha, I’ll put the other one on, babe,” she laughed, “But I just wanted your help with that first one. You should’ve seen your little face from my perspective, haha…adorable!”

“Heh heh,” said Daniel, standing back, really not knowing what to think. He watched as Emma took all of ten seconds to do what he hadn’t even been able to do in two minutes, pulling the other boot up over her left leg, again all the way up to her mid-thigh. She sat there on the grass, her hands open on the grass underneath her, poised to rise. 

“Oh-kaaaay!” she laughed at him. “Reeeeaaddy!?” 

Daniel nodded. He had found that he had temporarily lost the ability to speak, and for some reason, his heart had started to hammer away in his chest, in anticipation. 

Emma’s heart was beating quickly too, and she blinked slowly, flared her nostrils, inhaled a long, deep breath, and began standing up. The pleasant, stretching sounds of the fresh leather cut the air as her legs moved and extended. Emma saw Daniel’s face quickly appear to rush away from her as she stood, to the point where he became hidden under her breasts. Daniel watched dumbfounded as Emma’s knees rose up in the black leather, her thighs swelling slightly from the exertion of standing, as her figure rose up and up and UP…towering over him to an unprecedented extent. Emma’s hands were hanging by her sides, and Daniel noticed that he now had to look slightly up at them, even though her arms were completely straight, hanging down. He was staring forward…into the middle of Emma’s thighs; his eyes glanced down and saw that the black leather line of her new boots was right at his shoulder level. Daniel felt his mouth drop open as his heart raced faster, his breaths coming in quick, near-hyperventilating bursts. Her knees were even with his chest. 

Since she couldn’t even see Daniel, Emma took a moment to look up around her, at their house, their yard, at everything. It was all a size smaller. She took in another deep breath, feeling strange and unfamiliar stirrings in between her legs, behind her black panties. She looked down, straight in front of her, and saw absolutely no one. She took a careful step back, and her boyfriend came back into view, gaping up at her meekly, in obvious shock and awe. 

“Therrrrre you are!” Emma giggled.

Chapter 14

“E-Emma!!” came Daniel’s dry voice. His words sounded pitifully small, not the least because he was staring straight into the middle of his girlfriend’s thighs. He didn’t know what he was saying — his mind had taken off into uncharted territory. “Y-you’re…you’re…”

“Huh?” came Emma’s voice as she bent down over him, putting her hand to her ear. “What are you saying down there?”

Daniel suddenly remembered the GTS community that Emma had been engaging with, and it occurred to him that she was probably engaging in some form of silly roleplaying. Even as he stumbled and tripped over his words, he managed to take a step back and look way, way up into Emma’s face, as he forced a sheepish smile. 

“Uh…c-c’mon Emma, I…I know what you’re doing,” he said, louder. 

“What?” asked Emma innocently, completely engulfing him in her shadow. 

“Y-you’re…you’re joking around!” laughed Daniel, marveling at how normal he sounded. Internally, he was positively flabbergasted at how huge Emma looked in her massive platform heels. 

“Wh-…no, no I’m not!” she countered, putting her hands on her hips as she loomed over him. “I genuinely couldn’t hear you before, and I can barely even hear you now!” 

“Th-that’s…uh…” said Daniel, trailing off. He had no idea what to say. It was incredible how tiny he felt — the psychological effect of Emma’s voice emanating from more than 5 feet was…surprising, to say the least. He quickly felt his normal exterior beginning to crumble. 

“I mean, it makes sense,” said Emma, straightening up. “You’re, like…farther away from me now. Like…much farther.” 

For a few long moments, both of them just stood there without saying anything. Emma was trying to wrap her mind around the reality of the situation — she had purchased these boots to make her feel better, to better help her embrace her condition, but she had not been prepared for how big they would make her feel. She wasn’t quite 12 feet tall, but she wasn’t too far away. The platform heels had managed to push her over the edge just a bit…she had already been gigantic, but now, it felt like she had crossed a line into a different reality. 

Raising her head up from Daniel, she looked around. Her head rose above the brick of their house; she was now taller than a single story, and she could easily see onto the roof. The oak trees in their yard looked somehow…more fake…and less like the trees she was used to seeing. Although Emma didn’t quite realize it, this was because, somewhere deep in her brain, she associated trees with their large size — but now, they didn’t really look so large anymore. 

‘I wonder if I can put my arms all the way around the big one?’ she thought to herself. 

Without even thinking, she started walking over to the big oak tree that grew by their driveway. She had momentarily forgotten, however, that Daniel was standing directly in front of her. With her head raised up straight, she couldn’t even see him. 

“Emma!” he yelped, stumbling backwards as her huge, raised, platform-heeled boot came at him. His anxious cry reached her ear, and she stopped herself, her foot planting down hard on the ground, right in front of him, leaving a deep indent in the grass. 

“Oh…sorry!” she said, a bit absently. “I, uh…I forgot you were, like…right in front of me. For some reason I thought you were a little further…uh, oh never mind.”

“It’s…ok,” said Daniel, whose heart was now drumming hard in his chest. The sight of that incoming black boot, right at his chest level, had been way more alarming than he cared to admit. 

“Hehe, geez,” murmured Emma, almost to herself, as she looked down. “I really…uh…look like a giantess compared to you now, huh?” She was shocked by how big her booted foot looked, directly next to Daniel. Getting a little idea, she stepped back, taking her foot away, revealing the large imprint of its shape on the grass. 

“Like…put your foot in my footprint, Daniel,” she said, pointing down.

Daniel looked at the huge imprint in the grass, and, hesitatingly, put his foot down into it. It didn’t even seem real — Emma’s footprint extended out so extensively on both sides of his shoe, to the extent that it looked ridiculous. Her footprint absolutely swallowed his foot. In a flash, it reminded Daniel of the zoo, long ago, when he was a child, when he put his foot into the plastic-mold footprint of a gorilla. The whole point of the exhibit was to show just how big gorillas could get…but now…now he was an adult. 

“Haha, wow!” laughed Emma, tilting her head sideways. “Look at that — that’s crazy! My feet…Jesus they’re huge compared to yours! I mean…god, Daniel, your foot looks like a little kid’s compared to mine!” 

“I, uh…that’s just…that’s maybe just the heel,” Daniel croaked. He wasn’t quite sure why he was trying to play this comparison off…to rationalize it…but he wasn’t comfortable admitting that he was THIS much smaller than her. 

“Yeah, right, just the heel,” chuckled Emma, feeling an odd sense of elation at Daniel’s awkward reaction. Ms. Bisset was right — these heels were definitely making her feel better, although she didn’t quite feel in control of her happiness. It felt like it was coming in waves, crashing messily over her psyche. She suddenly felt the strong desire to show Daniel how futile it was to try and contain her size, to downplay it. She knew that it might make him uncomfortable, but at this point, being this big, she just decided to run with it. After all, what was Daniel going to do? Stop her? 

“Ok,” she said challengingly, falling down into a squat on her heels, “So you think it’s just the heels, huh?” She held up her hand, impressively splaying her fingers. “Let’s compare hands then.”

“I…Emma, I think we both know that, uh…that your hands are bigger,” said Daniel, red color beginning to inundate his cheeks from the bottom. 

“Well we can’t reeeeeally be sure until we’ve lined them up together, can we?” returned Emma. Her long, strong-looking fingers danced teasingly. “Come on, Daniel! What? Are you scared how small you’ll look compared to me?”

“N-no,” he said, blushing further still as he stood stubbornly, readjusting his posture, unknowingly making it so that both of his feet were in Emma’s footprint. “I just…don’t really see the point of it, is all.”

“The point!” laughed Emma, smiling cheekily at him as her eyes went wide. “The point is I wanna see, Daniel! Come on — come over here!” 

He blinked at her and slunk over, not having any kind of effective comeback. Emma watched him approach, and her smile got bigger. Squatting down like this in her heels, she was still a good couple feet taller than him. Her fingers danced playfully again as Daniel brought his hand up to hers. For different reasons, both of their hearts were beating quickly. Daniel was nervous; Emma was excited. A moment later, both of them were staring at the comparison, speechless. Emma felt herself smile, and she tried to stifle a laugh, which meant that it came out as a kind of involuntary snort. 

“Oh my god,” she guffawed. “Look…look at that! Your fingers don’t even cover my palm!”

It was true — Daniel blinked and looked puzzled. He wasn’t quite sure what he had been expecting, or why exactly he had thought that his hand would somehow look…well, bigger. But for some reason he had not been quite ready to see just how huge Emma’s hands were compared to his. Her palm rose up next to his fingers, until, just a little bit after Daniel’s middle finger ended, her own finger began. It was a ridiculous comparison — just like her footprint, her palm extended outward on either side of his hand, completely dwarfing him. She chuckled and made her fingers dance again, and Daniel felt the strong muscles and tendons in her hand working against his hand. It was dreadfully intimidating. 

“Haha, so…any clever little responses to that, babe?” Emma chuckled, looking down at him with wide eyes. This was what Ms. Bisset had been talking to her about, right? Embracing her size? Emma had to admit that, at least in this moment, it sure felt good. But she was also just enjoying making Daniel feel a little uncomfortable. 

“I…I,” he stammered. Emma suddenly stood up, and Daniel felt the whooshing air of her movements in his face — it brushed his hair back, and made his eyes water slightly. But he didn’t have any time to think about any of that, because Emma’s huge black boot was once again in his face. This time, though, it was on purpose. She had put her boot to his chest, and gently, but with firm and authoritative purpose, she gave him a shove with her foot, making him stumble backwards. Her foot bore down on him, following his stumbling trajectory, and didn’t leave his chest. This continued pressure was too much for Daniel to handle, and he fell down on his back onto the grass. Emma hadn’t even needed to take a step in his direction…and her boot was still right there, smack on his chest, holding him down. Daniel looked up at her, slightly winded, and saw that she was looking down at him, from high, high above, with a curious expression. She seemed to be smiling slightly…maybe!? Or maybe her face was just deadpanned. Daniel couldn’t quite tell, since it was so far away. He had already been uncomfortable, but now, he was actually starting to worry. 

“E-Emma!?” he stammered. “H-Honey? What…what are you doing?” 

Emma didn’t answer. She had arched and bent her head down, so that she could see him more clearly, and she loomed over him. Long seconds passed. 

“Emm— ”

“Just playing around a little,” she said, cutting him off. Her voice sounded almost emotionless in the air. Emma would have wondered at her own tone, but she was just being honest — it was a kind of little game, wasn’t it? She remembered all those guys on giantesscity asking her to take pictures of this kind of thing. At first, Emma had been weirded out by the requests. But now, as she stood there, her booted foot keeping Daniel down without even having to try, she had to admit…it felt exciting. It was like it wasn’t enough just to stand next to him, comparing heights. Forcing him down on his back, with her foot on his chest, just underlined the reality of their size difference…and emphasized how small and helpless he was compared to her, when she got it in her mind to do something. She saw his little hands grasp the shiny black leather of her boot, trying to lift it, and she felt a little twinge of something in her pussy. He was so cute. And the fact that he was even trying to move her foot…well, that made him even cuter still.

“Aww, you’re just precious!” she burst out, taking her foot off his chest. Daniel didn’t even have time to take a deep breath in — Emma had bent down in a sweeping gesture with her big arms, and was scooping his prone body off the ground. The next thing he knew, Daniel was riding her hip, held there by a strong, supporting arm. 

“Uhhh…” he began to say, but Emma interrupted him again. 

“You’re just like a little kid to me now!” she laughed, bouncing him up and down on her hip. “Haha, look at your little legs, dangling all over the place! C’mon — let’s go for a little walk!”

“Emmmmma!” complained Daniel, but he was utterly powerless to resist what was going on. For the next couple minutes, he endured Emma strutting around in their front yard, bouncing him on her hip, laughing and teasing him.

“I’ll bet people who see us think you’re, like…my kid or something!” she joked, looking down on him merrily. 

“No they don’t,” replied Daniel sullenly, irritated. “They know, like…uh, they know I’m a man, Emma! No one would dispute that.”

“Aw, am I teasing you too much?” she pouted, the corners of her mouth upturned. 

“I…n-no,” said Daniel, remembering that he must humor her. “But I just…uh, no, no it’s fine.”

Emma felt somewhere in her mind that her frivolity was starting to wear off, and she was afraid that once it was gone, she would go back to feeling depressed again. The big oak tree caught her eye again, and she placed Daniel down, determined to keep her fun streak going.

“Now let’s see here,” she said, partially to herself, in an exaggerated intonation. As she spoke this way, Daniel felt the sheer power of her voice. Maybe it was because he was already getting used to how big she was in the boots, and, with the novelty beginning to wear off, the other aspects of her hugeness came through. Maybe it was just the sheer height that her voice emanated from. Daniel couldn’t be sure, but whatever it was, he had a strong impression of the depth and power of Emma’s voice — it seemed to permeate the air, and vibrated in the air between his clothes and his skin…it even seemed to go deeper, into his muscles themselves. He took an unconscious step back, in awe of her power, and not a little afraid. 

“Yeah…yeah I think I can do it,” Emma was saying to herself. She extended out her arms and put her hands up in a “stop” motion. Daniel didn’t know what she was doing, but a moment later he got his answer. Emma folded her huge fingers together and then abruptly pressed them outward, cracking her knuckles. The result was a piercing series of loud pops far overhead that made Daniel stagger back. He hadn’t been ready for Emma’s sudden action, and he certainly hadn’t been ready for how loud it was going to be. 

“Augh, Emma! Geez!” he exclaimed, not able to help himself as he put his hands over his ears.

She glanced down at him curiously, not seeming to understand. “What?” 

“I…it’s…uh, that was just really loud,” he said, gathering himself together and forcing out a little laugh. 

“Uh…ok,” said Emma, tilting her head slightly to the side, studying him. Was he screwing with her? Why would he do that? He knew how sensitive she had been recently…could it be that he was actually being serious? That simply cracking her knuckles had such a big effect on him? Still looking down on him with that same strange curiosity, she extended her thumb over the joint of her middle finger, one that hadn’t been cracked recently. Her eyes on Daniel, she pressed down — the sound of her knuckle popping cut the air like a small gunshot. Daniel blinked and stepped back again, his hands jerking back to cover his ears. 

“Arrrgh! Emma, please! Stop!” he pleaded. 

‘Wow, he’s being serious,’ Emma thought to herself. She felt a stab of irritation. If he couldn’t handle her just being normal — doing normal things like cracking her knuckles, for godsakes — then he should just…just go somewhere else. She could feel the ugly anxiety of her condition start to rise up inside her like a shadow, threatening to engulf her, but just then, a pleasant breeze blew across her face, a breeze unlike any that she had felt before. It suddenly occurred to Emma that, up higher as she was, nearly 12 feet off the ground, the breeze blew differently. It wasn’t as bound by the gravity or heat of the ground…or something. She didn’t quite understand the science, but she didn’t have to. The fluttering winds felt delightfully fresh on her face, and Emma took this opportunity to remind herself that there were many hidden benefits to her condition…benefits that she had the exciting opportunity to discover.

She took a deep breath and re-focused on the tree. Needing only three strides, she crossed the entire lawn, going up to the big oak tree itself. She was able to see up into its branches, in a way that had been impossible before, and her eyes fell on a little bird’s nest that was tucked cozily away, close to the trunk. It was empty, but Emma saw the fluffy remnants of several blue feathers.

‘See?’ she said to herself happily. ‘It’s fantastic being this big!’

“Uh, honey?” came Daniel’s voice, behind and below her. “What’re you doing now?” 

“Just trying something fun!” replied Emma, pushing down her annoyance. She walked around to the other side of the tree and spread her arms wide. Taking a small step forward, she embraced the tree, her arms wrapping all the way around it…until her fingers touched.

“Yes!!” cried Emma, darting her head around the tree excitedly. “You seeing this, Daniel?! I can wrap my arms all the way around!” 

“I…y-yes, I can see,” he said bewilderingly. “Wow!” 

“I just…haha, I thought I might be able to do it!” she laughed, locking the tips of her fingers together. “But I wasn’t sure.” 

“Well, you…you got it, babe!” said Daniel, attempting to sound excited for her. In reality, though, he was more intimidated by Emma’s show of size than he was comfortable admitting. That oak tree was by far the largest living thing on their property…but as Emma stood behind it, wrapping her arms around the whole thing, Daniel couldn’t believe how ordinary and…well, small it looked, for a tree, at least. With Emma standing beside it, it almost looked like a miniature caricature of a large oak tree. Except…it WAS a large oak tree.

“Huh…ok then!” said Emma brightly, unwrapping herself from the tree and coming back around, a new light in her eyes. “Let’s see…let’s see what else!” 

She turned down to Daniel, and for a couple long moments, she just stared at him. It was like she was seeing him for the first time…and in a way, this was true. She WAS seeing him in a new light, just as he was seeing her likewise. Her platform boots had been the propulsive force that had pushed Emma up into a new realm, a new reality. She had been huge before, yes — but now…now she was truly beginning to seem like a giantess. 

Daniel looked up at her nervously, wishing that she would stop looking at him like that. Her eyes made him uncomfortable. They made him feel tiny, small, insignificant…like he was losing her. Would she remember that they were still a couple? That he loved her, and she loved him!? Or was this crazy condition finally going to come between them, cutting off the possibility of true intimacy? Daniel didn’t have much time to dwell on these unpleasant possibilities, though, because Emma was suddenly smiling, her curious look now evaporated. 

“Hey! Get the camera!” she exclaimed, grinning with enthusiasm. “This is, like, the perfect time to take some more pictures, don’t you think?”

“I…uh, sure Emma…I’ll walk in and get it,” said Daniel.

“Don’t walk — run!” she laughed. “Come on! This is gonna be fun!” 

The next hour or so was spent taking pictures of Emma in a variety of strange and exotic poses. Daniel did his best to humor her, but after a while, it became tiresome to him, especially knowing, ultimately, that these pictures were intended for that weird entourage of men on the internet who were horny for his girlfriend. Once or twice, Daniel tried to protest certain poses, most particularly the one where Emma spread her legs and told him to get underneath her, in between her legs, and take a picture of her from above. 

“But…but then you’re, like…exposing yourself to them,” said Daniel.

“Just a little view of my panties is all,” said Emma casually, waving her hand. She saw that Daniel was still hesitating, and once again, she wasn’t able to help the flush of irritation that passed through her. What, was he worried that his position was being threatened!? Didn’t approve of his girlfriend living her life a little?? It wasn’t hard for Emma’s mind to start tumbling down those mental pathways, but she made a real effort to stymie herself and turn around.

“This is…just a little way for me to have fun,” she said, crossing her booted feet together as she stood over him, straightening her arms out and folding her hands innocently. “Something that’ll just, you know…relax me.”

“You’re relaxed…because you’ll be sharing pictures of your panties?” asked Daniel doubtfully. As soon as he had spoken, though, he realized he had gone too far. 

“Look, what’s so hard to understand about all this?” she replied, no longer bothering to hide her irritation. “I’ve told you that I enjoy the kind of attention I’ve been getting from that…group of people, and I’ve told you that it’s no threat to you, and I’ve TOLD you that it makes me feel calmer and…and more confident. Are you seriously gonna keep being a…a fucking sourpuss about it!?”

Almost as soon as Emma had started speaking, Daniel had put his hands up in surrender, slowly backing away, with the camera dangling from a strap around his neck. 

“O-ok…ok, Emma…I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he kept saying over and over. He was frustrated with himself that he had allowed his words to leak out like they had, and now he was paying the price. When she had finished her frustrated monologue, Emma just stood there for a few long moments, her jaw set, and her eyes hard and blazing. 

“It’s my fault…it’s my fault, Emma,” Daniel said one last time. “I…it’s totally fine.”

Emma blinked blankly, unmoved. After a few more seconds of staring down at him, lowering her brow slightly (like she was trying to make sure who he was), she said:

“I’m just…getting kind of tired of having to say the same thing, over and over again.” 

Daniel felt crushed, and panic started setting in. He needed to show her that he was behind her one hundred percent…that he loved her and supported her in whatever way she needed to feel ok. Seeing her spread legs, he was suddenly seized with initiative. He scampered over to her, getting in between her legs (even with her legs spread like this, his head still didn’t quite reach her pussy), and lying down on the grass underneath her. 

“Here, honey…just…haha, ok, just stay still there!” called up Daniel, but he hadn’t even needed to ask. Emma had not moved, either her posture or the expression on her face. From his position on the ground, nearly 12 feet below, Daniel saw her arch her neck slightly, to look down on him past the jutting protrusions of her large breasts. Her look made his blood run icily through his veins…she wasn’t looking all that impressed by his little stunt here. Not knowing what else to do, he just started taking pictures, getting direct shots of her black panties underneath her summer dress, the twin pillars of her thighs on either side, the large under-orbs of her breasts, and, just barely, the censorious strength of her eyes as she looked down at him coldly over her breasts. 

Emma hadn’t really been sure how to react to Daniel’s obviously-concocted enthusiasm. She knew that he was just acting this way to appease her, and maybe even because he was afraid of her. Even though the thought itself wasn’t pleasant, she felt an undeniable sort of liquid thrill go through her, knowing that she could simply raise her voice a little to get him to do things. But a much more prominent part of her still just felt irritated — she didn’t want to bully or force him into doing things. She wanted him to be excited to do them with her! She wanted him to stop being such a stick in the mud about the whole thing. And as Daniel continued snapping pictures underneath her, Emma began to feel a new sense of something that had been eating away at her ever since she had rejoined the real-world, after her stint at the Institute: she felt like she was…it was hard to put into words in her head as she mulled over it, looking down at her boyfriend. It wasn’t that she was “growing apart” from him, in the more conventional sense of two people in a relationship becoming emotionally distant from one another. It wasn’t that — more than ever, Emma felt emotionally close to Daniel…perhaps too close, since, apparently, just a few careless words from him could set her off. 

No, Emma was experiencing something different. For the first time, she had begun to genuinely feel that she was on a different plane from Daniel…a different wavelength…born out of nothing other than the sheer size difference between them. She knew in the back of her mind that he was an adult just like she was; he was her partner, her rock, her dream guy! But as Emma looked expressionlessly down at him, between her legs taking pictures, the more instinctual, animal part of her brain began to drown out her more rational mind. He was chattering away about something, moving his arms and legs in some kind of…enthusiastic way, or something. Emma felt like she didn’t have the energy to focus her eyes all the way down there. She knew he was talking and moving beneath her, but he was just…so small, so tiny, that it made her feel exhausted to even contemplate engaging him in this moment. 

Emma looked up at the surrounding neighborhood, conveniently ignoring the gawking expressions of several passersby. She felt nothing in this moment. Nothing at all. She glanced over at the great oak tree, at its slightly-shivering green leaves, and at the birds nest nestled in on its branches. She looked impassively up at the roof of their house, and at the individual roof tiles gleaming and winking at her in the bright sunlight. And finally, she looked out across the sky, at the scattered puff balls of cumulus clouds lazily moving across, and then, even higher up, the cirrus clouds that wisped and curled their way in little white dashes across the blue dome of the sky. And then, for the first time, Emma asked herself something that had been nagging her mind, ever since her growth ordeal began:

‘Am I just going to keep growing…and growing and growing…until I’m as tall as those clouds?’

The question was simple and innocent enough, and Emma had wondered many times when she was going to stop growing. But she had never really considered, or thought seriously about, the prospect of unlimited growth, totally unchecked, that went on and on and ON, for the rest of her life. She didn’t know the answer, and as she stared up silently at the deep blue sky, she felt a sudden stab of emotion, of longing, for what had been before. She wanted to go back to her office job. She wanted to hang out with Monica and the rest of the girls again…she wanted to gossip again…and most of all, she just wanted to snuggle her boyfriend again, and feel his strong arms around her, holding her tight, as they fell asleep together. 

But unlike previous times, Emma’s emotions didn’t overflow. There was still a part of her that was irritated at Daniel for being a wet blanket about the fetish pictures, so perhaps that was why she didn’t allow herself to start crying again. Instead, still looking up at the sky, she took a deep breath and looked back down at Daniel. He had come out from between her legs and was standing up again, staring at her with anxious expectation. Emma unconsciously shifted her weight to her left hip, staring down expressionlessly at the man who, when she was in these boots, didn’t even come up to her hips. Her knees were slightly higher than his waist…she was, in every imaginable physical sense of the word, MORE than he was. Emma knew he was anxious; she knew that he was waiting for her to let him off the hook, or to stay irritated at him, or to do whatever it was she wanted. For the first time, it truly became clear to her that SHE was the one who was leading the exchange…the relationship. And she didn’t know how she felt about it. 

“Let’s…” she said suddenly, in a strange, light, airy way, from a sheer desire to break the tension, “Take some pictures of me leaning against the car, huh?”

For the next half hour or so, Daniel snapped photos of Emma leaning back against their car, leaning against the house, and lying down in front of the house lengthwise to show how long she was. Daniel had even proposed, in the energy of what he thought was Emma’s lightened mood, that they take some size comparison shots between the two of them, but Emma quietly declined, insisting that she was tired. The truth, however, was that she didn’t want to dwell too hard on the reality of their widely-disparate sizes. She didn’t want to deal with the strange feelings that were actively developing inside her, feelings that she did not enjoy. 

Once they were back inside (after Emma had taken off her boots, and jostled around considerably to get indoors), she immediately started uploading the photos to her computer, using a pencil to type out captions, one individual letter at a time. She found the whole process cathartic, oddly because it was so centered around the reality of her massive size. She felt somehow calmed by the thought of thousands of aroused men looking at her pictures.

“You…you sure you don’t want me to type?” ventured Daniel carefully. 

“No!” laughed Emma, knowing full well that Daniel would not be able to type the captions she was creating now. “No honey…I’m…I’m enjoying this.”

She sure was: ‘Had to let off the car a second after my boyfriend snapped this one — look at those wheels! They were about to pop!’ read one caption. ‘The boyfriend’s gotta do a better job of cleaning the gutters — but I can’t really fault him for what he can’t see!’ read another. As she amused herself writing these captions, Emma found herself wishing that she had acquiesced to Daniel’s proposal to take direct comparison shots with her. She could even feel herself almost getting horny at the thought of having such control over the reactions of all these myriad men on the internet. She had to admit, it felt nice to wield such erotic power.

“You talked to Audrey recently?” asked Daniel, out of the blue. 

“Wha- huh?” asked Emma blankly. Audrey was her younger sister, by three years. The two weren’t terribly close, but there wasn’t really any bad blood between them. They just didn’t talk to each other too much. “I, uh…n-no, not really. Why?”

“Just wondering,” said Daniel, shrugging his shoulders. “What about your parents?” 

“Same with them,” said Emma, adjusting herself from her sitting position on the floor. “I haven’t spoken to any of them since…wow, I guess since all of this started happening.”

“Don’t you think…I mean, they should know?” asked Daniel, with a hint of caution in his voice. But he was more confident about this question than others. 

“Uhh…yeah. Yeah I guess they should, shouldn’t they?”

Emma almost felt dumb, to have not even considered mentioning any of this to her family, but a moment or two later she had recovered herself. She just…didn’t speak to them very much. She and Audrey were alike in some ways, but…well, it was just hard to put into words. They were different kinds of people. Her parents had a farm out in the country, where they had raised Emma and Audrey, and when she had come of age, Emma had gone into the city, gone to college, and then stayed there. Audrey was smart enough, but she had never gone to college. Neither had her parents. They all still lived out there in the country, and Audrey lived with….her boyfriend? Emma felt slightly guilty that she couldn’t really remember. 

“Well I wouldn’t stress too much about it,” said Daniel, standing up. “The thought just occurred to me, is all.”

Emma wondered whether Daniel’s thought was the same as the one she was having, right this very moment: her parents’ farm was huge, complete with a big barn. And their house had extremely high ceilings…

‘No,’ she thought to herself, ‘I don’t wanna deal with thinking about that. My parents don’t need to deal with all this.’ 

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by Daniel walking over toward the front door.

“Where are you going?” she asked blankly. 

“I thought I’d pick us up some dinner,” he said, grinning. “Maybe that new Chinese place? How many chicken fried rices do you think you’d need me to order?”

Emma felt a great upsurge of emotional affection for him, and she burst out laughing, rattling the plates and glasses in the cupboard to the extent that one of them even cracked down its side. But neither she nor Daniel saw it. They were both too busy smiling at each other, their mouths open in shared affection.

“I’d say probably at least 12 or 13,” said Emma, not quite knowing why she had lowered her voice to a sultry octave. But it felt right, and Daniel seemed to understand where she was coming from. 

“Well alright then,” he answered, doing his own best impression of a sexy low voice (although it was far higher than Emma’s), “Just sit tight — don’t go anywhere — I shall return!” 

Emma chuckled to herself as Daniel closed the door behind him, and she continued editing and captioning the recent photos for giantesscity. She kept adjusting herself on the floor, thinking that she was sitting on something oddly, but she gradually became aware that the slight nagging ache in her lower spine was intensifying into something more noticeable…and spreading throughout her body. She tried distracting herself by posting the pictures, and delighting in how quickly and enthusiastically everyone started responding to them — she would post one, and just minutes later, it would already have 5, 6, 7 adoring comments posted underneath. It was almost like this huge, invisible ocean of men was lying in wait, anxious to receive whatever it was she threw them. 

But as the minutes passed by, it became harder and harder to ignore what was happening to her body. The ache had spread to the furthest extent of every limb and digit on her body, and had intensified into a sweet pain…a pain that, by this point, she knew all too well. 

About twenty minutes later, Daniel pulled back up the driveway, and into the garage, laden with huge bags of Chinese food. He had noticed, as he drove, that a dark, unmarked car had seemed to be following him, and as he had pulled into the driveway, his eye was also caught by another similar car, which was parked directly across the street from their house. Daniel could’ve sworn that he had seen a man in dark sunglasses, staring directly at their house…at HIM…but he waved it all off. Surely he had just become paranoid in his excitement. 

“Ok honey!” he called, coming in through the front door gingerly with the bags, “I come bearing gifts, haha! They said this was the largest….order…they ever — ”

But his words died in his throat, petering out like smoke. Something was drastically different, and it only took him a second to realize what it was. There sat Emma, completely naked and clutching her breasts, looking completely miserable. Her special-tailored clothes lay in tatters around her; her knees came all the way up to Daniel’s shoulders, and her head rose high up above his, higher than it had ever been before from a sitting position. She had grown…by two and a half feet…in twenty minutes. 

“Babe?” came Emma’s voice, somehow deeper, richer, than it had been before. She was beside herself, to the point where she was cracking jokes. “I…don’t think that’s gonna be enough."

Chapter 15

The next day, an utterly bewildered representative of the local fire department was sitting in Emma’s and Daniel’s living room, going over the stunning and unprecedented particulars of this mind-bending emergency situation. Emma was sitting in the corner, wrapped in a collection of large bedsheets, looking completely miserable as she stared straight ahead, unable to participate in the conversation. 

“So we’re thinking,” said the firefighter, casting another astounded glance in Emma’s direction, “That the easiest way for us to, uh…to solve this issue would probably be to remove a portion of the roof so that, uh…so that Emma here can just, um, you know…step out.”

“And you think that’ll be easier than knocking one of the walls in?” asked Daniel anxiously, leaning forward in his chair. He hated how miserable all of this was for Emma, but he needed to make sure that everything important was being covered. 

“Cheaper too,” nodded the firefighter. “If you knock in one of the walls, the roof for that portion will have to come down too. Better to just take off a portion of the roof and be done with it.”

“I see, ok, um, yeah that makes sense,” replied Daniel, nodding as he too cast a look in Emma’s direction. It had been an extremely hard night and day since Emma’s last spurt, which had put her a few inches over 12 feet tall. For the first few minutes after Daniel had returned home with the bags of Chinese food, they had both just exchanged a variety of incredulous one-word questions and answers…was she ok?…how did she feel?…was it hurting at all?…that kind of thing. But after a few minutes of apparent shock, Daniel’s heart had melted when he saw Emma’s lower lip beginning to quiver, as big wet tears began bunching up in her eyes and streaming down her face. Daniel had felt helpless, and he ended up doing the only thing that he could think of, which was to climb up and stand in her lap, wrapping his arms around her as wide as he could, and hugging her for all he was worth, as her tears splashed down on his head. 

Now, the day after, she had spent much of her time sitting in the same corner of the living room, covered in blankets, staring straight ahead with a kind of blank, doomed expression on her face. She only really moved to eat, which Daniel had more or less been spending all his time providing. In the 12 hours since her spurt, she had consumed enough Chinese food, vegetables, cold cuts, bread, protein bars, milk to feed dozens and dozens of people three times over. And yet…she was still hungry. A bottomless pit had seemed to have just opened up in the middle of her stomach, which mirrored the unfathomable pit in her mind, which seemed to envelop her completely, and make her distant…remote. 

“Emma?” ventured Daniel gently, his voice tinged with caution. “H-How…how does that sound? The fire department’s gonna come over here and…and raise the roof for you, haha. And then…um…and then you can at least, you know…stretch your legs and everything.” 

Daniel and the firefighter waited for Emma’s response, but she gave no indication that she had heard Daniel, or in any case, that she cared to respond. 

“So, uhhh…do you all have, like…a plan for where you’re going to go?” asked the firefighter, turning away from Emma and addressing Daniel, in an attempt to break the awkward silence. 

“Yeah, we’ve…um, we’ve agreed to go stay with…um, with Emma’s family out in the country. Heheh, as luck would have it, they have a pretty sizable farm out there and…well, we just thought that, you know…we could use the room.” 

The firefighter nodded and had opened his mouth to answer when Emma suddenly spoke. She wasn’t speaking very loudly, but her voice vibrated powerfully off the walls, and penetrated into the cells of the two men present. The china and dishes in the cabinets rattled loudly against each other. 

“We didn’t agree,” she pouted. 

“But Emma…” said Daniel, making a real effort not to sound either tired or annoyed, “We talked about this last night…for a long time…and…and you said that you would be ok with —”

“I said we didn’t have any good choices,” countered Emma, looking miserably at the floor. “It’s gonna suck going over there.”

“But…yes, I know it’s not an, um, an ideal situation,” said Daniel, treading with extreme care, “But…your parents are…are nice people. And Daisy, Emma! She’ll, uh…she’ll be there too! It…it’ll be like a fun little homecoming!” 

Emma turned her head slowly to look directly at Daniel. She had stopped crying a few hours ago, and somehow, the vacancy in her eyes now was more concerning than it was when she was crying. Daniel had been trying his best to make things seem light and ok, but one such look from Emma was all that was needed to sink any kind of buoyancy he was trying to maintain. 

“Just…stop it, would you?” she asked suddenly, her voice completely flat. 

“S-stop, Emma?” asked Daniel, his heart rate starting to go up. Emma blinked for a long moment, and when she opened her eyes again, there was finally something there…something smoldering, that made Daniel and the firefighter extremely uneasy. 

“Stop trying to cheer me up,” she said bluntly. Her words, even though she still wasn’t speaking very loud, were like a series of sledgehammers flying through the air. 


“Nothing you say is going to make me feel better right now, Daniel…nothing. Do you understand that? I don’t WANT to call my parents and tell them that I’ve grown into a 12-foot-tall freak of nature. I don’t WANT to deal with my sister’s reaction to seeing me like this…and I’m not even THINKING about how my parents are gonna react. I don’t WANT to go live on their farm, Daniel! I left to go to the city for a REASON, you understand!? And I definitely…DEFINITELY…do NOT want to sleep in their FREAKING BARN!!” 

“Ok!! Ok!! E-Emma!!! Emma p-please!!!” cried Daniel, holding up his hands in a gesture of pleading. Both he and the firefighter had involuntarily jumped to their feet as Emma’s voice had become louder and louder, and more insistently angry. The firefighter, whose face had gone white as a sheet, looked like he was a few seconds away from running out the door. Daniel looked up into her eyes desperately, hoping that his raw vulnerability in this moment would be enough to calm her down. Emma was breathing hard now through her nose, so hard that, even though Daniel was standing a good fifteen or twenty feet away from her, it ruffled his hair.

Emma looked down at her boyfriend as she breathed in and out through her nose, her mouth pursed shut after her diatribe, fuming. She felt one hundred percent crazy right now. Her big growth spurt the previous night had dissolved any foundation or connection she felt like she had with the real world. The pleasure of being back in their house, the joy of being back with Daniel, the comfort of food, the new clothes and boots that Ms. Bisset had made for her…all of that felt like nothing now. It felt like her condition had wiped the slate of her life clean, leaving her only with the horrible, lurid, blank reality of her freakishness. And it didn’t seem to be letting up. Even though she hadn’t experienced a second spurt like the first, Emma could tell, by the dull aching in her muscles and bones throughout the day, that she was still growing here and there. The spurts were much smaller comparatively, but they were still there — she was getting bigger. 

And yet still, somehow, Daniel was down there, trying to cheer her up, trying to negotiate arrangements with this tiny little firefighter (it meant nothing to Emma that he was actually 6’4), trying to pretend that everything was still somehow normal. It made her mad. It was all well and good for Daniel to carry on as usual, even as he tiptoed around her with that irritating…no, that sickening degree of gentle caution that made her feel like she was a powder keg, ready to explode. HE wasn’t the one who had to deal with this condition! HE was the one who was just fine living in a miniature little house, with tiny little pieces of porcelain for plates, and little pricks of metal for forks and knives. HE was the one who could change the channels on the TV, sleep soundly in the bed, take a shower, wear normal clothes, go out to the store, drive the car…EVERYTHING A NORMAL PERSON COULD DO. Did he really need to just rub her face in it by being so obvious with it all!? By being so…so CAREFUL and CAUTIOUS around her!? Didn’t he even realize how tiny and irritating he was?? 

‘Treating me like I’m some sort of ticking time bomb,’ she fumed to herself, staring down at Daniel viciously. ‘Fine then…if he treats me like I’m about to explode, maybe I should just explode then, and save him all that trouble he’s taking being so CAREFUL around me.’ 

Emma didn’t realize it, but her breathing had become quicker and quicker, and heavier and heavier, the longer she turned all these thoughts over in her head. Her face was beginning to turn red, and tears were again starting to pool in the corners of her eyes. The firefighter backed away towards the door; the only reason he didn’t bolt immediately was that he was worried that quick movements might somehow upset her more, and cause her to get violent quicker.

“Emma…Emma…” begged Daniel, his hands still up in a motion of surrender and placation. He had never been so terrified in his life…and suddenly, something snapped in Daniel. His sympathetic caution, his gentle intonations, his assuaging gestures, all seemed to seize up inside him, and were instantly replaced by an entirely different emotion: anger. Daniel didn’t get angry often, and right now, it was entirely due to feeling like his life was in danger. 

“Emma!” he barked out angrily. The gigantic girl blinked rapidly a couple times. She had no idea what she had been about to do, but she had never really heard Daniel talk like that before. His tone distracted her from her own anger for a few moments, long enough for her to take stock of her boyfriend’s figure in front of her. Daniel was shaking, and his hands were balled up by his side.

“What?” she asked, her voice more normal. 

“D-don’t…don’t do that to me!” said Daniel shakily, breathing in and out rapidly. 

“Don’t do what?” asked Emma.

“Don’t…look at me like that!” Daniel burst out. “Y-you…you were freaking me out there, Emma!” 

Emma looked to the firefighter, who was standing there frozen by the door, his hand on the doorknob, and then back to Daniel, who was visibly shaking, though the anger had quickly faded from his face. 

‘Geez, they’re both terrified,’ Emma thought to herself, with a surprising degree of detachment. Ordinarily, Emma would respond to any distress in Daniel (or pretty much anyone else for that matter) with empathy and warmth. Her anger had been doused a little by the surprise of Daniel’s reaction, but it had been replaced by that same strange, expressionless void. The afterglow of her own anger, however, felt a little pleasant to her. At least it was something that she was feeling. 

“Uhh…ok, well, sorry I didn’t mean to be all freaky here in the corner,” she remarked dryly. When she saw that the firefighter didn’t seem to react to her words, she took it upon herself to take control of the situation. 

“Hey, don’t leave,” she said, extending a huge arm and beckoning him back with her massive hand. “Er, sorry that I made you feel scared or something. Here, uh…you all keep talking.” 

The firefighter made a kind of jerking motion back towards her, and Emma saw that he had made the motion simply because of the force of her presence — he was still terrified, and so he was doing whatever she said, in an almost-animalistic urge to placate her. For a moment, as she stared down at the small, scared little man, Emma felt something huge and indistinct well up inside her, something that felt incredibly vibrant and energizing…and powerful. For this quick snapshot of a few seconds, she realized the extent of her clout, her power, her potential to dominate her surroundings. All she had to do was raise her voice a little bit and all of a sudden these little people set to scurrying around, doing what she wanted. All she had to do was express a hint of frustration or anger, and she immediately set all the little people around her on edge. Her voice vibrated the walls, the furniture, the ceiling…she suddenly realized that she could just tear a hole through the ceiling herself if she wanted to…she could punch out one of the walls with her own fists without too much trouble. She wasn’t really a captive here. She was just patiently biding her time for Daniel, letting the fire department do its thing, in order to keep up the pretense of something. Without quite delving into why, Emma knew that she had to keep herself under control for Daniel; she knew that he could not see her lift the roof or punch her way through a wall without looking at her differently. And Emma didn’t want Daniel to look at her differently.

She looked away from the firefighter, and back to Daniel, who had lowered his hands and was staring up at her. His anger was gone, but that same apprehension remained, stretching across his face. 

‘God he’s so tiny,’ Emma thought to herself. She suddenly felt a crick in her leg; she needed to stretch it out. But she also wanted to just see…what Daniel looked like next to her leg. She slowly extended it out from beneath the mound of blankets, its bare alabaster length looking solid and well-formed in the daylight. Daniel made a motion to avoid the incoming leg, but he had seen the softened look on Emma’s face, and realized that her anger had passed away as well. still though, it was more than a little intimidating as, quite deliberately, Emma put her leg down right next to him, her bare, upright foot rising all the way up to his knees. Emma wiggled her toes playfully next to him in an attempt to lighten the mood, and she found her face upturning itself into a strange, toothy grin.

“Hey! Look at that!” she chuckled out into the room, “My toes are as high as your knees, haha!”

“Uhh, heheh, y-yeah…they are,” replied Daniel, forcing something of a chuckle out of his own tight diaphragm. 

“I just…haha, wow,” laughed Emma, feeling a bizarre sense of lightness lifting her spirits, “I know that I’m the one who’s, uh…the freak here…heh, but…geez Daniel…I just can’t believe how small you look right now. I, like, wish that you could see things from my perspective right now. Haha, I know it sounds crazy, but…you guys just look like little kids to me right now.” 

“Y-yeah…haha, yeah I…I bet we do,” forced Daniel. 

“Wanna say hi to my toes?” giggled Emma, moving her foot closer to Daniel, wiggling her toes up against his leg. Daniel actually stumbled backwards a little bit from the force of her toes, but he quickly righted himself, allowing Emma to tease him with her foot. Somewhere in his brain, he knew that he really, really needed to humor her right now, despite the craziness of the situation itself; it was not lost on him how drastically Emma’s mood had shifted. 

“Um…hehe, uh, hello there, little toes,” Daniel joked, looking down and waving. He felt surreal. 

“Little!?” laughed Emma, rearing her toes back in an indication of attack, and then pointedly smacking them with force into his lower legs. Daniel stumbled again, and this time he did actually fall backwards, landing lightly on his back. In an instant, Emma’s bare foot was on his chest, not pressing too hard, but nonetheless applying enough force to prevent him from rising again. Her toes kept wiggling against his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs in wriggling increments.

“Little??” Emma repeated. “Haha, well if MY toes are little, what does that make YOU, Daniel? Come on, try to get up!”

Daniel made several attempts, again just to humor her, and each time, Emma pressed him back down with her toes.

“Oh!” she said mockingly, each time he tired and failed. “Oh! Oh! Oh! Can’t get up, huh? Guess my “little” toes are too much for you, haha!”

“Y-yeah…heheh…o-ok…ok Emma,” laughed Daniel. If the situation had not been so bizarre (and embarrassing in front of the firefighter), he might have actually been able to enjoy himself. As it was, though, he just wanted her to stop, and was relieved when, a few seconds later, Emma relented and let him stand up again. 

“S-so…um,” came the firefighter’s hollow voice from the doorway, “So we’ll just…get the department over here, uh…this afternoon, alright?” 

Daniel and Emma both turned to look at him, and saw that he was thoroughly weirded out, and desperate to leave. 

“O-ok, um, thanks…thanks so much!” said Daniel, lifting his hand to wave. Emma lifted her hand as well, accidentally bumping it into the ceiling and sending the whole house shaking, like a tree limb has just hit the roof. 

“Uh, byeeee!” she called as the firefighter hurriedly turned and fled through the door. “Sorry if I scared youuu!” 

A few moments of silence passed. 

“I really did scare you guys, didn’t I?” asked Emma quietly, looking at the door the firefighter had just closed. 

“Yeah…you really did, Emma,” said Daniel gently, but matter-of-factly. 

A few hours later, the fire department was just about ready to lift off a big chunk of the roof that they had just cut into. Emma had crawled to the far corner of the kitchen, to give them some space, but even then, the stunned firefighters who came into the house couldn’t get too far away from her outspread limbs. She was simply too big to avoid. Miss Bisset had arrived, responding immediately to Daniel’s emergency call, and she was able to quickly sew together a quick, impromptu dress from their bedsheets. Miss Bisset’s calming, empathetic presence made Emma feel a little better, as did the elderly fashion designer’s reassurance that Emma would look good in this short white dress when she stepped out of the house. 

“You’re sure I won’t look like some kind of…of sheet-wearing freak?” she murmured as Miss Bisset sewed quickly away. 

“Of course not, dear,” intoned the venerable old lady, “Everyone is different in their own way. You just happen to be different in a way that is…a lot more obvious than most.” 

“That’s…actually a pretty good way of looking at it,” said Emma, scratching her chin. Daniel, who was on the phone with the fire department (covertly assuring them that Emma would stay under control), couldn’t help but notice how, even when Emma moved her hand and fingers slightly like she was doing now, the muscles and sinews in her forearms moved powerfully. She was undoubtedly proportional, and quite curvy and pleasant-looking, in fact…but it was just…that she was so huge. 

When the fire department arrived, they were conspicuously accompanied by several police officers, armed with guns, and their faces hard-set. The lead officer, however, appeared to be more casual and lighthearted. Daniel knew, however, that he was just doing his best to diffuse the whole situation — everyone had seen Emma’s reaction when the cops came walking in, ahead of the firefighters. 

“So, what…what are you guys doing here?” Emma had asked, sitting up a little in her corner, next to Miss Bisset (who had been sitting in Emma’s lap). 

“Well hello! You must be Emma!” the lead officer had said brightly, as he wordlessly pointed around the house, stationing his men around at different points. It immediately became clear that all of this had been pre-planned. 

“Yeah, that’s me,” said Emma, warily eying the police officers. 

“No reason to be alarmed!” the lead officer said pleasantly, noticing how Emma’s eyes flit from one officer to the next. “Everything’s all a-ok.”

“Then what are you doing here?” asked Emma flatly. The way that the other officers were looking at her was starting to make her feel like she had done something wrong. 

“Easy there, dear,” cooed Miss Bisset up to Emma. Daniel (whose heart was thumping painfully in his chest) went up to her and put his hand on her elbow, which, with her hand planted firmly on the floor, was just about even with his waist. 

“Oh no, that’s a totally fair question, Emma,” answered the officer, not seeming to miss a beat (even though his heart was thumping fast as well). “Well, let’s just say that we’re here just to make sure everything goes according to plan and…and that there aren’t any irregularities or issues, you know? Haha, it’s not every day that the fire department, uh…does this kind of thing, and we just want to be able to help out in any way we can.” 

Emma was staring down at the head officer, unblinking, obviously unsatisfied with the response. Something smelled fishy to her about this whole situation. She did not like the look of the other officers, whose faces were masks of hostility and fear. Emma could already feel herself responding to the officers’ energy around her, and once again, she could feel herself getting angry. It was the feeling of being cornered, of being trapped with nowhere to go, that reminded her so much of that horrible night at the Institute when she had had her breakdown. And she resented it…she resented all these little people, with their little guns and tasers and batons and all the rest of it. She barely even noticed the firefighters streaming in (looking nervously over at her as they got to work), but when she did, it was in tandem with the understanding she was developing around all these little miniature cops she was staring down. The cops were in their little uniforms…the firefighters had their own little uniforms on…

‘God, it’s dress-like-who-you-wanna-be-when-you-grow-up day in elementary school,’ Emma couldn’t help but think as she looked down at them all. She was giving the head officer a strange look, so much so that he felt like he had to say something more. 

“So…so we’re all good here, Miss Emma?” he asked, trying as hard as he could to maintain his pleasant facade and hide the anxiety that was threatening to bleed into his voice. 

“Huh?” she asked, blinking and seeming to snap out of something. “Uh, yeah…sure.”

She looked around again at the officers.

“So,” she said suddenly, smiling strangely, “You’re not here to, like…arrest me or something?”

“Emma, no!” said Daniel, shaking her head and rubbing her arm. “It’s ok, it’s fine!”

“Calm down, sweetheart, no one’s gonna hurt you,” intoned Miss Bisset, rubbing Emma’s other arm. 

“Haha! Arrest you!? I think…haha, I think we’d need more than just a few of us to, uh…to do that, now, wouldn’t we?” laughed the head officer good-naturedly. 

“Yeah, you would,” said Emma quietly. 

“So no, no not here for anything like that,” said the officer, deftly sidestepping the menacing implications of what Emma had just said. “We just wanna make sure that…that everyone outside is orderly and behaves in an acceptable manner toward you when you finally get to, um…to stretch your legs.” 

“Everyone…outside?” asked Emma, deadpanning. 

“Well, people have been…you know, intrigued by seeing you walking around the neighborhood,” said the officer. “And when people got word that the fire department was gonna be…lifting the roof for you today, haha, well…some, uh…a few people decided to gather to…to see you.” 

Emma suddenly leaned forward, extending her body out in a long, crouching position, as she got on her hands and knees. Daniel and Miss Bisset had to scurry out of the way. When Emma put her forearms down on the floor, the hardwood cracked beneath the force and weight of her hands. But Emma didn’t even notice — she was too busy crawling over to the window. A couple seconds later, she was peeking out of the top portion of the upper blinds, and her mouth dropped open. It looked like there were at least a hundred people who had gathered on the sidewalk to watch as the firemen carved a hole in the ceiling, both from the inside and the outside. A few more nervous neighbors were watching in supposed safety from the other side of the street. 

Emma turned to the officer, incredulous.

“A few people!?” she burst out, her voice rattling and rumbling through the house. “A FEW!?” 

She hardly heard the array of calming, soothing, stumbling, and fumbling responses from the officer, from Daniel, from Miss Bisset, and from a few of the firefighters. She knew they were all just trying to calm her down, to chill her out, but it suddenly became so obvious, so crystal clear to Emma what all of them had in common — they were AFRAID of her…ALL of them. And for a second or two, as her own sense of personal hurt and freakishness boiled dangerously close to the surface, she seriously considered doing something to validate their fears. 

‘I could just…push through the roof myself,’ she thought crazily to herself. ‘Maybe THAT would show them how right they are to be so careful around me.’ 

But almost as soon as she had that thought, the more rational part of her brain kicked in.

‘No that’s insane,’ she chided herself, ‘The roof could collapse and hurt Daniel or Miss Bisset…I’d never forgive myself…’

She immediately felt guilty for even considering such a thing, and, combined with being upset about the inevitable prospect of being a neighborhood spectacle, she felt herself start to sniffle again. But she was determined not to cry…absolutely determined. She snorted the tears away, shut her eyes tightly, and bit her tongue purposefully, letting the pain distract herself from the oncoming deluge of emotion. She breathed deeply in and out, in and out, through her nostrils, and when she felt in control, she opened her eyes again. The house was totally still and silent — everyone was watching her. She felt something warm wash over her inside…and she found herself smiling. She didn’t really know what this feeling was, but in any case, she was just going to ride it until she and Daniel were out of this situation, with all these people. 

“Ok just tell me when it’s all done,” she said flippantly, shrugging her big shoulders. “I’m gonna…uh, take a little nap here, I think.” 

“Aw ok I’ll take one with you,” said Daniel quickly, not even thinking about how bizarre the prospect was of taking a nap in the same room that firefighters were cutting a huge chunk out of the ceiling. 

“Good idea, dear,” nodded Miss Bisset. 

“That’s…wow, what an awesome way to deal with all this,” said the officer vigorously, nodding his head and smiling a little too widely. “Haha, ok Miss Emma, you do your thing, and we’ll just…we’ll just…hang out, haha.” 

Emma was brushing past him on her hands and knees, not even listening to him (although she did realize how, with her arm straight out and her hand on the ground, her shoulder was even with the officer’s chest). She reached the corner of the kitchen, curled up in a ball, with her back to the firefighters, and actually managed to doze off, with a very-much-awake Daniel as the little spoon, anxiously rubbing her huge hand. 

An hour or so later, everything was ready. Emma was carefully woken up, and she crawled up to the hole, looking out at the blue sky above. The contrast in her head was so strange that it was really throwing her off — it felt incredible to look up at the blue sky, at freedom. She hadn’t been outside in days. But at the same time, seeing the gaping hole in their ceiling…it made her sad. 

“Ok Emma,” said Daniel as she prepared to stand up. “I’ll just, uh…get the special truck that we ordered, ok? And…and I’ll have it all ready for you when you step out. So you don’t have to deal with all those people, ok?”

“Ok babe,” said Emma quietly, feeling distant from the whole situation, but at the same time feeling truly grateful to have him. She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the lips, which he gladly returned as best he could, despite her lips easily encompassing the area from his lower chin to the top of his nose. Then Emma waved goodbye to Miss Bisset, thanked the officers and firefighters, and stood up, rising through the hole in the ceiling. 

A confused din of noise greeted her ear. She saw the big crowd of people in front of her house, and across the street, but she felt, in some weird sense, that they weren’t really even there. Yes, she was still a bit groggy from being asleep, but something else was going on. Emma could hear some people cheering, some people yelling, and some people screaming. She was vaguely aware that the crowd immediately seemed to back away from her as she rose up through the roof, and that a few people even took off running down the street, as soon as they saw her. But she was focused on getting out of the house without doing any more damage, and so she lifted her leg up carefully, extending it out over the house’s front wall, and planted her bare foot down in the cool grass of their front yard. 

‘Huh, that was easier than I thought,’ she said to herself. 

She brought her other leg up and over, accidentally banging it a little into the top part of the wall on the inside of the house, kicking through a healthy chunk of drywall and taking the outer brick layer with it. 

“Ah shit!” she cursed. She didn’t realize it, but when she had spoken out loud, the crowd had backed up even further. The only person in the crowd who didn’t seem to react (though of course, he blended in perfectly) was the same man in a dark suit, wearing sunglasses. But once again, his presence went unnoticed. 

“Don’t worry Emma it’s ok!” called Daniel from their driveway. He had already started the truck, which was an even bigger version of what he had driven Emma home in before. The first truck was for a farm animal or two…this one was for five or six, and had been especially fitted out with pillows and mattresses for Emma’s comfort. 

“Don’t worry about it!” Daniel repeated from the driver’s seat of the truck. “Come on — just hop in and we’ll get outta here!”

“Awww Danielll!” cried Emma, feeling overwhelmed with emotion, even as she registered how cute he looked driving the truck. Somewhere in her head, she knew that this was a hard, tense situation, with lots of people, and lots of yelling and shouting. But she stayed focused on Daniel, and somehow managed to block it all out as she crossed the entire yard in two paces and crawled into the back of the truck. Emma pulled the truck door closed behind her (shaking the whole vehicle as she did so), and a minute later, she and Daniel were on the highway, rifling towards her parents’ farm in the country.

Chapter 16

The drive was a few hours long, so it gave both Emma and Daniel time to decompress from the craziness of what had just happened. For Daniel, having a hole cut out of their roof so his 12-foot-plus girlfriend could get out was wild enough, but he found himself even more shaken by the reaction of the gathered crowd of people. It made him feel so bad for Emma that he literally felt sick to his stomach. The way all those people had looked at her, shouted at her, ran away from her…it reminded him of those angry, frightened crowds of people with pitchforks in the movies. Deep down, he knew that their reactions were totally based on fear and a lack of understanding surrounding Emma’s condition. But it still didn’t make him feel much different about her being treated like some gigantic animal at the zoo. The firefighters and police had all been wonderfully professional about the whole thing, but Daniel was happy to be rid of the city. Every second that passed, he was driving Emma — and himself — closer to sanctuary, where she wouldn’t have to deal with all those horrible crowds of anxious, fearful people. 

For her part, Emma was lounging in the back of the special truck, her face up close to a hole in the wall that allowed her to communicate directly with Daniel. Whereas Daniel was going through a complex and anxious recovery, Emma didn’t feel much of anything at all. She was fully aware that what had just happened was insane, just as she was fully aware that there had been a huge crowd gathered to watch her, a crowd that hadn’t reacted particularly pleasantly to seeing or hearing her. But Emma had to a large extent managed to shut herself off from all of that. She was feeling a strange sense of distance from everything and everyone, whether they be the little cops who had gathered awkwardly in her house, the tiny firefighters with their miniature fire truck, or the confused and retreating mass of people that she had vaguely seen move backward when she stepped out of the hole in the roof. Emma knew that she should be feeling more of something, more relief or anger or gratitude or…just…anything. But she wasn’t. As she stretched her huge legs out in the truck, she felt almost…bored. 

She didn’t enjoy feeling this way, since it felt so completely at odds with her current situation, and so she inclined her head towards the hole in the truck wall, pressing up her face a little playfully in the hole.

“Heya!” she chirped humorously at her boyfriend. “How’s it going up there?” 

When she spoke, she felt the truck veer a little to the side, quickly righting itself a moment later. 

“Oh! God Emma, you scared me there!” said Daniel, shaking his head as he regained control of the truck’s trajectory. 

“What? Scared you?” laughed Emma, determined to fight her boredom with some self-imposed lightness of spirit. “I literally just asked how it was going.” 

“Yeah, well…your voice is a little…uh, louder than it’s been in the past,” said Daniel, knowing that he needed to tread carefully. 

“My voice is normal — I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Emma genuinely, looking down at her fingernails.

Daniel knew that this was not a good argument to be getting into right now, so he let it drop. “I’m…uh, I’m doing ok,” he answered. The silence seemed to build up quickly after he finished speaking, and Daniel realized that his answer sounded too negative, and too serious. 

“I mean, hehe, everything’s fine and all,” he continued, making an effort to sprinkle his words with a chuckle, “It’s just…that was a little crazy back there, wasn’t it? With all those people? God I’m glad to get away from them.” 

“Yeah I wasn’t really paying too much attention to them,” said Emma into the hole. “You just looked too cute, pulling up there in this little truck.” 

“I’m glad you still think I’m cute,” laughed Daniel, feeling his spirits rise from Emma’s compliment. 

“Still!?” came Emma’s blunt question. “What do you mean “still?””

“I…I mean, uh,” floundered Daniel, his spirits dampening almost as soon as they had begun to rise. “I mean, with everything that’s happened and all…I just…uh, I’m just glad that you’re still attracted to me…even though…well, you know.”

“Even though what, Daniel?” asked Emma. She was starting to get annoyed again. All she was trying to do was shoot the shit and act like a normal person for once, and Daniel had to pull her condition back into everything. 

“Well…e-even though you’re a lot bigger than me now,” answered Daniel, hoping that he could stave off another one of her mood swings. 

“Why should that matter?” Emma asked expressionlessly. “You’re not the one who’s been changing, Daniel. So why would I not be attracted to you?”

“Just…forget it, ok Emma?” laughed Daniel nervously. “I’m glad that you think I’m cute, alright?” 

Several seconds passed by, and then Daniel heard Emma sigh into the hole. He thought that maybe she was sighing out of annoyance at him, but in actuality, it was out of annoyance at herself. She knew that she was acting bitchy and irritable, and she wished that Daniel didn’t have to deal with it. But she didn’t quite know how to prevent herself from jumping on his words and taking them too far in her head. It felt volatile inside her head…dangerous, even, to the point where she sometimes wondered if she was losing her mind. 

‘There I go again,’ she thought to herself irritatedly, ‘Making a huge deal out of nothing.’

She sighed again and decided that she would try and take another nap to pass the time. She hated these long car rides in these huge containers. They made her feel like a caged animal, but even worse, she wasn’t able to see Daniel, to touch him. She felt reassured that he was in the driver’s seat, steering her this way and that, but it was a poor substitute to actually seeing and feeling him. Emma had always been a tactile person, but ever since her growth condition, she felt like this aspect of herself had only become more prominent. 

She sighed out again and pivoted her body away from the hole, doing a quick 180-degree turn as she curled up into a ball. She was surprised, then, when she felt the truck swaying back and forth, with an indistinct yell coming from Daniel through the hole in the wall. 

“Emma!!” he was crying. “Don’t….aaauughhh!! Don’t….!!” 

“Don’t what, Daniel!?” she asked loudly, sitting up and blinking in puzzlement. She felt the truck gradually stop swerving…but strangely, she hadn’t been afraid. Daniel, though, was clearly frazzled, and she could hear the fear in his voice when he spoke. 

“Don’t move around like that!” he exclaimed. “You’re…you’re too heavy, Emma! To be moving around like that back there! I almost lost control of the whole damn truck just now!” 

Emma knew that the situation had really gotten to Daniel — he almost never cursed. But even though she knew that he was being serious, she found herself making light of the whole thing. 

“What? Heheh, are you kidding me?” she laughed. 

“No! I’m not kidding!” he responded immediately. “Seriously, Emma, please…no sudden movements, alright? I need to get us to your parents’ in one piece.” 

“Oh don’t be such a drama queen,” said Emma flippantly, and then kept talking over the protests that she already heard coming from her boyfriend, “And ok, ok, fine, I get it. No sudden movements. Geez, I was just trying to go to sleep.” 

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Daniel felt a little put-out at Emma’s casual attitude to having almost caused a major wreck, and Emma was annoyed at Daniel for once again calling attention to the fact that she was enormous. She lay curled up in a ball for the remainder of the ride, but she wasn’t able to fall asleep. It didn’t help that her entire body was feeling sore…the kind of telltale bone-deep soreness that she knew meant that she was growing more. She adjusted the white sheet a little more around her thick hips…she could have sworn that it had felt looser, even as late as that morning. She tried to take her mind off everything by listening to the road rushing by down beneath her, but inevitably, her mind returned to that aching soreness that wasn’t going away. 

Emma knew it was bizarre that she wasn’t even thinking about seeing her parents and her sister again, but at this point, she was too mentally tired to worry about it. They would see her and they would react and that would be that. There wasn’t really anything else to it. 

A couple hours later, Emma heard the truck slow down, exiting off the highway, and a few minutes later, she heard the sound of its wheels crunching over the long driveways of crushed rock…her parents’ driveway. She felt the truck come to a stop and she closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. She heard the little sounds of Daniel’s feet crunching the gravel as he came around to the back of the truck, but before he had a chance to unlatch it, she heard the voice of her father. 

“Hi Daniel…Is…is Emma in there?” Emma felt a shuddering wave of emotion pass through her, but almost as soon as it was there, it was gone again. 

“Haha hi Jim!” she heard Daniel say pleasantly as he patted the truck door with his hand. “Yep, she’s in here!”

“Oh my god,” Emma heard another voice say…her sister. “It’s so big! You really needed all of that!?”

“You’ll see why, Daisy,” answered Daniel, starting to mess with the truck lock. 

“And she’s ok in there?” came her mother’s anxious voice. “Was she wearing a seatbelt on the highway?” 

“I, uh…no I don’t think so Maisy,” replied Daniel. “But…I, uh, I made sure I was driving very carefully and…and slowly. Haha, you should’ve seen those cars ripping by me on the interstate, left and right. People drive like maniacs nowadays, haha.” 

Silence greeted Daniel’s attempt at small talk, and Emma couldn’t help but smile to herself as she lay there, curled up in a ball, with her big ass facing the back door. Her family, particularly her parents, weren’t big talkers, and it didn’t matter what the situation was — her sweet, conversational boyfriend had tied himself up in verbal knots on multiple occasions around her parents, talking himself into corners. Her parents were country folk, and they weren’t really in the habit of saying much that didn’t need to be said. 

But her smile dropped and she again mimed being asleep as she heard the heavy clunk of Daniel undoing the lock, and then the subtle, almost eerie sound of the door opening. Emma heard something…a bit like a little gasp…but she couldn’t really be sure what it was. She suddenly felt exposed. 

“Uh, Emma? Emmmma?” came Daniel’s voice gently. “We’re here. Time to wake up.”

“Hmmm,” moaned Emma sleepily as she peeked around her shoulder at Daniel. She could see her family standing indistinctly behind, but she didn’t focus on them. She realized that she actually enjoyed pretending to be woken up. It somehow took the edge off this first initial exchange. She extended her legs out, stretching them all the way out, one on either side of Daniel, who backed up a little in response. Emma, though, wasn’t having any of that, and as she reached her arms up to the truck’s ceiling to stretch, she intercepted Daniel’s retreating body with her bare feet, one clamping around either side of his hips, as she effortlessly pulled him toward her. 

“Emma…e-easy there,” he said immediately, stumbling into the back of the truck from the beckoning force of her feet. 

“Mmmmm, thanks for driving, honey,” Emma murmured groggily. “Sorry I made it a little hard on you there.”

“It’s…it’s no problem Emma,” said Daniel. But he was suddenly aware that Emma was doing something to him with her toes. She wasn’t…actually doing that…was she!? There was no denying it — she was massaging his butt with her toes, right in front of her parents. Daniel tried to escape, but Emma held him firmly with her feet, digging her toes in harder.

“Mmmm, you’re so good to me,” she cooed at him, looking at him from over the tops of her large, perky breasts. “Putting up with all of my shit…you’re soooo sweet, Daniel.” 

“Emma…ok, uh, Emma?!” Daniel whispered to her, turning back around to flash a smile at her family before turning back to her in earnest. But Emma wasn’t letting him go. She was just pulling him towards her, more and more, until he actually felt his feet start to lift off the ground. He fought as much as he could without it being obvious, but he had absolutely no power to control the situation. He could do nothing but hang there helplessly as his feet left the ground. As they did, to his shock and dismay, he felt Emma’s big toe start to make inroads towards the waistband of his pants, testing its boundary, before actually burrowing down the backside of his jeans. 

“Emma!! Emma stop it…stop it!” he hissed at her in a panicked whisper. “They’re seeing everything!” 

“Haha, you look funny kicking around like that!” giggled Emma. 

“Please Emma…please!” Daniel implored in the same desperate whisper. 

Emma just looked at him for a few more moments, moments that felt like ages to Daniel as he hung there in the air between her bare feet, with her huge toe touching his bare ass. She was smiling at him girlishly, with her tongue stuck into the side of her cheek. It was too bizarre for Daniel; he didn’t know why she was behaving this way, and he was really starting to worry. But Emma didn’t really care about how she was coming across. This fun little play with Daniel was a lot more enjoyable than being all serious and quiet around her parents. She knew that she was acting strangely, but it was more important for her to feel cozy and comfortable than anything else. 

“Heheh, wow — didn’t know I could lift you like this!” Emma giggled as she moved her feet back and forth, back and forth, massaging his torso. Daniel couldn’t even speak now. He was just looking at her with that same helpless desperation…desperation that Emma suddenly found extremely cute.

“Heheh, sorry,” she said sheepishly, lowering her feet and putting him back down on the ground. “I just get carried away sometimes.”

“That’s…that’s ok, Emma, haha!” laughed Daniel, turning back around to her family to let them know that it was a light, humorous situation. Emma noticed this gesture, and felt a stab of irritation. Why did he have to worry so much about what her family thought? They would think whatever they thought, regardless of whatever he did. 

“And here’s…here’s Emma!” Daniel announced, stepping aside and extending his arm out. 

“Geez, you sound like you're a circus announcer or something,” muttered Emma as she put her legs down on the ground and started stepping out of the truck. She wasn’t hiding the irritation in her voice. 

“Sorry babe,” whispered Daniel, his face blushing. Emma looked at him for a couple seconds and shook her head slightly. She had felt so kindly towards him…sappy…just moments before. But his little announcement had gotten under her skin. Her eyebrows went up and she sighed at him. Another second or two went by before she realized that she was stalling…that she was using her irritation at Daniel as a way to avoid standing up and looking at her family. Daniel’s eyebrows went up in turn, as if to say, ‘Well? Aren’t you gonna say hi to them?’ 

Emma suddenly felt nervous. She stood up and looked down at her parents and sister. She had always been the tallest in the family at 5’8, an inch taller than her dad, and three inches taller than her mom and Daisy. But now…well, it was very different. She had a crazy moment where she was convinced that this was all a joke, and that those tiny people so far down there weren’t her mom and dad…weren’t Daisy. She blinked down at them and then looked around. They were back at the old home, alright — the two-story farmhouse, the old satellite dish, the big barn off to the side, the pond out a little farther in the distance, and closer, her old childhood swing set, slightly rusted, standing there stolidly in the light breeze.

Emma turned back to her family, actually narrowing her eyes a little as she peered at them closer. It was them alright, but they looked unbelievably small to Emma — their heads didn’t even come up to the middle of her thighs. Her knees were just about as tall as their shoulders. They were…smaller than little kids to her. They were like toddlers. Emma felt her brow coming together as she straightened herself back up, blinking in bewilderment. She felt a slight smile start to crawl across her face. They all looked so shocked…and so serious, with their little mouths open, and their little eyes wide with disbelief. It was like a game…a joke. Emma couldn’t help but giggle a little. 

“Heheh, uh…hey,” she laughed, feeling her bulk shake slightly with her humor. “Um…how’s it going?”

Her family shrank back from her voice, evidently surprised by how loud it was. Emma felt puzzled — she was just speaking normally. Why did they have to all be so dramatic about it? No one was saying anything, so Emma looked around, a bit airily, determined to keep everything normal. 

“Well!” she said brightly, “Things haven’t changed too much around here, huh? Haha, but then again, what more did I expect, right? You guys always liked doing things…well, hehe, the same way you always did them.” 

“Emma…” came her mother’s cautious, trembling voice as she stepped forward. “H-How…how do you feel?” 

“How do I…feel?” asked Emma, turning her head a little sideways. “Haha, what are you talking about? I feel fine! Well, pretty hungry, actually, now that you mention it…but fine.” 

Maisy nodded, blinking blankly at her enormous daughter. Emma looked to the side, at her father and sister, who were both staring up at her with evident trepidation, like they weren’t even sure if they knew her. 

“Hey dad!” smiled Emma, biting her lower lip slightly after she spoke. “How’s everything going? How’re the horses?” 

“They’re…they’re fine, Emma,” answered Jim. Emma could feel herself beginning to get emotional, but she fought to keep it down. She wished that her dad…that everyone, really, would just drop the whole awkwardness business and act normal and casual. Maybe her sister would help move things along; she turned her eyes to Daisy, whose face was as white as a sheet. 

“What’s up, big sis?” Emma chuckled. “Heheh, I know I was taller than you when I left, but…not compared to now, huh?”

“E-Emma,” squeaked Daisy, finally locating her voice, “Wh-what…what’s happening to you?”

Daniel made a movement forward, holding out his hand in a calming gesture toward Daisy. It was suddenly obvious to Emma that Daniel had instructed her family not to bring up certain things, but Daisy had already broken with the protocol. It made Emma feel irritated — why did there have to be all this red tape around her!? Why couldn’t all these little people just treat her like a normal person?? It was like the smaller everyone got around her, the less capable they were of behaving like actual adults. Was Emma really the only grown-up here?! 

“Well if I knew what was happening to me,” said Emma, trying to keep her tone light as she grinned, “I don’t think we’d be here right now, do you?”

Daisy didn’t even react, and so Emma kept talking.

“We have no freaking clue what’s going on with me, haha! Why I’ve gotten this big…and why I’m still growing. But I feel totally fine, except for some, uh, you know…growing pains and things like that.”

“So…uh, so you’re still growing, huh?” came her father’s voice. No one there had ever seen Jim so shocked. He was the strong, silent type, a man of few words and heavy practicality. But even he couldn’t hide his astonishment. 

“Sure am dad,” said Emma, reaching her hands far up above her head, until they were 15 feet in the air. Her family’s eyes got even wider as they watched her stretch. To them, it literally looked like she was touching the sky. 

‘Geez, all I have to do is move around a little and they get flabbergasted all over again,’ thought Emma humorously to herself. ‘These little people are so sensitive!’ 

“And it…it hurts you, dear?” asked Maisy.

“Huh? Hurts…? Oh, oh you mean the growing?” asked Emma. “Uh, haha not really, no. Just makes me kinda sore all the time. But when you’re growing, you know, like a few inches a day, you’re gonna feel it everywhere in your body, right?”

“A f-few inches a day!?” cried Daisy. “Emma! Wh-what!? I mean…uhh…how much do you eat!?” 

Once again, Emma noticed Daniel gesturing to Daisy with his hand, as if to tell her to lay off her questions, and once again, Emma felt the irritation bubbling up in her. She had the sudden urge to swipe her leg over and knock Daniel over. Not to hurt him, but just to knock a little sense into him, to make him chill out a little. 

“Hahah, well, you’ll see soon enough,” chuckled Emma. Right on cue, spurred on by the thought of food, her stomach grumbled loudly, making her whole family stagger back again a little. Emma couldn’t help but laugh, her belly shaking and jiggling with mirth. 

“Hahaha, oh my god! Your faces!” she giggled. 

“Emma, was that…?” asked Maisy. 

“My tummy! Yes!” laughed Emma. “Like I said, I’m hungry!” 

“W-Well…maybe let’s go in and eat, then,” said Maisy in a shaky voice. Emma hadn’t realized it, but to her family, her stomach had literally sounded like a large, growling lion. 

“Go in, Maise?” asked Jim, inclining his head up to his giant daughter. 

“Yeah I don’t think she can fit in the house mom,” said Daisy, looking up at her younger sister. “I m-mean…no offense, Emma.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Emma suddenly. “I’m gonna sleep in my old room with Daniel.”

“Uh, Emma?” said Daniel in a small voice beside her thigh. “I…I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

“What? Of course it’ll work,” responded Emma, taking a step back so that she could see her boyfriend more clearly. “I have all my old stuff in there. It’ll be nice and cosy with you in there. We can cuddle up, and it’ll be just like when you first came over, years ago.” 

But Daniel was just shaking his head. Her eyebrows went down, and she looked over at her parents. Had they already spoken to Daniel about this…without her? 

“I’m sorry Gracie,” said Maisy apologetically, “But you’re just…too big to fit inside the house. We…we heard about how they had to bring in the fire department to get you out, and…well, we can’t have them just cutting holes in our roof like that.”

“But…but where am I gonna sleep?” asked Emma blankly. She could feel the tears starting to well up behind her eyes. 

Maisy slowly turned to her husband, who nodded slightly at her and stepped forward a little, averting his head far upward to address his daughter. 

“I made sure to prep the barn with plenty of…um, soft hay and blankets and pillows for you, honey,” he said. Emma’s mouth dropped open, and her eyes went wide.

“The…barn!?!” she cried.

Chapter 17

“Emma, honey…what choice do they have, really?” came Daniel’s soothing, yet slightly impatient voice as he did his best to cuddle her. They were both lying sideways on a huge pile of hay in Emma’s old family barn, with a piecemeal mass of comforters and blankets doing their best to cover Emma’s massive form. Away from the stunned and awkward silence of her family, Daniel had measured Emma a little earlier, and found that she was now a full 12-foot-6. 

“I just thought it’d be different,” mumbled Emma, who was curled up in a fetal position under the paltry blankets. “Look at me, sleeping out here like an animal.”

“Haha, we’re both out here sleeping like animals!” laughed Daniel, trying his best, as usual, to cheer her up. He kneaded his knuckles hard into the ample flesh of her left shoulder — at this point, he knew that Emma would only feel his efforts if he applied maximum pressure. 

“Did you see them just…staring at me at dinner?” Emma asked hollowly, staring off into the far dark corner of the barn, where the horses slept in their kennels. “It was like they didn’t even know me.” 

“Haha, but Emma,” chuckled Daniel, treading carefully through his gentle mirth, “You have to remember that all of this is…you know, super new to them. This is…like, the definition of uncharted territory.”

“I know,” muttered Emma. She felt strangely lucid, yet this lucidity wasn’t bringing her any kind of relief. Instead, it just made her feel like she was staring off into the endless void. 

“And, hahaha, I mean, did you really expect them not to have a reaction when you just…casually popped those apples in your mouth?” Daniel was making sure to balance his humor with a dose of reality; he knew that it was a delicate process, but he felt like he had been getting better at it recently.

“Huh?” asked Emma, still staring forward. “What are you talking about?”

“All those apples you ate,” he answered, leaning forward a little on his larger pile of hay so that he could get a good look at the huge side cheek of her face. “You were just popping them in your mouth, one after the other, eating them like they were…just…grapes.” 

“Hmmm, I guess I don’t remember too much of that,” murmured Emma. It was true — she had been too focused on how insanely tiny her family had looked. It was just too surreal, too much of a crazy reality to take in in one sitting. And so, for large parts of the meal, Emma had just been popping apples into her mouth, one after the other, chewing them absently and swallowing them down whole as she stared blankly down at her mom, dad, and sister. 

“You must’ve eaten about 15 or 20 of them,” chuckled Daniel. “Without even realizing it.” 

“Oh…now I’m remembering that they were a little tart, yes,” said Emma, sighing and adjusting her body slightly in the hay. As she did so, Daniel had to hang on to her left shoulder, to keep himself from sliding around as a result of her movement. “Guess I kinda just lost track of how much I was eating.” 

“Well…are you full now, at least?” asked Daniel hopefully. 

“Not really, no,” replied Emma bluntly, focusing on the wooden beams of the nearest kennel. “I know I ate all they had to offer, but…I could definitely keep eating for a while.”

“Oh,” responded Daniel, feeling crestfallen and sorry for her, and no small degree of discouragement. She had literally eaten up all the food in her family’s house without breaking a sweat: chicken, steak, vegetables, bread, ice cream, fruit…everything. Daniel had assured them that he would be paying for her food from then on out, but to hear that all of that hadn’t even filled her up was not welcome news. 

“W-well,” he continued after a pause, “Well maybe…I can pop out to the store now. I can get you some more — how about that? Here, I’ll go now.” He made to get up from his horizontal position as Emma’s “big spoon.” 

“No, Daniel,” muttered Emma, blinking at the same dark spot in the corner of the barn, “No, it’s ok. I’m fine. You don’t need to go.”

“No, no, I’ll go!” he responded with energy, feeling the pleasant momentum of the task starting to wash over him. “It’s no problem Emma, really. I’m happy to do it.” He jostled and pivoted his body against her huge, firm bulk, trying to get the proper foothold in the hay to jump down onto the ground. But he didn’t get the chance, because Emma’s huge right hand had suddenly come up out of nowhere and clamped down on his entire left shoulder, and much of his left torso. Daniel stopped trying to move, freezing in response to Emma’s emphatic gesture. He was amazed at how hot her palm felt…was she having another growth spurt?

“I want you to stay,” she said quietly, with a dull kind of emphatic energy in her voice. “I want you to stay here with me and spoon me and rub me and keep me company.”

“O-ok Emma, ok,” said Daniel, nodding vigorously as he felt her hand tighten a little against his shoulder and chest. 

“I don’t want to stay in this barn by myself,” Emma continued in that same strangely monotone voice. “I want my boyfriend to be with me.” 

“Ok, I won’t go, Emma, I won’t go,” Daniel insisted with genuine emphasis of his own. “You’re just…squeezing a little tight…is all.” 

“Squeezing?” asked Emma, suddenly flipping over on her back as she lifted Daniel up into the air with one hand. “I’m not squeezing! I’m just holding you here, to keep you from leaving me.” 

“I’m not…gonna leave you,” chuckled Daniel, suddenly getting nervous as Emma held him aloft above her. She was suddenly grinning up at him, and mischief played behind her eyes. 

“No?” continued Emma, blinking up at him as she turned her head sideways in the hay. “I’m not too big for you?”

“N-no, come on Emma, are you kidding?” laughed Daniel. The initial spike of nerves began to dissolve…maybe she was just being silly and flirty. It was certainly better than that awful monotone she had been talking in ever since they had started snuggling in the barn. 

“I don’t eat too much for you?” she persisted, arching her eyebrow up at him. “You aren’t turned off when you see me eat an entire house worth of food, and it doesn’t even fill me up?” 

“T-turn me off?” asked Daniel, a little puzzled. “Uh, heheh, no…no I don’t get turned off by that.”

“So…are you turned on right now?” asked Emma immediately in a low voice, turning her head to the opposite shoulder in the hay, eying him seductively. 

“I…uhhh..I wh-what?” was all Daniel could manage. For a few seconds, Emma didn’t move or change her expression — she was just lying there, holding Daniel above her with one hand, her eyes studying his face, going back and forth between his left eye and his right. Daniel began to worry about what was going to happen next.

“C’mon!” laughed Emma suddenly, her searching expression shifting abruptly back to her toothy flirtations. “When was the last time we did it, Daniel?” 

“D-did it?” he asked, trying in vain to catch up. 

“Had sex, Daniel!” she exclaimed, shaking his whole body slightly at the word “sex.” “When was the last time that we made love? I feel like it’s been foreverrrr.” 

“I, uhh…y-yeah, yeah it’s been awhile, I guess,” mumbled Daniel in response, staring down in confusion at his girlfriend. She was so pretty, with her red hair splayed all out in an elegantly disorganized frame around her head; the oil lamps in the corner highlighted the smooth firmness of her lovely features, and the slightly crinkled lines of her provocative smile. He blinked, and a substantial part of him did suddenly feel turned on…and there was internal stirrings in his groin. But he blinked again…something held him back. There was something in her smile…in her eyes…He didn’t feel safe. 

“A lonnnggg, longggg time,” cooed Emma, looking up at him and shaking her head back and forth in the hay, making it rustle, a kind of rustic serenade. “It isn’t good to go so long without fucking” 

Daniel opened his mouth to speak, but he found that he didn’t know how to address what Emma had just said. She had just been talking about “making love,” and now all of a sudden she had descended to just calling it “fucking.” It wasn’t like Emma to talk like that. His anxiety grew. 

“How about it, huh?” she drawled, and suddenly, she reached her other hand up and began fondling his crotch. Daniel drew in a sharp intake of breath as he felt his body freeze in response to this unexpected gesture. He was a little hard, but by no means did his physical arousal imply that he was in the mood to do anything. Emma, however, reacted quite differently. 

“Oooooh, I can feel that!” she moaned, squinting her eyes up at him in a display of aching arousal. “It feels goooood, Daniel. Let me see it.” 

“N-no, Emma…Emma come on,” he stammered, fidgeting in her grasp as he tried to squirm away from the advances of her huge hand. Her fingers were massive, and effortlessly pried his legs apart as they continued to feel him up. He felt her other hand tightening still further around his shoulder and upper diaphragm. 

“I wanna see it!” she chirped, licking her lips. There was a slightly manic look in her eyes now. Daniel started to panic, wondering what his options were. It occurred to him that he could always yell, and then maybe her family would hear and come running. He didn’t know why he was so afraid right now — he was attracted to her! And he loved her — of course he missed their intimate moments. But right now, in this moment, nothing felt right. It felt like he was standing on the precipice of a bad dream, and the lighting in the barn seemed to reflect that. The shadows seemed to deepen around him, and the dark lines along Emma’s features appeared more pronounced. He could see the dark sparkle in her eyes, and the thin film of moisture on her lips. He caught the gleaming shine of her teeth. 

“H-honey…babe, let’s just…l-let’s just cuddle some more, ok?” he chuckled, trying as hard as he could to laugh at the situation, and at himself, for being so scared. Emma didn’t seem to hear him at first, her eyes locked on his groin as she continued to fondle him through his pajamas. The seconds passed by, and she started to grin, biting her tongue as she prodded it into the inside of her cheek. Daniel felt himself starting to tense up even more, and despite the situation, he could feel himself getting harder. 

“Huh?” asked Emma suddenly, blinking and shifting her eyes back up to his face. “What did you say?” 

Daniel felt himself exhale in wonder. He didn’t know what to think right now — she looked so happy, and so pretty…so innocent, in this moment, and yet, just a few seconds before, everything had seemed completely different. Daniel knew that she wasn’t playing games with him; she was genuinely asking him what he had said, and…she just seemed to be completely unaware of the strange, shifting dynamics around them. He felt his heart melt for her. She was trying her best, she really was. 

“I…I j-just wanna cuddle you some more, Emma,” he finally managed to say. He shook his head down at her, blinking slowly and smiling. “I…just love you so much.”

“But…but you’re hard,” murmured Emma, blinking her eyes rapidly up at him. “Don’t you…don’t you want me to kiss it?” 

Daniel didn’t know why he had felt so afraid before; everything about her seemed soft and gentle now, and her last question had come out as almost childlike. He felt like he couldn’t possibly refuse her, even though he still just wanted this little episode to be over. 

“S-sure,” he said, laughing a little as he smiled. “It’s just that…heheh, I’m sorry Emma. It’s just a little awkward for me…you know…on the first night at your parents’ farm.”

Emma didn’t answer. Silently, she used her free hand to jostle down his pajamas, exposing his erect cock, which bounced up and down in the low barn light. Daniel hadn’t realized that he was that hard…or maybe it had just happened as a result of her exposing him. Either way, he shuddered slightly, suddenly allowing himself to feel the pleasure of her gaze. 

“You have a pretty penis,” Emma murmured, lowering him down to her mouth. As she brought him down, Emma could feel herself returning to the same kind of numb, dark, musing depression that she had felt when they had been snuggling earlier. For a couple minutes there, she had felt the stealthy, powerful flashes of pointed, erotic desire. But now that she was lowering Daniel towards her mouth, she couldn’t get it out of her head how small he was…all over. Against her will, her mind flashed back to months and months before…before all of this had started…it seemed centuries in the past…her hands grasping at the sheets in the bedroom, her flushed face upturned to the ceiling as she cried out in pleasure, surrendering to Daniel’s pounding cock…him grunting and panting in frantic pleasure as he thrust in and out of her, holding her out-splayed thighs with his hands, the sweat dripping down off his face and onto hers. His cock barely fit in her back then — she had loved how he stretched her, and held her down as he did so, over and over. 

But now…now his cock wasn’t much bigger than her pinkie finger. He had gotten so, so small, compared to her…she paused in her lowering, his cock twitching just above her lips. She knew that this was all her fault, that she was the one who had changed, not him…not him…Emma had to keep reminding herself of that, in an effort to avoid feeling resentful of Daniel for not being nearly big enough to satisfy her anymore. But reminding herself that she was a freak didn’t make her feel good. 

She realized, after a few seconds of dwelling in these negative feelings about herself, that Daniel had gotten even harder…she had been inadvertently blowing on his cock as she inhaled and exhaled. She tuned her ears to the moment, and could suddenly hear Daniel’s ragged breath above her, coming in little pants. A drop of precum that had been glistening on his tip suddenly dripped down onto her bottom lip. Emma blinked in surprise, feeling a twinge in her clit. 

“You’re so hard,” she whispered, tilting her head slightly to the side as she studied his cock with interest. Why not just enjoy the little moment they were having? Why did her brain need to torment her by going back to earlier memories? Why couldn’t they just have fun the way things were? Slowly, feeling more curious and exploratory than anything else, Emma lowered Daniel down a little more, until the tip of his cock was pressing slightly into the plushness of her lips. 

“Haaahhh…Emmmma,” he whispered, panting. He was so aroused…she could tell. Somewhere in her mind, she knew that he was more in the moment than she was — there was a strange kind of psychic distance that seemed to separate her from what was happening. But Emma didn’t care. It didn’t matter that she felt like a spectator, watching herself do things to him. Her throbbing clit reminded her that she was enjoying this moment as well, even if it wasn’t in the same way that she used to feel desire. ‘No more worrying, no more feeling sorry for yourself,’ she thought. ‘Daniel wants you soooo bad right now…give it to him.’ She had made up her mind to enjoy this night. 

Slowly, softly, as she blinked her eyelids gently up at him, Emma began kissing the head of Daniel’s cock with her big lips. Each kiss seemed to elicit another dab of precum, and soon, Emma could feel the stickiness of it stringing between her slightly parted lips. 

*Muah* *Muah* *Muah* *Muah* *Muah*

Her kisses were deliberate and slow, and searingly tender. Emma was surprised to discover that she enjoyed the feeling of Daniel’s little cock against her lips. It was…cute. Moments before, she had been silently bemoaning how he was way too small for her, but now, she was actually delighting in the way that it twitched and spasmed every time she touched it with her lips. Daniel’s ragged breathing, punctuated by helpless, exhaled moans that coincided with her lips’ touch, was the real thing that was getting her going, though. She loved how she was hardly doing anything, and yet eliciting such a powerful reaction. 

*Muah* *Muah* *muahmuahmuah*

She changed it up a bit, kissing the tip a few times in rapid succession, quick, sweet little kisses. 

“Hohh…hohhhhh…Emma…” whispered Daniel, his body tensing up even more.

“Hahaha,” laughed Emma softly, enjoying the feel of her breath overwhelming the small member at the entrance to her lips. “I’m barely even touching you.”

“It’s…it feels good,” was all Daniel could say. 

“Oh yeah?” asked Emma softly. She still felt like she was just watching all of this happen from a distance, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t enjoying herself. “You like it when I kiss your little cock like that, hmmm?”

“Yesss,” came Daniel’s reply, in an almost pained whisper. 

“You like it when I *muahhh* kiss it like *muahhhh* that?” She returned to the long, slow kisses. Daniel panted and hissed in response, squirming a little in her hands. But he wasn’t going anywhere, and she easily held him at bay to her lips. She kept it up for another half a minute or so, until she could feel Daniel’s whole body go rigid. He started to shake. 

“Are you about to cum?” she whispered.

“Y-yeah,” breathed Daniel. 

“Well let me just *muahmuahmuah* make it easy for you then,” purred Emma, switching again to her rapid kisses. 

*muahmuahmuahmuahmuahmuahmuah*

She puckered her lips and kissed the tip of Daniel’s titillated cock over and over, in rapid succession, making it a point to exaggerate the kissing sounds as she did so. She felt his little body spasm in her hands, and something warm suddenly splashed all over the outer part of her lips, coming in warm little bursts, over and over. 

“Ooooo,” she moaned, resisting the urge to giggle at the intensity of Daniel’s orgasm. She channeled her sudden inner humor by making funny little sounds with her cum-coated lips. 

“Abubububbub!” she intoned, shaking her head back and forth a little, teasing him further. “Abububububububub!” 

“HuhuhHuhuhHuh oh gah—oh gahd…Emma!” whined Daniel. His almost-pained tone, together with the intense spasms rifling through his little body, made Emma glance up into his face curiously. She had been amusing herself making silly noises blowing cum bubbles lips on his spent penis, but his hyperventilating, combined with the fact that he sounded like he was about to cry, made her look at his face. What she saw held her attention — held effortlessly aloft in her hands, Daniel’s eyes were squeezed shut, and his lips were pulled back from his teeth as he gasped in and out, in and out, clearly overwhelmed. Emma blinked a few times as she stared at him steadily, feeling nothing at first. A strange notion suddenly popped into her head: he was faking it…exaggerating it. There was no was that his reaction could be genuine. She had just…like, literally brushed his cock a few times with her lips, teasing it and kissing it. And this was how he responded!? 

Then, gradually, as she watched Daniel catch his breath, Emma came to realize that his behavior was as pure and authentic as could be. She really had done all that to him, without even trying. It was hard for her to believe, and yet the evidence was plain to see in her hands: the shaking, sweating, shivering body of her little boyfriend, recovering from what looked like the most intense orgasm of his life. 

“Heheh, ummm…just, uh, haha, take it easy,” she chuckled softly, rubbing his chest with her fingers as she lowered him down towards her breasts, holding him closely to her. She looked around the darkened barn again, the low light seeming to deepen the shadows around them. Somewhere off in the corner she could feel the horses stirring. Emma couldn’t help but smile — the situation was all so weird, so bizarre…and she still felt through it all a strange an unnatural distance, like she was just watching everything happen, rather than participating. But this disconnection was also shot through now with something warm; she had made Daniel cum harder than she had ever seen him cum…in the process of playing with him, she had effortlessly overwhelmed him. And Emma…well…she kind of liked it. At this point, in her mind, it was more of a fun little curiosity, a cute game of sorts. But a seed had been planted.

“Emma…that was…wow,” breathed Daniel, finally regaining the ability to speak. 

“Hah…yeah, I can see that,” she murmured to him. 

“I…I wanna return the favor,” said Daniel suddenly, and he made a motion to rouse himself up off Emma’s body in the hay. But Emma held him firmly to her, not allowing him to get up. 

“Nooooo….no, it’s ok,” she whispered. “I’m…I’m good for tonight, I think.” 

“You’re…you’re sure?” asked Daniel uncertainly, with a touch of disappointment in his voice. 

“Yeah,” whispered Emma flatly. “I think I, uh…got all I wanted for tonight, haha.” It was true. Right now, the last thing she wanted was to lie there, watching Daniel struggle in vain to get her off with his hands. She realized, after these words had come out of her mouth, that she had missed the opportunity to make them sound sexier. Had she made it sound like she hadn’t enjoyed it? But there she was again, overthinking everything. 

“Let’s just…go to sleep, alright?” she sighed out pleasantly, squeezing Daniel too her a bit tighter. 

“O-ok honey,” he agreed. Silence reigned for a few long moments.

“Uh, Emma?” came Daniel’s voice.

“Hmm?” she responded, her eyes closed.

“Uh…thanks for…for all that,” he muttered. Emma’s eyebrows furrowed slightly in the dark, her eyes still closed. He was thanking her for his orgasm? Why did it feel so tacky to her? She blew out a slight breath from her nose, unknowingly ruffling his whole head of hair beneath her. 

“Haha, go to sleep Daniel,” she whispered. She wasn’t going to engage her mind anymore…not tonight. 

The next few days seemed to inch by, bit by bit, with a surreal sense of clarity for Emma. In the past, when she had been growing so rapidly, everything around her had seemed hazy, like it wasn’t even real. But now that she was on her parents’ farm, and in the constant companionship of Daniel and her family, there was no running away from the obvious reality of her growth. Emma was growing, and it wasn’t slight, either. At this point, she was growing around 5 inches a day; her body filled out accordingly, adding more than twenty pounds for each inch that she grew. Her curvy, busty figure endured, and it wasn’t lost on Daniel and her family that her ass had gotten a bit larger, even in proportion to her already-colossal physique. Unlike previous spurts, like the one she had had at the Institute in front of Igor, Emma’s growth seemed to have steadied out, at least for the moment. She was thankful for this, since it at least allowed her to have semi-normal interactions with everyone without them losing their minds over her spurts like Igor had. 

‘Yeah, I don’t think they’d be able to handle watching a spurt like that,’ she thought to herself one morning a couple days later, staring down at Daisy and her parents as she absentmindedly tossed whole grapefruit and bananas into her mouth, peel and all, chewing them once and then swallowing them down. They were all sitting in a circle outside, eating breakfast, in an attempt at some normalizing, casual camaraderie. 

“Uhhh…Emma?” ventured Daisy, a little nervously, catching her younger sister’s eye. 

“Huh?” asked Emma, blinking blankly as she munched on the fruit. 

“Are you…? Everything alright there?” Daisy sounded uneasy. 

“Yeah, why?” Emma could feel herself making a real effort to push down her irritation. She was literally just sitting there, eating. It was too early to be cross-examined by her sister. 

“You were…you were just looking at me kinda weird…is all,” replied Daisy cautiously, with a touch of defensiveness in her voice. Emma refocused her eyes down on her sister. Was she serious!? Daisy had always been one to speak her mind, but now she was just pulling things out of thin air, surely. For a few long moments, Emma said nothing, continuing to toss fruit in her mouth as she looked down at Daisy. Emma could feel her parents’ guarded eyes on her as well, and she perceived, without turning her head, that Daniel had done the opposite, turning his gaze towards the pond. 

‘They’re all literally waiting to see what I’m gonna do,’ Emma realized with a start. ‘And they’re all so nervous.’ The feeling that sprang from this realization surprised her — instead of feeling her more customary barrage of irritation and shameful vulnerability, she actually felt…well, something else. Was it…power? They all seemed so tense…she was the only one who was relaxed and casual. She saw Daisy avert her eyes to her plate, where she restlessly picked at her grits and scrambled eggs with her fork. Emma saw that her father’s fork was paused above his own plate, and that her mother had actually put her fork down. Daniel wasn’t even eating. The air was tense. 

‘Geez, look at those silly little toothpicks they’re holding,’ said Emma to herself, not realizing that she was actually chuckling out loud. ‘They actually need those to eat!? Look at their plates…there’s barely any food on them at all! Their plates are like…like buttons or something!’ 

“What’s…um…what’s so funny, Em?” asked her mother in a bit of a shaky voice. The tone of Maisy’s voice made Emma check herself, although she was unable to wipe the smile off her face. 

“I…heheh…just, don’t worry about it,” said Emma, shaking her head a little as she chewed four whole grapefruit and two bananas at once. 

A couple days after, Emma was silently cursing her promise to help out her parents on the farm, in exchange for her staying there. In a moment of strange gaiety the day before, she had boasted that she could plow the main farm plot faster than her father’s tractor. 

“Are…are you sure, Em?” Jim had asked, staring up at her, not seeming to doubt her bluster for a moment. 

“Psssh are you kidding?” Emma had answered, flush with pride as she walked over to the tractor, bending down at the waist to lean on it sideways. Standing up straight, the tractor’s vertical exhaust pipe barely even reached her breasts. As she leaned her elbow against the roof, the tractor’s wheels sunk down visibly into the mud. “Which do you think looks more powerful, hmmmm?” 

‘This is ridiculous,’ she thought to herself darkly the next day, standing there with her father’s old heavy plow strapped to her shoulders. ‘How could I be such an idiot to suggest something like this?’ 

“Ok Em!” called her father from the other end of the long unplowed plot. “We’re all set!” 

“Right, dad!” she responded, sighing to herself. Her mother was watching anxiously from the side, as were Daniel and Daisy. Emma couldn’t help but notice that her sister and boyfriend were engaged in conversation…and it annoyed her. Daniel and Daisy had always had a good relationship, so their talking casually was nothing new. It was just that right now, in this moment, Emma had become aware of their interaction annoying her for the first time. Maybe they were standing too close to each other or something. 

‘Oh would you just cut it out?’ she spat at herself savagely. She kicked a little dirt behind her, and she felt the huge white sheet around her body expanding slightly with her movement. She was 14 feet tall now, and the massive sheet fit her quite well now, like a moderately tight toga. She suddenly became determined to put on a show…to make good on her boast. Gritting her teeth, she planted her feet, took a deep breath, and started lugging the plow forward. Except, well…she wasn’t “lugging” anything. The rich brown earth, which Emma had expected to be far tougher, felt like butter, as the sharpened steel plow cut through it effortlessly behind her. 

‘Oh wow!’ she laughed to herself. ‘Guess I was right…this is easy!’ 

Daniel and her family watched dumbfounded as she pulled the plow all the way down the acre-sized plot, reaching her father in under a minute. His mouth was hanging open as he gaped up at his gigantic daughter, who winked at him cockily, sticking her tongue into the side of her mouth. 

“Told ya, dad,” she smirked, turning the plow back around and going down the opposite direction. As she went back down the other way, she was heartened to see that her impressive physical display had put the conversation between Daniel and Daisy to bed. 

‘That’s right,’ she thought to herself, allowing a wave of smugness to wash warmly over her as she smiled at them. Less than ten minute later, the entire plot was plowed, and Emma was only breathing a bit heavily, wiping a thin sheen of sweat from her brow as she leaned once more against the defeated tractor.

“That…that was incredible, Em!” cried Jim as he ran over. He knew as well as anyone that it took an hour to plow that same acre with the tractor. 

“Remember the story of Paul Bunyan?” Emma asked the tractor directly, feeling positively giddy. “When the machine defeats the man in the end? Haha, not this story!” 

A little while later, however, Emma’s high spirits had fallen. Her body was aching more than usual, not from the exertion of the farm work, but rather from the telltale feeling in her bones that her growth was picking up, or about to erupt in a large spurt. Daniel had mentioned, quite sensibly, she knew, that it wasn’t a good idea for him to sleep with her in the barn when her body was aching like this. She could have a large spurt in her sleep, and crush him without even waking up. Emma knew that he was right, and sadly conceded to sleep in the barn by herself. But it left her feeling vulnerable and rotten all over again. To make her sister feel better, Daisy had come into the barn that night, and as Emma sat there on her piled of hay, Daisy sat on a much larger pile behind her and braided her long, red hair, just like she used to do years before. 

“Wow Em, your hair!” murmured Daisy, marveling at the huge spills of red that were like a long, luscious curtain. 

“Oh god, all the split ends…I know,” responded Emma. 

“What? No!” exclaimed Daisy, taking the long ropes of her little sister’s hair in her hands. “Your hair looks amazing! And it feels amazing too! I mean…whatever this whole growth thing is, it’s making your hair, like…it’s doing wonders for it, Em.” 

“Really?” asked Emma genuinely, trying to ignore how tiny her sister’s hands felt against her scalp. Without being able to see Daisy, it felt like a tiny child was braiding her hair. It felt weird, to have hands that small moving against her hair and scalp with such purpose. 

‘She’s an adult,’ Emma reminded herself. ‘She’s your older sister.’ 

“Yeah,” returned Daisy, having to use her shoulders to manage the long, thick braids. “It’s like…silver lining, right?”

Emma responded with silence. She wished that her sister hadn’t said that, since it reminded her, once again, of how normal people saw her condition. It wasn’t enviable in the least. 

“So…Daniel seems well,” Daisy remarked, clearly not comfortable with long silences. Emma felt another flash of irritation, even though she knew it was unfair. Daisy was just trying to make conversation, just like always. She was trying to help. 

“Yeah,” murmured Emma, staring off through the open barn door into the twinkling lights of her family’s farm house, where Emma had no doubt that Daniel was enjoying a respite from her. It made her so sad. She desperately wanted to be inside there with him. 

“I know all this can’t have been easy for you two,” Daisy continued, sifting the ropes of Emma’s braids to her shoulders, “But it really does seem like you’ve both handled it really well.”

“Does it seem like that?” asked Emma searchingly, turning her head slightly. 

“I…well yeah,” answered Daisy. “Like, you two are still…uhm…you’re still obviously in love and everything.”

Emma was silent. She got the sense that Daisy had just tiptoed around something that she had been about to say, but not said. 

“And…and I think it just goes to show,” Daisy kept going, “That if the feelings are there, you know, it doesn’t really matter what happens.” 

“Yeah, I feel that with him,” muttered Emma softly. “He’s been so kind to me…so loving…so patient…I really don’t deserve him.” 

“Oh, now!” exclaimed Daisy, halting her braiding for a moment. “Stop that kind of talk, Em! I don’t want to hear it!” 

Emma knew Daisy was being genuine, but she couldn’t get the sight of Daniel and Daisy talking earlier that day out of her head. They looked like…two normal people, just enjoying each other. Emma and Daniel could never look like that ever again. 

“You hear me?” persisted Daisy, tugging on one of Emma’s braids like a rope. 

“Heheh, yeahhhh,” chuckled Emma despondently, smiling in spite of her low mood. “I know I’m just being a wet blanket. It’s just…hard to feel normal about things anymore.”

“Well…yeah!” laughed Daisy, resuming her braiding. “You’re almost 15 feet tall, Em! Kinda hard to pretend that things are normal when you’re stronger than a tractor, haha!” 

“Heheheh, yeah,” chuckled Emma, wishing that her sister wouldn’t talk about it all like that. Emma knew that she was trying to be helpful, but she was hitting all the wrong notes. 

“What’s it like when the two of you are…uh…you know…?” Daisy ventured. 

“When we’re what?” asked Emma blankly, having no idea what her sister was hinting at. 

“When you’re in bed.” Daisy had paused her braiding once again. Emma rolled her eyes and sighed. Of course Daisy was asking about that; she had never quite known where the boundaries were. The odd thing was, Emma didn’t feel irritated by the intrusion — instead, she felt irritated because she had this crazy thought, somewhere in her brain that she knew was wrong, that Daisy had asked because she was trying to get some kind of “inside scoop” on Daniel.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” said Daisy quickly in response to Emma’s sigh. “Too far, too far.”

“N-no, no it’s…it’s ok,” said Emma, suddenly feeling very tired. She thought back to the strange, intimate scene she and Daniel had had in this exact spot, just a few days before. There was no way of explaining that to Daisy — Emma hardly knew what to make of it herself. 

“We’re just…we haven’t been doing a lot, to be honest,” she answered, semi-truthfully. “It’s been…complicated.” 

“Hmm! I bet!” said Daisy, and the conversation dropped. For the next few minutes, they chatted about random things, recalling old times, to the point where Emma could almost pretend that they were just casually hanging out. But when Daisy was done and had to go back inside to sleep, Emma was left with herself again. She curled up in the hay, deliberately facing away from the farmhouse, as she willed herself to sleep, determined not to cry. Some strange buzzing sounds kept her up a bit longer, and actually made her get up and go to the open barn window once to investigate. There didn’t seem like there was anything there, so she went back to her hay, shaking her head at the apparent near-sleep hallucinations she was having. But when she went to sleep, unbeknownst to her unconscious ears, the buzzing resumed by the window. If she had been awake and close enough to see it, she would have seen that it was a drone.

Chapter 18

“Em! Emmmmmmm!”

The sound of her mother’s voice echoed strangely in Emma’s ears. Her eyes were still closed. Why did the voice sound so far away? So out in the open, like they were outside? Emma knew that she was snuggled up in her old room, under the covers, next to Daniel. She sighed out and smacked her lips softly, her movements still heavy with sleep. She didn’t want to be woken up just yet…more snuggle time with Daniel. Still with her eyes closed, she reached over for him in the bed. A splitting sound cut through the air as Emma felt her hand smack into something hard. Her brow furrowed, pausing her motions. The gentle prickle of something became more and more obvious all over her skin…hay. That’s what it was — she was lying on a huge bale of hay…and right then, everything came flooding back into Emma’s head. She wasn’t inside at all — she wasn’t sleeping in a bed, and she wasn’t with Daniel. She was outside in the barn, sleeping on the hay like a freaking animal. She opened her eyes and saw that she had unwittingly put her hand through the barn wall, leaving a gaping, splintered hole.

“Oh god damn it,” she muttered, feeling annoyed at everything. Her body was still aching mightily, and she was so hungry that her stomach hurt.

“What?” she called out at the ceiling, in response to her mother’s voice. She hadn’t intended on speaking so loudly, but she saw, from the disturbed dust that kicked up from the rafters above her, that her voice had literally shook the barn. It was a good thing for her spirits that she hadn’t seen her mother stagger back a little in response to her voice, or the rest of her family wince in unison as they ate breakfast in a circle outside the barn.

“Uhh…j-just…just letting you know that we have breakfast all ready!” Maisy responded a few seconds later, after recovering herself. Emma closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, blowing it out into the barn air as she pulled her hand back in through the hole it had made in her sleep. Her hand made a loud series of cracking noises as it broke and splintered more stray, jagged edges of wood, noises which startled her family. Daniel and Daisy exchanged concerned looks as they heard Emma shuffling around inside. As Emma exhaled, both Daniel and Daisy had turned towards the barn, and were shocked to see that the barn roof was actually shaking.

“E-Emma!” called Daniel, the concern cutting through his voice like a knife.

“Em!” joined Daisy, almost in unison with Daniel, and with no less worry. They simply didn’t know what was going on in there. Was the roof about to collapse in on her!? Maisy and Jim looked stonily on, their eyes wide and penetrating in their disquiet.

‘God, what is with them?’ Emma thought to herself, perturbed. ‘It’s like mom and dad nagging me to get up for school all over again.

“Whaaat!?” she called out again, this time with a little more edge to it. A family of nesting birds in the corner of the barn scattered, and the horses bowed and raised their heads, neighing nervously. The barn roof shook still more, and a fine cloud of dust levitated off the old exterior, unshaken and unmoved for so many years previously.

“Oh my god, Daniel!” whispered Daisy, grabbing ahold of his arm as she stared aghast.

“The barn’s about to collapse on her,” Daniel muttered, even as he registered that he was slightly taken aback by the sudden grasping touch from Daisy. “Emma…Emma!!”

Together with Daisy, he leapt to his feet, and they started running together, with Daisy still partially holding onto him, toward the barn. Their actions were irrational, since if the barn had been collapsing, they wouldn’t have had any hope, either in preventing its disintegration or in helping Emma escape. But they were both acting on pure, protective instinct. Maisy and Jim had struggled to their feet as well, watching in fear as the scene unfolded.

“Oh my god, what’s the deal?” sighed Emma in irritation, reaching out her arms up towards the barn ceiling as she stretched the sleep from her limbs. She felt the large pile of hay beneath her give way as she stretched, and she sank all the way down into it, so that it gathered in clumps around her face. She chuckled to herself, rolling her eyes at the silliness of her situation. After a few seconds she sat up, straw in her hair and a little grin on her face, and she saw Daniel and Daisy standing in the entranceway of the barn, grasping onto each other, staring up at her in evident distress.

Immediately, the grin dropped from Emma’s face. A primal urge shot through her in reaction to seeing her boyfriend and her sister holding each other like that. In that moment, it didn’t matter why they were acting that way — what mattered to Emma was that they looked like two peas in a pod, just the right size for each other, with Daniel rising over Daisy by a good 8 inches or so. That was what she and Daniel used to look like, before all of this had happened. That was what she and her boyfriend should look like. And they were rubbing it in her face.

“E-Emma…Emma are you…are you ok?!” came Daniel’s shaking voice. Emma just sat there, straw in her hair, as she blinked blankly.

“What?” she asked flatly, with no humor in her voice whatsoever. “What are you talking about?”

“The…the barn, Em,” said Daisy timidly, extricating herself from Daniel as she stepped forward, “We were…it looked like it was about to…to —”

“To collapse,” finished Daniel, stepping forward with her.

“Huh?” asked Emma, crinkling her eyes in puzzlement as she let out a confused sigh. “Why would it collapse?”

“Because you were moving around and being so lou—” began Daisy, but Daniel had reached out to touch her arm, giving her a cautioning glance.

“It…uh, just looked like as you were…waking up,” said Daniel carefully as he looked up, “That the barn roof, um…was shaking a little.”

Emma just sat there in her pile of hay, staring back and forth at Daniel and Daisy. She could feel the anger and resentment building up in her, even as she recognized it as unfair and misplaced. She tried to distract herself from these emotions by honing in on the absurdity of what Daniel was saying.

“So?” she asked, shrugging her shoulders as she spoke her question. “So what if it was shaking?” She looked up at the barn roof, and around at the barn walls. A sudden exhale of bubbling laughter escaped her lips as she regarded the rickety wood.

“So what if the whole freaking barn collapsed on me?” she asked, laughing.

“Y-you…you’d be hurt!” piped up Daisy, her eyebrows coming together in genuine concern.

“Ha! Are you kidding me?” burst out Emma, looking around at the barn’s interior as she spread her arms wide. “This barn’s a bunch of matchsticks! If it fell on me when I was sleeping, I bet I wouldn’t even wake up!”

Daniel and Daisy didn’t seem to know how to respond to these words, even as Emma mirthfully gave them a few seconds to respond. She looked out past them, towards her parents, who were standing around the outdoor table, watching from a distance.

“Morning mom, dad!” Emma called, ignoring her annoyance at their timid behavior. “And god damn it,” she added frustratedly, looking down on Daniel and Daisy, who had both stepped back a couple paces and put their hands to their ears, “Would you two quit being so dramatic!?”

“We’re sorry Em!” squeaked Daisy, who had unconsciously grabbed ahold of Daniel again.

“I wake up, you freak out,” said Emma, extending a long index finger to symbolize the number one. “I say hi to mom and dad, you freak out,” she continued, extending out her middle finger for number two. “I do anything…anything at all, and you two can’t help but snug up to each other.” Emma shook her head, in the moment not caring what effect her words had. “I’ve been awake for less than two minutes and already you’re both pissing me off.”

“W-well, just…come on out, Emma,” said Daniel carefully. “I’m…we’re sorry we’re annoying you. It’s just…we…we care about you, and we, uh, we want to know that you’re…feeling ok, is all.”

Daisy nodded vigorously in agreement and Emma looked up again into the barn rafters, sighing again.

‘I’m already the asshole, and I haven’t even had breakfast,’ she grouched to herself internally. But then she looked back down and could feel herself beginning to soften. They were legitimately afraid of her…or for her…or both…she couldn’t really tell. They weren’t trying to lord anything over her. They were just clinging to each other like that out of instinct. She knew that she needed to stop injecting her own paranoid delusions into the interactions she witnessed, particularly those between Daniel and Daisy. It wouldn’t do anyone any good. And besides, there was a perfect way to diffuse this whole situation.

“Aww, I’m sorry baby,” she intoned in quite a different voice, making an effort to sound gentle and loving, “I just…had bad dreams and didn’t sleep well and, haha…just woke up on the wrong side of the…uh, hay…heheh. That’s all.”

Daniel just stood there, unmoving, with Daisy still holding onto him. Emma blinked, inflating herself with a long, calming exhale. It wasn’t quite working yet. She had to be a little more insistent. She spread her arms and smiled toothily.

“Come over here, Daniel,” she cooed in a sweet drawl, beckoning him with her outstretched hands. “I want a little good morning kiss.”

Daniel hesitated a moment longer, but he knew better than to delay any more than that. He felt a strange sense of parting as he broke away from Daisy towards Emma — he couldn’t help but feel like he was leaving the safe comfort of Daisy’s normal human touch and venturing into the frightening unknown, the uncertain and mercurial frontier that his relationship with Emma had become. He almost looked back at Daisy with a kind of longing, but he knew that such a gesture would have been damaging, and even dangerous. Instead, his eyes set on Emma as she sat there in her haystack, he walked up to her, doing his best to smile.

“Get up here, you,” said Emma in a voice she had intended to be sexy. To Daniel, it came across as artificial and stilted. For the first time, he felt the unmistakable conviction that she was using him as a prop for something. But all of these thoughts were thrust into the background as she picked him up with both hands and brought him up to her puckered lips.

“Heheh…e-easy Emma,” Daniel chuckled, realizing with a strange sense of fascinated dread that she could definitely fit his entire head in her mouth now. But of course, she just kissed him, covering the entire side of his face in a damp smooch. Daniel kissed back, even though her huge lips had turned the side of his head completely, so that he was kissing nothing but air. He hung there, suspended in space, letting Emma gently maul his face with her lips.

‘She’s not using you…she loves you,’ he told himself, feeling ashamed for the thoughts he had had only moments before. ‘She’s going through…a lot. So of course she’s gonna be weird and awkward sometimes. Just… be patient…be patient with her.’

His face had turned to the side, such that he was looking down on Daisy, who was watching everything with unadulterated anxiety. She looked so much like Emma…the eyes, the shape of her face…the way that she moved around and had her odd little tiks. He could feel himself becoming closer to her…and wanting that closeness. The two of them were bonding over their shared concern and love for Emma, and, as Daniel hung there in Emma’s grasp, the side of his face getting covered with kisses, he couldn’t help but realize that Daisy’s look of genuine concern wasn’t just for the situation in general — it was for him. She cared about him.

Daniel’s thoughts turned immediately back to Emma, however, because she was standing up now. His organs did backflips inside him as Emma rose, up and up and up, way faster than he was comfortable with. Top her, of course, she was merely standing up, but as far as Daniel was concerned, the whole world was rushing and spinning in a dizzying and overwhelming array.

“W-woah! E-easy there Emma!” was all he managed to shakily say.

“What?” she asked genuinely, holding him out in front of her face with one hand. “I’m just standing up.”

“But it was…you were…um…nevermind,” Daniel surrendered finally, realizing that it was best just to leave it be. He realized that the arched barn roof was suddenly very close to him. At its highest point, in the middle of the barn, Emma’s head was still about 3 feet below, but at the descending slats of the roof on either side, her head became much closer, and eventually would have hit the ceiling if she had walked closer to the walls. Daniel glanced down and saw Daisy way, way down on the ground, backing away slowly from her sister, with a surprised and fearful look on her face.

“Haha, now you see things like I see them!” chuckled Emma genially at Daniel, squinting her eyes at him in affection. To prove her point, she turned him around, so that he was looking out at her line of sight. “I bet everything looks pretty tiny to you now, huh?”

“I…uh, y-yeah…yeah it does, actually,” Daniel agreed, finding Emma’s words to be true. “It’s just…so high up here.”

“Aww, are you a little scared?” cooed Emma in his ear.

“A…little,” he admitted, smiling despite himself. It certainly was surreal, to have his girlfriend holding him by one hand, more than 15 feet off the ground.

“Well let me just put you down here,” said Emma, “So I can…uh…I guess crawl out of here.”

She had realized that she wasn’t going to fit through the barnyard door. This puzzled her a bit, since she had managed to fit the previous night. But she quickly just chalked it down to a little overnight growth. Even remembering the reality of her condition was enough to wake her mind up to the fact that the white toga sheet wrapped around her felt tighter than ever. Her whole body was aching…undoubtedly growth pains from the previous night…and from the fact that the spurt was still ongoing.

“Could you just…back up a little, please?” she asked Daniel, trying not to sound irritated at him as she got down on her hands and knees. He had just been staring there, gaping up at her, and he was in the way. But Daniel could hardly be blamed for his reaction — after Emma had put him down, the results of her nighttime growth spurt were made clear: he was staring straight into the strong, developed underside of her thigh, her huge knee rising up to his chest…and maybe even a little higher. She looked huge.

“Oh! S-sorry!” he exclaimed, hurrying to back out of the barn, and bumping backwards into Daisy in the process. Emma kept crawling forward, determined to get out of the stifling barn, and as she did so, with Daniel and Daisy retreating, she couldn’t help but feel like she was some kind of animal stalking her prey. She briefly considered baring her teeth and growling, pretending like she was a tiger, but she thought better of it, reasoning that they already looked freaked out enough.

‘For what though?’ she thought to herself, squeezing her shoulders together so she could fit through the barn entrance. ‘It’s just me — why are they acting so weird?’

She breathed in the fresh, cool air of the morning and immediately felt her spirits rise. Gathering herself, she stood up slowly, savoring the crispness of the morning sunlight as it melded wonderfully with the light breeze that was blowing. She didn’t realize how imposing she looked, standing next to the barn. Her head rose up a good 2 feet above the yawning entrance, and at its topmost point, the barn itself was only just over 3 feet taller than she was. Emma sighed and stretched her hands high up over her head, her whole body quivering and rippling slightly in the stretch. Her family watched in awe from below as the 16-foot girl’s hands rose up above the barn’s roof, their minds not quite able to process what they were seeing.

Emma lowered her arms a few moments later and saw that everyone was looking at her.

“Uhh…helloooo,” she laughed down at them, shaking her head a little to herself at how silly…and how tiny…they all were.

A few minutes later, the whole family was sitting around the makeshift outdoor table, eating breakfast. Emma’s father had cut a huge hunk of wood from a massive log and turned it into a table that they could all sit at, at least reasonably well. Emma still had to sit back a good deal from the table, and she still had to lean down on one arm as she tucked her bare feet underneath her big ass…but in any case, the table itself represented some semblance of normalcy. Emma had made it a point to sit in between Daniel and Daisy, and as she leaned down on her left arm, which was positioned directly next to Daisy, her older sister couldn’t help but gawk at the sheer size and power that was clearly inherent in the massive limb. It was all proportional, and yet Daisy was uneasy to realize that Emma’s arm, hand splayed on the grass beneath, was taller than she was.

“Sorry about the barn, dad,” Emma muttered, moving a few melons absently between her fingers before popping them into her mouth. “I guess…uhh…I guess I was just moving around in my sleep too much.”

“Don’t worry about it Em,” said Jim kindly, shaking his head as he looked up at her, smiling slightly as he chewed his food. Emma blinked down at him and smiled back. Her father had always been a sweet man, but he had also never been one who sent much for emotion. To see him smile like that at her, even after she had smashed a big hole in his barn wall, made Emma feel warm inside. Daniel was eating next to her, looking cuter than ever using that little fork of his to bring tiny bits of egg and grits up to his small, precious mouth.

‘Come to think of it,’ Emma realized, glancing around the wooden table at her family as she chewed on three whole melons at once, ‘They’re all adorable…just look at them, nibbling away at their little morsels…how cute.’

“Something got you tickled, Em?” asked Maisy, who was holding up her coffee cup to her lips as she sipped.

“Uhh…haha, I mean,” chuckled Emma, swallowing her melons as she marveled at the tiny coffee cup her mother was holding, “Just…just everything, I guess.”

“Everything?” asked Daisy, confused, crunching a little nervously on some bacon as she stared up at her gigantic younger sister.

“Well…uh, heheh…yeah,” giggled Emma plainly, feeling her bulk shake slightly from her laughter as she stared around at everyone, including Daniel (who had put down his fork and was looking up at her curiously, with an ever-present hint of trepidation that Emma chose to ignore).

“It’s just that…” Emma continued, but then she paused. She realized that they were all looking up at her anxiously from far below. They had all stopped eating, and only Maisy was still making a semblance of sipping her coffee. All of the power lay with her. Emma knew why she had been giggling: the sleepy irritation of her first waking minutes had been abruptly dissipated by this fresh, clear morning breakfast out in the open at her old family home. The sun was bright and young, warming her skin and giving some relief to her aching bones and muscles; the air was wonderfully crisp and refreshing, and Emma was just now remembering how much she missed the clean country air.

But more than anything else, Emma was realizing just how special the camaraderie around her was…even if everyone’s awkwardness had bothered her at first. The emotional epiphany came rushing forward, from her subconscious into her conscious mind — Daniel had literally been driven from his home…his job had been put on hold…his whole world turned upside down…and there he was, sitting next to her, his eyes averted up towards hers, full of care. Emma felt her heart turn over in her chest…she looked over at Daisy, who was nervously playing with her food. Glancing down her chest, Emma saw the red braids that Daisy had woven through her hair the previous night…and then Emma looked to her parents, both of them silently regarding her, their eyes full of something like anxious anticipation. They were all so, so tiny, so clueless as to her condition. They had no idea…not the faintest clue. But in that moment, none of that mattered to Emma. Their tininess compared to her only underscored the well of affection that was bubbling up from within her. She blinked and looked down at the wood in front of her…Her dad had put a lot of effort into making that table…and he had even polished it!

Emma tensed her stomach and set her jaw and cheekbones hard as she felt a massive tidal wave of emotion sweep over her. She could feel big, fat tears beginning to form behind her eyes, and try as she might, she could feel them migrating inevitably toward the corners of her eyes, where they became visible. She knew she couldn’t hide her emotion, but as she glanced down at Daniel, and saw that he had put his hand on her hip, she realized that she didn’t need to hide it this time. She genuinely felt happy.

“I’m just so happy that you’re all here with me!” she said thickly, blinking the fat tears out of her eyes, and sending them splashing down to the grass below. “I d-don’t…I don’t mean to get emotional and all, b-but…but it just means…m-means so much to have you all here, and j-just…just eating together outs-side on a…a morning like this.”

“Awwwww, honey,” replied Maisy, putting down her coffee, tilting her head, and giving her daughter a genuinely sweet look, “Of course we’re here for you. Nothing else matters to us. Nothing.”

“We’re here for you Em,” adjoined Jim, a bit stiffly. He had never been much good with dramatic, emotional moments, but Emma heard the warm affection behind his voice and burst out with a single tear-soaked laugh.

“You’re just…you’re just all so sweet,” she laughed, wiping her eyes as she recovered herself. “Even though…haha, even though I’m just getting too big for pretty much everything. I mean, heheh, you all look like…little kids to me now!”

“I bet we do!” responded Maisy, nodding her head as she joined in her daughter’s laughter. Emma realized that both Daisy and Daniel were being quiet on either side of her, and she glanced down at them, only to realize that neither of them were there. She panicked for a moment, but then saw that they had both gotten up and were standing slightly behind her, staring at the ground. The reason why was plain to see: Emma’s big tears had inundated the ground on their side of the table with water, so much so that Daniel and Daisy had gotten their feet soaked.

“Oh…oops, hehe, I’m sorry!” she laughed, wishing that the two of them wouldn’t stand so close together. But really, though, the ground was barely wet! Why were they making such a big deal out of nothing, especially in a nice little moment like this?

“It’s…nothing, babe,” said Daniel uneasily, smiling as he shook his head. “Just a little…wet down there, haha.”

“You sure you’re ok?” asked Daisy searchingly, peering up at her younger sister. She seemed to be having trouble grasping how Emma could have possibly cried out such a volume of tears in a matter of seconds.

“Oh she’s fine,” answered Daniel for her, stepping closer and touching Daisy’s arm with his hand, looking up at Emma. “I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time, actually.”

Emma couldn’t believe it — Daniel had actually had the gumption to just reach out like that and touch her older sister, in a familiar, causal kind of way, like it was the most natural thing in the world. She felt the tidal wave of emotion in her begin to boil, as the perimeters of her eyes hardened, becoming more intense. But she knew that Daniel had meant nothing by it…she knew that. The thought-free, casual nature of his touch, however, almost made it worse for her. The breeze kicked up, sending a cool, sweet gust upon her cheek, and she caught a dank, vegetation-laden whiff of the pond water in the distance.

‘Get a grip,’ she ordered herself internally, ‘This is a good morning, and you’re not going to let anyone screw it up! You can call the shots.’

“Well you know what would make me even happier?” she asked, with a flirtatious little grin.

“Uhh…what?” asked Daniel, trying not to make it obvious that he feared the answer.

“If my wonderful, awesome boyfriend came up here and fed me some more melons!” she laughed, pointing to the large rack of her protruding breasts.

“I…uhh, ok Emma, but —” began Daniel, but Emma didn’t even give him time to finish. Reaching swiftly down with one hand as she smiled broadly, she caught him up by the torso, wrapped her long, strong fingers around a good half of his upper body, and lifted him swiftly up off his feet.

“W-woahhh!” exclaimed Daniel in alarm, feeling embarrassed by Emma’s behavior, even as he felt his organs jostle uncomfortably in his ribcage.

“There!” chirped Emma, plopping him down on her soft, squishy boobs, “Right where you belong, haha!” She reached down and grabbed a handful of melons from the pile next to her, about 10 or 12 and presented them in an open palm to Daniel. He stared at them blankly, momentarily stunned at how small the honeydew and cantaloupes looked in her hand.

“Well go on!” she laughed, opening up her mouth and extending her tongue slightly. “Aaaaaaaah!”

Daniel knew he didn’t really have a choice, but he wasn’t able to keep from pausing for a few seconds, to stare in perplexed awe at just how big Emma’s open mouth was. There wasn’t any question that, if she wanted to, she could fit his whole head in her mouth. Having such a huge maw gaping open at him was therefore more than a little unsettling. The horseshoe line of her bottom teeth seemed to smile at him, and he felt something uncomfortable lurch in him, something that warned him of a primal danger.

‘It’s just Emma,’ he reminded himself over and over again. ‘It’s just…Emma.’

Feeling the warm squishiness of her breasts beneath him, he picked up a honeydew with two hands and placed it deliberately down on her tongue. Emma pulled her tongue slightly inward and bit down, swiftly splintering the melon into many pieces. Daniel felt a bit of the sweet juice spray into his face as he smelled the crisp, bitter musk of the annihilated outer rind, swallowing nervously as he watched those huge, bright white teeth working in front of him, filling a good portion of his vision.

“Mmmmm, taaassssty,” she purred at him, licking her lips. “Give me some more, Daniel…I want some more.”

He gave her more, and she crunched and split the melons with equal ease, chuckling and laughing softly as she drew them into her mouth, licking up the juices that now coated her plush lips.

“Oooh, but Daniel, I’m sorry!” she said suddenly, bringing him up closer to her eyes. “I’m totally spraying you with melon juice, haha! Here, let me take care of that for you.”

“N-no, Emma, it’s alrig—” tried Daniel, but Emma had already extended out her long, luscious tongue and was licking his upper body and face in one slow, lewd motion. Daniel’s eyes darted everywhere, feeling heartily embarrassed by Emma’s shameless display, but there was nothing he could do. He felt the large, marble-sized bumps of her taste buds against his face, and, despite himself, he felt himself harden slightly in his pants. The effortless power of his girlfriend, coupled with her size, was enough to make him feel submissively aroused, even if it was against his will.

For the next several minutes, he fed Emma the rest of the melons in her hand, making sure to look down at her parents and share some good-natured laughs to keep the mood light. Daisy seemed a little out of sorts, and had decided to go back into the house for a bit.

Emma basked in her victory. This was turning out to be an even better morning than she had thought it would be, even when compared to the wave of positive affection she had been feeling before. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she was aware enough to be concerned by the sudden and seemingly-uncontrollable shifts in her mood, but right now, she was simply enjoying herself. She had re-claimed Daniel, and she was still just hanging out, eating breakfast with her family. So what if Daisy was going to go back into the house and pout? What was her problem, anyway?

“So…Em,” ventured Maisy, after all the melons were gone, “You had mentioned wanting to maybe…go for a swim in the pond after breakfast?”

“Oh yeah, totally!” exclaimed Emma, a bit too loudly, since everyone winced slightly at her voice.

“Heh, sorry!” added Emma, lowering her voice a little, and not even feeling annoyed this time. Her spirits were too high. “I’ve been looking forward to that, actually!”

“Why don’t we give it a go, Jim?” chuckled Maisy, looking over at her husband. “When was the last time we took a dip in there?”

“Can’t remember,” answered Jim, cocking his head slightly at his wife as a slight smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, “So…as long as you don’t mind the fish nibbling your toes…”

“Oh you just beat all,” laughed Maisy, giving him a little shove.

“And you?” Emma asked Daniel, putting her index finger into his back, “Are you game?”

“I…can’t wait!” he said, having no idea how he felt about the prospect of swimming in a pond with his 15-foot — or was she 16 feet now…or taller — girlfriend.

“Well get ready,” laughed Emma, standing up and catching him falling backwards off her breasts. “I’m gonna do a cannonball!”

Fifteen hundred feet above, a drone was buzzing quietly, hovering unseen by everyone below. Attached to the drone was a tiny, pinpoint camera, and this camera beamed the live footage hundreds of miles away, into the dark intelligence rooms, where graven-faced men in suits were steadily eying the monitors.

“Well what do you think?” asked one of the men, coming around behind the seat of another as they both peered closely at the screens. “Is she taller?”

“Oh yeah,” answered the other man immediately, drawing up the data as he spoke, “She’s definitely taller…and bigger…she grew 2 whole inches just in the last 10 minutes.”

“Did she realize it?” asked the first man.

“Who can say?” answered the second. “At this point, it’s becoming routine for her.”

They both turned back to look at the screen, as more people, both men and women, gathered around them, all staring silently as the footage of Emma hopping forward in 30-foot bounds towards the pond, with Daniel grasped firmly in her right hand, helplessly along for the ride.

“Yep,” said the first man after a few silent seconds, “We’re getting close, everyone. It’s almost time.”

Chapter 20

A young man in a prim suit was rushing down the dimly-lit hallway of an office building. Every open door he passed sent a slight breeze into the adjoining offices, emphasizing the speed and urgency of his mission. When he finally reached the closed door at the end of the hallway, he rapped imperatively on the door, and then proceeded to open the door without receiving an affirmative answer. 

“Excuse me!” barked the major general, who was at his desk with his hands folded, clearly in the middle of an online meeting, from the numerous squares of people dotting his computer screen, “There is no —”

“She hurt him, sir!” breathed the young man, catching his breath as he stood there in the open doorway. 

“She hurt who?” the general repeated, turning slightly in his chair. 

“Her boyfriend,” nodded the man, taking a moment to swallow before resuming. “Our drone…captured the footage. She didn’t mean to, but…his neck…his legs. She’s…losing control. And her family’s upset with her.”

“How is she taking it?” asked the general, now facing the young man completely and leaning forward into his desk. 

“She’s…upset too,” said the man, shifting his weight slightly. 

“What does that look like?” asked the general immediately. “Has she become purposefully violent yet?” 

“No,” answered the man, “But…but she just screamed at them…the drone measured it at 102 decibels… and…just walked off, away from them. She’s…she’s alone now, sir.”

The general just sat there for a few moments, his hands still folded on his desk, seemingly deep in thought. All the people in the online chat apparently had heard the young man’s report, and were silent, seeming to grasp the gravity of the situation. 

“Should we put it all in motion, sir?” asked the young man after a long pause. He seemed nervous and apprehensive. A strange gravity hung in the air. The seconds ticked by, and after what seemed like an excruciatingly long pause, the general looked up. 

“No,” he said firmly. “Not yet. We can’t go in yet, until…until she’s done something.” 

“But sir,” protested the man, “If you’re suggesting that we wait until —”

“I know perfectly well what I’m suggesting, Captain Casey,” interrupted the general gruffly, leaning back in his chair. The placid demeanor of his face contrasted with the gravel of his voice. “And I happen to believe that she won’t let herself go in the way that many of you believe. In any case, what I said before still holds: if we go in before there’s apparent and ample cause to be “thwarting” something dangerous, then I DO think that she will react violently. And I DO think we may lose some of our men at that point. Is that what you want, Captain?” 

“Of course not General Garrick,” replied Casey immediately. “It’s just…the situation is becoming more and more volatile, sir.” 

“As we always knew it would,” nodded Garrick, “Ever since she left the Institute. But you all have to trust me on this. Take the drone and follow her wherever she goes. If possible, I want a report from a 20-foot hover above her. Measurements of vitals…the whole nine yards.” 

“20 feet?” asked Casey, his eyes going wide. “If she finds out that we’re watching her, sir, then —”

“Then what, Captain?” interrupted Garrick again, this time leaning forward in his seat. “What will she be able to deduce from a single drone?”

“It might…agitate her even more,” said Casey. 

Garrick leaned back again in his chair and raised his eyebrows, his hard blue eyes staring straight up into the younger man’s light brown: 

“Good.” 

Hundreds of miles away, Emma was walking alone down a country road. The bright, clear air of the mid-morning was beginning to heat up slightly, as the climbing sun shone down on the fresh landscape of vibrant greenery. The birds were singing in the trees that lined the dirt road, and a normal-sized person would have been able to enjoy the heavy, earthy smell of the road itself, mixed with the rich, verdant scent of the freshly-cut meadow, dotted with wildflowers.

But being as high up off the ground as she was now, just under 17-and-a-half feet, Emma could only get a faint whiff of the meadow grass. She was still drying off from the pond, and even though she was already a mile away from the farm, anyone would have been able to easily follow the trail in the dirt road of huge water droplets, back to where she had come from before. The rip in the white toga sheet down her right hip was becoming slightly more pronounced, bit by bit, with every step. She was hardly aware of this, however, since so much was echoing and buzzing and tumbling in on itself in her mind. She was trying to tune it all out — this was why she had gone for a walk in the first place…to just…let it all rest. But it was hard to ignore: everyone had just teamed up on her. Her entire family…looking up at her like she had done something horrible. She had only been playing around with Daniel! Surely…surely he was ok. just a little roughhousing was…all it was. 

Emma swallowed as her mind jumped back to the bruise on Daniel’s neck. It went all the way around his neck…it had come from her. And when she had reached down to help him, he had flinched away from her. He hadn’t meant to; he was just afraid of her. She once more fought the urge to burst into tears, and she looked up at the sky, blinking the gathering moisture rapidly away from her eyes. It was such a nice day…such a lovely day. How could she possibly be feeling so terrible on a day like this?! Had she really messed everything up so badly? She was just trying to have fun, trying to act like she wasn’t in the midst of some horrific nightmare that had gone on for months and months on end. She was just trying to be herself. It was becoming harder and harder for her to do that without disturbing everything around her, without hurting people. But she didn’t hurt people — she was a good person…a simple person, really, who just wanted a quiet life for herself and her sweetheart, her smart, techie little boyfriend who was always…always ready to hug her when she came home from work…getting up out of that chair of his in front of the computer. 

Emma suddenly found herself thinking back, seemingly eons into the past, to a time when everything was normal again. She was at her desk, at her old marketing job…what was the company called again!? Scheuster! That’s what it was…

“Oh my god,” whispered Emma to herself, starting to feel lightheaded. The flashback was almost too surreal to bear. She could smell that glossy paper in her office. And her co-worker was peeking her head around the open doorway…who was it again…? Monica! Oh goodness, all those women she used to work with! And…and Stacy…and that awkward guy Keith…! Monica was asking her if she could reach the coffee pot, since the other girls were too short. 

Emma was breathing heavily now as her great chest rose and fell; she was overcome with the insane unreality of the memory. She stumbled a bit off the dirt road and had to lean her outstretched arm against a large oak tree, bending down slightly as she attempted to catch her breath and slow her mind down a little. She barely even noticed how the birds and squirrels in the tree were all freeing their previous sanctuary, scampering and flying away from this sudden and strange new threat that was literally beginning to uproot their home. As Emma leaned against the tree, her mind struggling mightily with the surreal and sudden memories to months past, when everything had been normal, she didn’t realize that her weight was slowly beginning to push the large oak tree to the side, so much so that the roots closest to her were beginning to break through the ground into the air. 

“Has this all just…been some kind of crazy dream?” Emma murmured to herself out loud, watching the absconding birds flying out into the lively midmorning sunlight. Her head felt like it was on fire as a leaping flame of searing images flared in her brain: the images of her injured boyfriend, her angry older sister coddling him as she glared up at Emma, her timid and worried parents, the hole in the roof of their old house that the fire department had made, those huge boots Daniel had bought for her, and his funny little face underneath her foot as she played with him on their green lawn, all that Chinese food she had eaten, and…and IGOR…his big hands, god she hadn’t thought about him in forever…those terrified little doctors in their pathetic little white lab coats…but then the kind, benevolent face of Dr. Hartman, and next to him the sweet caring smile of Ms. Bisset…and her old coworkers, looking askance at her as she crammed her growing thighs under her tiny desk, trying to sit in that stupid little tiny chair…the coffee pot! Monica asking her to reach for it, since she was the tallest out of all of them…! 

Emma felt a great bubble of emotion welling up inside her. She was alone…and it was going to come out. She felt it rising up from her loins, through her stomach, and then up still farther through her big chest, behind her breasts. Her face twisted and tensed in preparation for whatever was coming, and her eyes glistened with moisture. Just at the moment when she felt like she was going to faint, when she felt like she was about to be overcome by the crushing deluge of all the memories that led back to a time immemorial, but that led forward to NOW…Emma leaned forward even harder into the tree, and the exposed roots began popping and snapping loudly, sending little dirt clods flying out into the air…she had started laughing. Tears were trickling down her face as she took a step back from the tree, looking at it sideways as she admired her unconscious handiwork. The tree itself now faced away from the road at a 130-degree angle, looking for all the world like it had been nearly uprooted by a tornado that had just passed through. Now Emma did catch a whiff of the earthy smell of the freshly-splintered roots, and it just made her body shake and jiggle more as she laughed harder. 

“I can pull trees out of the ground!” she giggled, her eyes going wide as she shook her head with undisguised mirthful resignation, still staring sideways at the half-uprooted tree. “I’m bigger and stronger than…anyone…anyone in the world!” 

She was actually speaking out loud now, and her voice, though spoken more to herself than anything else, carried out across the fields, its sound waves echoing through the crops, the grass, and the other trees that lined the dirt road. Everything was vibrating with her energy. Emma had no idea why her body was shaking with her heaving emotions, what her tears meant, or whether she was having some kind of bizarre nervous fit. All she knew was that, for the first time in a long, long time — perhaps since her whole ordeal began — she wasn't afraid anymore. 

And in that moment, something shifted in Emma’s head, something that had been teetering on the brink for some time. As the tears continued streaming down her face, and as her body continued to heave and spasm with her spontaneous bubbles of laughter, she suddenly stood up straight, to her full height…17’5. Her body was still tingling from the aftereffects of the most recent growth spurt, but Emma wasn’t focused on that. Instead, she was staring towards the climbing sun, not looking directly at it, but close enough to it where she could feel the star’s warming rays heating the full extent of her face. She had stopped laughing, and she inhaled mightily, her huge body swelling in the confines of her white sheet. The tear in the toga, down her right hip, widened and lengthened, exposing still more of the strong swerve of her upper thigh. Emma closed her eyes and turned her face directly into the sun’s glare. The back of her eyelids glowed a bright orange, tinged with red. 

“I’m a giantess,” she whispered to herself. “And I’m only getting bigger. There’s no end…no end in sight. I’m gonna keep getting bigger…and bigger…and BIGGER.” 

She wasn’t speaking with consternation or despair this time. THIS time, she was speaking with conviction…and excitement. That change in her brain…Emma didn’t know why it had happened, but there was no denying its effects on her now. She WANTED to get bigger. She was LOOKING FORWARD to getting bigger. The sheer fun of novelty aside, she realized that she didn’t have anything really to worry about, at least not in terms of “ordinary” people. Oh sure, there were little issues she would have to deal with — she had to be a little more careful around Daniel (even though he was probably a little more fragile than she would’ve liked for a man, but whatever!), and sure, she had to make sure that she was getting enough to eat, but all that was easily taken care of! All the other things that people had to worry about…she didn’t. 

“I’m not like them,” she whispered to herself, her eyes still closed, her face towards the sun. “I used to be…but I’m not anymore. I’m…something else. Something different. Not…really…human. Something…more.” 

Emma knew that she wasn’t really feeling “superior” per se, but it was something close to it. How could she not be thinking this way, after all!? She was almost 18 feet tall, and weighed god knows how much at this point. The very earth shook when she walked, and whenever she spoke, she could see how the sound of her voice affected everything around her. She was just…more….and she loved it. She wanted more of it. 

“I DO want it,” she breathed out towards the sun, reaching her arms up over her head and spreading them. “I DO want to get bigger!” She thought of what Daniel would look like when she was 20…30…50 feet tall…how cute and nervous and adorable he’d look when his little face looked way, way up at hers as she loomed over him. She would be able to hold him in the palm of her hand! She could have soooooo much fun playing with his little body! And there wouldn’t be anything he could do to stop her — she knew that he would want it, deep down, even if he was scared of how huge she had become. 

“He’s my little guy,” she whispered to herself, “He knows he is. And no matter how big I get, he’ll always…always…be mine.” 

She lowered her head away from the sun, her soul glowing with warmth and excitement. She was going to go back and apologize to him, kiss his bruises, and make it clear that she would be more careful in the future. And then she was going to take him into the barn and make him cum. 

She opened her eyes and looked down. A middle-aged man, with his dog on a leash, was standing about 30 feet away from her, seemingly frozen in place, staring up at her with a look of utter bewilderment and fear. Emma quickly saw that the man had just joined the main dirt road from a smaller adjacent path, and because of the tall 40-foot trees lining the road’s side, he hadn’t realized that he was about to walk straight into the path of this giantess. And now that he had seen her, he didn’t seem to be able to move. His dog, a husky Rottweiler, looked similarly intimidated; the two of them were standing in place, their eyes upturned in wonder. 

In the past, Emma might have been annoyed at their expressions, or she might have felt gawked-at or insecure because of the unexpected attention, especially considering that she had been having an immensely intense private moment just seconds before. But she felt like she had opened her eyes to a new world, and when she saw the tiny man and his miniature little dog staring up at her like children, a huge smile broke over her face, and she put her hands on her knees, peering down at them exuberantly. 

“Hi there!” she exclaimed happily, the mighty boom of her voice resounding across the country fields. “Nice morning we’re having, huh?” 

Emma was excited to interact with this man and his dog, but her ordinary-sounding greeting did nothing to reveal the ecstasy of the inner ebullience and freedom she was feeling right now. She had no idea what this exchange would look like…whether she was going to pick the man up or pet him and his dog or dangle him upside down for fun…she had no idea. But whatever was going to happen was just…going to happen. Almost immediately, the outward reality began to reflect Emma’s inward reality, as the motion of bending down flexed her thighs and hips and signaled the last straw for the white sheet wrapped around her. The tear down her right hip widened and lengthened further still, ripping all the way up and down her right side until the sheet itself came undone from her body, its tatters fluttering in the light breeze. 

“Oh, whoopsie!” Emma laughed, glancing down at her shredded clothes, “Guess THAT was gonna happen eventually, haha! Oh well, no better day than this, I guess…GOD it feels good this morning, doesn’t it?” 

As Emma was speaking, she was ripping off the remnants of the sheet around her body. It hadn’t quite dried yet from the pond, so big flecks and sprays of water shot out in all directions as she ripped and tore the fabric with her fingers. In a matter of seconds, Emma was standing there, totally nude, stretching her arms up to the sun as she closed her eyes again, reveling in the newfound feeling of liberation. She wasn’t even thinking about social protocols…she had gone beyond that now. 

“Just…WOW…that feels amazing!” laughed Emma, half to the man, and half to herself, as she opened her eyes and once more peered down at the man and his dog. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to just…get rid of that thing, haha! I’ve been wearing it for god knows how long…how long has it been…? Oh whatever, who cares…anyway, you look pretty cute down there, mister. Nice dog too! What kind of dog are you, little guy, hrmmm?”

“Y-you’re…h-how…how d-did you get…s-so big, ma’m?!” stuttered the man, finding his voice at last. 

“Oh, if you only knew!” laughed Emma, miming whimsy as she shook her head at the man, her hands on her knees as she peered down. She stopped herself and glanced upward at nothing in particular. “Actually…haha, if only I knew…if only anyone knew, really…nobody does know, you see…not even the little doctors, haha! But…heh, I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter, you see? I mean, who cares, really!? The whole point is I AM this big…and it’s…it’s…heheh, it’s kinda fun, don’t you think?” 

“I…I-I don’t know!” exclaimed the man genuinely, his voice rising up a little to an octave of desperation. Emma saw that he was clearly overwhelmed, and that he had started to tremble. She tilted her head to the side as she continued staring down at him, marveling at how easy it was for her to set a grown man shaking with fear. She suddenly realized how amazing it felt to have her big breasts free of that tiresome, clingy toga; she mindlessly brought her hands up to her boobs, cupping underneath them and bobbing them up and down, delighting in how free and fresh she felt. The light morning breeze kicked up a bit, breathing on her still-damp skin and whisking the moisture Emmafully away. Emma sighed in pleasure as she continued looking down at the man. 

‘God, he’s terrified,’ she thought amusedly. ‘And I’m literally just standing here…imagine how he would react if I did something crazy? Haha…no, no, take it easy, Emmiee…just…go easy on the poor man.’

“Say!” she blurted out pleasantly, making the man jump, “That’s a super cute dog ya got there! What’s her name?”

“Uh-hhhh…h-his name? His name is, uh, Duke,” answered the man, blinking in disbelief at the apparently innocuous conversation. 

“Duke! Aww, that’s a good name for him!” said Emma brightly, bending down still more as she peered closer. Emma hadn’t realized it, but she had walked a couple steps toward the man, clearing the 30-foot distance between them in a couple strides. And now, as she regarded him amiably from high above, Emma noticed that everything about the man and his cute little dog was somehow darkened…she was puzzled until she realized that she had shrouded them both in her shadow. 

‘God, it just swallows them up!’ she thought to herself, chuckling and goggling at how huge her shadow looked as it extended over the man and his dog, and far beyond them in all directions. ‘If this guy and his whole family were here, I’d still cover them all!’ Emma laughed inside her head. She also couldn’t help but gawk at how minuscule this man and his dog looked. It was almost like they were…what was it exactly…stuffed animals!? Emma bent down even more, letting out a little exhale of laughter as she took stock of how her bending knees were still higher than the man’s head. Her thick, full thighs loomed high above the man’s head, to say nothing of the free nudity of her swerving hips, her vigorous torso, and of course her huge breasts that were jiggling and swaying gently, over 7 feet above his head. 

‘Can he even see my face!?’ Emma thought, swinging her breasts lightly back and forth for fun. ‘Or is it like there are literally two breasts in the sky?’ She couldn't see his face from this position, and she arched herself a little more, peeking over her twin mounds to analyze his expression. She was so close to him now that she could only see the top of his head…and she suddenly realized that neither the man nor his dog had moved since their interaction had begun. 

‘Aw right, they’re both terrified,’ Emma reminded herself, and backed up, feeling a new kind of pleasurable jolt go through her. It wasn’t that she was particularly intoxicated with the idea of this stranger and his little dog being terrified of her…it was more that, without even TRYING, she could inspire this reaction. She didn’t even have to think about it. That’s how imposing she was now…and she was truly beginning to love it. 

Now that she had backed up, she could see that the man was looking up at her in a kind of helpless, pleading way. Duke’s innocent eyes ventured up to Emma’s face — somehow the dog knew to look all the way up — and then drifted back down to the ground, and then over and up to his owner’s face, sensing the fear, and looking to him to see what to do next. Emma saw all of this and her heart melted. They really were such an adorable little couple. 

‘I should do something to chill them both out,’ Emma thought, and then almost instantly arrived at the answer. 

“Heyyyyy, can I pet him?” Emma asked, giving the man a toothy grin. “He looks precious!” 

“I…s-sure,” said the man, feeling immensely intimidated, both by the sheer form of this young, nude, pretty giantess in front of him, and by the enormity of the incoming hand that was already beginning to descend towards him and his dog. Emma hummed softly in the back of her throat as she reached down, feeling a kind of surreal spark as she spread her fingers eagerly in anticipation. She hadn’t pet an animal in…god knows how long it had been…half a year!? Longer?? Whenever the last time had been, it was definitely before she had started getting bigger. And now she was about to pet this cute little mini dog that may as well have been a little toy: a stuffed animal or…or an action figure or something. 

Duke’s eyes widened and darted back and forth, between the furthest point of Emma’s thumb and the tip of her pinkie finger, and he began to whimper, sounding out feebly in a high-pitched, repeated cry as he shrank to his owner’s side, trying to hide behind the man’s leg. Emma saw how scared the dog was, and she understood perfectly well that she alone was the source of the animal's distress. Before, this knowledge would have made her hold back, or would have even caused her to straighten up and feel bad about herself, her position in the world, the fact that she couldn’t even be intimate with other animals, and on and on and on down into the old dismal emotional spiral. But something had changed in her, and the dog’s recoiling from her only made it seem cuter. 

“Awww, come here, little thing,” Emma cooed down at the animal as it continued to whine and whimper. “Come here…I wanna pet you.” It was clear to both the man and Emma that Duke did not want to be pet, but nothing was going to change what was going to happen. Emma’s hand continued to descend until it alighted down on top of Duke’s back, easily covering it completely with her palm; the dog had been whimpering and shaking as Emma’s hand approached, but now that she was actually encompassing him, it became completely silent…but it was still trembling under the weight of Emma’s huge hand. 

“Heheh, look at that!” laughed Emma. Her mouth was cracked open in amusement — she could tell, by the comparison between the dog and its owner, that the animal was not particularly small. If anything, it was a larger-than-average dog…and yet, Emma was completely covering it with her hand. If she closed her fingers, she couldn’t even see the dog at all. She played this game a couple times, chuckling, before she started lightly scratching the dog’s back with her fingernails, taking care to remember how tiny it was compared to her. 

‘I’ve already hurt enough things by accident,’ she thought, her mind going back to Daniel. She was reminded, with a pleasant jolt, that he was waiting for her at the farm…to come back. And she’d definitely come back…right after she was done petting this adorable little animal. 

“Oooooh, he’s just soooo sweet,” Emma cooed, her huge fingers gently massaging the dog’s back. “And he’s so warm too! I can feel his skin under his fur here….haha, god, I haven’t pet a dog in forever!” 

“Ahhh, uh, heh…y-uyess,” stumbled the man. Emma saw that he was trying desperately to look for an escape route, and again, she was struck by how differently she was reacting to this potentially-upsetting information. Before, she would have taken the hint that she wasn’t wanted, that she was being rejected…and she would’ve gone away, maybe even with tears in her eyes as, once again, her outcast role had been underlined by another bad encounter. But she just didn’t feel this way anymore. She saw the man’s fear, his trepidation, his desperation to get away from her…but she didn’t really think much of it. If anything, she thought it was cute…and maybe even an avenue into further conversation. 

“Heh…you’re scared of me, aren’t you?” Emma said suddenly. “You and your dog here.” 

“Wh-what?!” choked the man. Emma didn’t quite understand his behavior, but she knew it had something to do with her close proximity to him. She was literally brushing his cheek with the top part of her wrist as she pet his dog. She had completely forgotten that she was naked. 

“The two of you…a couple of little fraidy cats,” chuckled Emma. And then she did something that to her was innocuous…something that she had been thinking about ever since she had first laid eyes on the two of them: she picked up the dog in one hand, easily lacing her fingers around its underbelly…and then she picked up the man as well, wrapping her hand around his chest, with her fingers going nearly all the way around it as she lifted them both without effort off the ground. In an involuntary paroxysm of fear, the man let go of his dog’s leash as he put his hands up in an indication of surrender. This way, Emma was able to hold him in one hand, and Duke in another, without having to gently wrest the leash away from the man herself.

“Wh-what are you d-doing?!” cried the man, starting to shake himself. Duke was yipping and whining as he looked over towards his owner, his lithe body wriggling and squirming in Emma’s hand. But neither the man nor his dog were going anywhere — they were completely at Emma’s mercy, and she wasn’t even trying. The way Duke was squirming around in her hand made Emma giggle; his short hair tickled the inside of her palm…it almost felt to her like there was a guinea pig or…or a large hamster in her hand, or something…but not a dog, though. 

“Just breaking the ice, is all,” giggled Emma, bringing the man up close to her face and staring directly into his eyes, making hers go wide for a kind of shocking effect. “You and Duke were clearly super nervous, so I’m just making it easier for you, haha…a little more casual! See? Nothing to be afraid of!” 

Emma had just turned both of them upside down, inverting both of her hands at the same time. The man found himself dangling more than 15 feet off the ground, upside down, in the hot, invincible grip of this giantess, with his yelping dog in her other hand, his tongue hanging out of his mouth in distress. 

“P-put me down, pleeeeease!” begged the man. “Put us both down, I...I’m begging you!” 

“Aww but then you’ll just run away!” laughed Emma, knowing that she was precisely correct. She didn’t really care one way or the other what happened, but she was enjoying this moment of realizing that she didn’t have to get all bent out of shape when these tiny little things got scared of her. She could SHOW them that she was all ok…while, of course, showing them that she had the power to make them do whatever she wanted. It was a strange new cocktail of emotions she was consuming now, and it was making her feel almost drunk. Her emotional tolerance for this kind of confident self-liberation was dangerously low. 

Emma dangled the man and his dog in front of her face for a little while longer…how much longer, she couldn’t really be sure. She was vaguely aware of the man begging and pleading with her a little more, and she was only conscious enough of his words to realize that he had given up a minute or two after he had begun. She tried a few little fun things: she raised them both up, high over her head, and lowered them back down to her face-level. She turned them right-side-up, and then turned them upside down again, taking care not to go too abruptly. She heard the sound of gagging, and then of something splatting onto the ground far below her. She subconsciously understood that the man had thrown up, but again, she didn’t think much of it. She was too engaged in the novelty of holding these entire bodies in her hands, lightly squeezing them and prodding them with her enormous fingers. 

Emma briefly considered playing with their bodies with her huge tongue, and she had gone so far as to extend out the pink tip and lick her lips at the man suggestively, before she suddenly decided that she was starting to miss Daniel, and that she needed to nurse him back to health. She dropped the man from 15 feet toward the ground, and quickly remembered that she needed to catch him on his way down, since to him, a fall from that height might hurt a little. Emma giggled at the man’s choking, guttural yells as she caught him, and then she took special delight in pairing him back up with his dog once they were both back on the ground. For a few moments, she was confused, since the man and his dog seemed to be stumbling into each other, barely able to keep their feet. Then it occurred to her that they were probably a little discombobulated. 

‘Guess I scrambled their brains a little, huh?’ she thought, laughing to herself. They really were so cute…especially now that the man was making a woozy, disoriented dash away from her, down off the dirt road and out across the country fields that surrounded them. Duke stumbled and jerked after his owner as best he could, fueled by the same primal energy to escape. 

‘And I barely even paid attention to them!’ thought Emma, shaking her head in amazed disbelief as she watched them flee. A sea of warmth seemed to be spreading out over her body, starting at the outer layer of her skin, and penetrating deep into her muscles and bones. The sun was now at the highest point in the sky, and it was baking its rays into her skin, browning it slightly and reminding her that she was totally nude. 

“Oh my god! Ahahaha, totally forgot about that!” she cried, laughing out to the sky as she clutched her sides. “No wonder that guy was all weird!”

In her mirth, her eyes fell back on the tree that she had partially uprooted — there it was, as if windblown by a mighty hurricane, at a 130-degree angle to the ground, its snapped roots exposed. Emma suddenly had the urge to uproot the tree totally, and she even stepped towards it with outstretched hands before she stopped herself. 

“No,” she said softly out loud, “I want it to stay here…as…as a monument…a monument to my…to my…uhhh…”

A buzzing sound from overhead was distracting her. Emma thought it was a bee at first, but she quickly realized that it was too loud to be a bee. She looked up quickly and saw it hovering there, about 8 feet above her…slightly in the way of the sun’s disk…directly above her head. 

Without thinking, Emma jumped up, extending her hand towards the object. Something in her subconscious told her to try and catch it. She had heard something…something like it before…in her sleep or something…when she had been sleeping in the barn. Her hand closed over it as she leapt in midair — it had been that easy…little things were whirring and spinning fruitlessly against her fingers. What kind of insect was it!? Emma didn’t know…but somehow, it didn’t quite feel that way…it didn’t quite feel…alive. 

She landed back down on her feet, and the earth shook for hundreds of feet in either direction. But Emma wasn’t focused on that; instead, she was looking closely at the little thing in her hand, which she held firmly with her fingers. The propellers spun and whirred in vain against the tough flesh of her hand…a sudden beeping, as if from some kind of an alarm, began issuing from the…the object. Emma narrowed her eyes and held it up even closer to her face. Then she exhaled in recognition, her eyebrows going up. It was a drone. And it had a camera strapped to it, a camera which was trained directly onto her face.

Chapter 21

“No…no, leave her,” Daniel was saying to Emma’s mother, as Maisy began to instinctively follow her giant daughter as she stormed away, shaking the ground beneath them. If Jim felt any kind of instinct to pursue his daughter, an even more powerful instinct was holding him back…the instinct that had judged, from the forceful venom in Emma’s voice and the vibrating energy of her huge body, that Emma was in a dangerous mood.

“Let her…go on her way,” said Daniel, with a little difficulty, owing in no small part to the large bruise that was deepening around the circumference of his neck. “Blow off some…hhuhhh…some steam.”

“Oooooh, Daniel! Listen to you!” cried Daisy with concern, staring at his bruise as she held his shoulders tightly with her hands. “You can’t even speak right!”

“I’m fine…uh, Daisy, I’m…yeah, I’m ok,” chuckled Daniel, wincing through his words. “Just a little, uh…banged up is all, haha. I know that Emma didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Didn’t mean…look, I know you’re trying to stick up for her, ok?” snapped Daisy, shaking Daniel a little by his shoulders as she stared earnestly into his eyes, “But Emma wasn’t just playing around right then.”

“She wasn’t….trying to hurt me or anything, Daisy,” shaking his head and sighing at her a little indignantly.

“I’m not saying she was trying to HURT you, Daniel,” shot back Daisy at once. “I’m saying that she was, like…”claiming” you or…or something weird. Something’s gone wrong in her brain, I can tell. She’s losing it, Daniel, and…and…”

Daniel had been trying not to look at Emma’s sister, and had instead been focusing on Maisy as she stared down the country dirt road, after the already-disappeared sight of Emma. But now that he had heard the shake in Daisy’s voice, something in him broke down inside, and he turned to look back at her. Their eyes met, and Daniel felt his heart start to thump with real urgency in his chest; his lungs tightened. Daisy’s eyes were heavy with tears, which made them look even bigger and more reflective than they already were. Her lower lip was quivering, barely under control, and her nostrils were flaring in barely-repressed anticipation. Daniel couldn’t help it — his heart went out to her, because behind this reaction was genuine feeling, genuine concern…and because he knew, instantly, that Daisy’s tears were for him.

“Hey…hey…” said Daniel, as calmly as he could over his thumping heart, as he reached up to his shoulder and grasped Daisy’s hand, squeezing it. “It’s…it’s gonna be alright, ok? Hey…hey Daisy! Come on, you have to…have to believe that.”

“Why should I believe it?” she said tearfully, looking away from him to the side and shaking her head, blinking the tears out of her eyes onto the pond bank. Daniel could tell that her breathing and heart rate had increased as well. “I don’t…recognize her anymore!” Daisy continued, seeming to draw energy from speaking her misery. “She’s gotten completely out of control! And…and the worst part is that I h-have to just…watch you caught up in the middle of it, Daniel, and y-you’re such a great guy and I would…j-just never be able to forgive myself if I saw you…if I saw her…do something t-terrible to you.”

“Nothing terrible is…gonna happen, ok?” said Daniel, in his best attempt at a soothing voice. But even as he spoke, he knew his words sounded hollow.

“You need to STOP that!” spat Daisy savagely, her eyes flashing as she rounded on Daniel with surprising ferocity. “How the FUCK do you know what’s gonna happen!? Huh?? Emma almost squeezed your head off right there, pulling her little stunt, and it was…was only because of LUCK that you escaped…and BARELY! And how does she react!? She stomps away, because she’s mad that I called her out! She’s unstable, Daniel. And I am NOT just going to…to sit here and watch her hurt you!!”

Daniel opened his mouth to respond with some automatic, expected retort about his confidence in Emma, and about how she was just having a hard time, and about how she was really the victim here…but he felt it all die in his throat. He vaguely heard Maisy’s admonishing her daughter for using bad language, and Daisy’s immediate and angry response, but Daniel wasn’t really listening to any of that. Daisy’s words were sinking into his brain like fresh-fallen rain on a cracked, barren field. He knew that there was no purpose in arguing the point anymore — Daisy was right. As much as Daniel had tried to circumvent this reality, for days, weeks, months…how long!? At least since he came to get her at the Institute, when she had exploded at those doctors…he had been desperately trying to deny the inevitable truth. He WAS losing her…in a lot of ways, he HAD lost her already. She had grown into something beyond him, and yet, “beyond” wasn’t quite the right word, was it?

Her gigantic body had certainly surpassed any size he could have previously believed possible…but it was more than that, and Daniel had felt the reality like a persistent ache deep in his bones — and now, this reality was rising to the surface, and it smarted and throbbed painfully in the sun. She had just become…so much MORE than him. The effortless weight and power of even her slightest movements, the sheer force and sonority of her voice when she spoke in a “normal” tone, the fact that she could barely even hear him anymore without bending way, way down…and (he shuddered to remember) how she had terrified him in the barn a week or so before, without even realizing it, and then drained the cum from his balls without even hardly making an effort. It had all just been like some kind of…of play to her. That’s what it was. He had become less than a man to her a long time ago, way, way back when she sulked and complained that he couldn’t engulf her in one of his bear hugs anymore. But now…well, Daniel had to face the truth that, to Emma, he had become less than human. He was just a plaything for her now, a curious little manlet…a doll.

“Daniel…” said Daisy again, but this time in a lower, softer, and more understanding voice, “This isn’t easy for me to say to you…you know that, right? I hate seeing her like this too…she’s…she’s like, tortured…I can see it.”

“Y-yeah…” said Daniel shakily, suddenly feeling quite sick to his stomach as he looked away from Daisy’s big, empathetic eyes. He felt the smooth warm flesh of her hand slip into his, and the sickness, although it had seemed to drop down in his stomach like a heavy weight from nowhere, simply vanished. Without being able to help it, he turned back, and their eyes met. Daisy had always been very pretty…it was the first thing that Daniel had thought about her when Emma had taken him to meet her family for the first time. But Daniel had always been smitten with Emma, and HER face, and HER mannerisms…but now, Emma was off somewhere else…somewhere far up above him, far away, unattainable. The thought would have crushed his spirit under the weight of his own sadness and despair, if not for that face staring back at him. Daisy looked a lot like Emma, it was true…a little older…a little harder…maybe even with a bit sharper features. Emma had always had a kind of easy voluptuousness to her that Daisy lacked, but now that Daniel was looking into her face, he felt that he could see the sweet, effeminate animal in her eyes…seeking connection.

“Daisy…” breathed Daniel, squeezing her hand in his own. He could see her moving her other hand towards him, and he wanted to catch her somewhere in between. He wanted to stop her caring attention towards him — it was starting to feel dangerous, and he wanted to draw the line. But he also moved to catch her hand for another reason: HE wanted to show HER that he wanted that connection too. The motives clashed within him, and their hands came together, squeezing and pulling. In a flash, their faces were mere inches apart. Daniel paused for a moment, actually tasting the delicious intimacy…intimacy that had been sorely absent for months. He could smell the exotic, heavy sweetness of Daisy’s breath. He felt, in a strange, surreal shock, like he was a teenager again.

He knew this wasn’t ok…he knew he had to stop this somehow. His eyes fell away from hers, and out of the periphery of his vision, he saw hers do the same. Their hands slackened a bit against each others’, but did not let go. So they were on the same page, at least…maybe…

Daniel forced himself to look up past Daisy’s shoulder, at Maisy, who was still standing in the dirt road, looking after where Emma had thundered away. Daniel felt like something had happened — he longed to look back down at Daisy, but he knew that he shouldn’t. Maisy turned back and saw him looking at her.

“Do you really think…we should just…let her go like that?” she asked him anxiously, wringing her hands. “Ohhhh, she did seem to be in such a bad mood! I’m worried about her…worried what she’ll get in to!”

“Yes, well…I’m, uh…I’m worried about that too,” said Daniel, coughing a little, and suddenly wondering why his neck felt so tender. “But uh…*coughcough* I think it’s best just to…you know, let her be for now. Let her…uhmm…sort herself out.”

“Shhhh, shhhhh, quit talking so much,” chastised Daisy. “Let yourself rest a little, ok?”

It was only then that Daniel remembered that his entire neck was bruised; he had completely forgotten. He tried to stand up, and was able to, though he winced painfully as he did so. He had forgotten about the pain in his ankles as well.

“And no…no! Sit down, sit down!” commanded Daisy, seizing him gently by the waist and guiding him back down to the bank of the pond. “Look at your ankles, Daniel — they’re all bruised too! No reason to walk around, either! Just…take it easy, ok? I’m gonna go inside and get some ice packs.”

Daniel was thankful to at least be relieved of Daisy’s overbearing presence for a minute or so, but as soon as the relief had passed through his mind, he knew it was false, a product of some kind of bizarre wishful thinking. She wasn’t being overbearing at all — she was caring for him, and he registered and appreciated her care and concern wholeheartedly. In fact, as he watched her small, tight ass bounce back and forth as she walked quickly back to the farmhouse, her hair swinging in her wake, he had to blink and shake his head a couple times, as if freeing himself from some kind of spell. He wanted her to come back — he wanted her at his side. Surely there was nothing wrong with that…right? This was a hard time for everyone, and it was only natural that he and Daisy would be partners in the misery of this situation. But somehow, in the moment, he didn’t feel so miserable. If he confined his mind to the present moment, and put Emma out of his head, he actually felt…excited.

“Ohhh Daniel…I’m…I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Maisy, still wringing her hands as she came over to Daniel, bending over and putting her hand on his shoulder. “I’m just…I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do about all of this right now.” As she spoke, she looked over to Jim, who was also walking slowly towards Daniel, peering down at him to make sure he was ok. He locked eyes with his wife and shrugged, letting out a long exhale, while saying nothing. After Maisy didn’t stop looking at him, though, he seemed to search around for something to say, finally coming up with:

“I can…go try and find her…try and talk her down a little.”

“No, I, uhm…no that’s…that’s ok,” said Daniel, shaking his head, even though his neck was throbbing again. “I really do think that we should just try and, uh, and leave her to herself for a little bit. I think…you know, I think that, even though we don’t mean to, we can stress her out.”

“What do you mean?” asked Maisy genuinely, looking closely at Daniel’s neck.

“Well it’s just…I think that maybe, at a certain point…how to put it…” said Daniel, searching for his words. In a way, he was helping himself sort out his own thoughts by talking out loud…and it also helped him at least try and relinquish that thrilling, uncomfortably intimate feeling he had just experienced with Daisy.

“I think that, at a certain point,” he repeated, finding his words, and choosing them carefully, “Once Emma got, like…a certain size, you know…then it became very…difficult…for her to…to interact normally with me…with us.”

“Mmhm,” nodded Maisy, taking in what Daniel was saying as she looked at him intently.

“I mean, haha!” laughed Daniel in a sudden burst, delighting in how normal and conversational he sounded, even as he waited eagerly for Daisy to return, “I remember when she first stopped being able to use her computer…you know?”

“Oh! You mean…” began Maisy, “When she couldn’t…?”

“Yeah!” answered Daniel, nodding, “When her fingers got too big for the keys. Or when she wasn’t able to use a fork or spoon anymore…”

He paused, looking out toward the farmhouse, blinking.

“So, um…when she couldn’t do those things anymore…?” Maisy continued with the interaction.

“Oh…oh! Right! Um…well, you know, it made her feel really awful, when she couldn’t do those things anymore,” said Daniel, his attention snapping back to Maisy. “It made her feel…you know, kind of like a freak. An outsider. Someone who couldn’t do…normal things, like a normal person.”

“But she can do so much more than ANY normal person,” cut in Jim, in a rare moment of unsolicited speech, as he pointed over to the field that Emma had recently plowed using her own brute strength.

“Yes, but…but I mean…what I’m talking about is her feeling, uh…different from all of us, you know? Apart.” The more he talked, the stranger Daniel was feeling about this whole situation. He was talking more sense out loud right now than he had in a long time…and he knew it was totally due to the fact that Emma wasn’t there, and that Daisy had broken the ice. One she had forced him to admit that Emma had indeed changed dramatically, to the detriment of his own safety, it became a lot easier to analyze her from the outside. But even now, though, Daniel could start to feel the creeping tendrils of guilt crawling up from the bottom of his stomach…he remembered her beautiful, pitiful, pouting face after she couldn’t use her laptop anymore. He felt his heart throb in his chest…he wanted that Emma back…how tall had she been then? 7 feet!? 8 feet?? He couldn’t even remember — it had seemed so long ago. But at least then they could live under the same roof, in a semblance of a normal relationship. Now…he felt the sadness crush back upon him as he touched his tender neck.

Daisy was hurrying back from the house with ice packs in her hands. Daniel felt himself inwardly brighten up; he couldn’t wait for her to sit close to him again. For the moment, at least, he shoved his guilt aside. Emma was out there, somewhere in the wilderness, doing her own thing. He hadn’t stomped away and left…she had.

“And…and I think,” added Daniel, with a little more energy this time as he watched Daisy approaching, “That the bigger Emma has gotten, the more, you know…uhh, stressed out she can get when she has these moments where…where it all kind of all comes crashing down around her.”

“Like…a few minutes ago, you mean?” asked Maisy, “When we were all staring at her and…saying how she…hurt you?”

“I mean…yeah,” said Daniel, doing his best not to sound like he was accusing her. He was surprising himself with the clarity of his thoughts, and the ease with which he was speaking them. But Daisy had come back, and he started focusing on her again.

“Ohhh…my poor little Em,” murmured Maisy sadly, shaking her head at the ground.

“Here, just…lie back against something,” ordered Daisy, “So you can actually relax your neck while I put this ice pack on it.”

“I don’t…uh…there’s not really anything to —” began Daniel, but Daisy interrupted him.

“Here, just turn around and lean your back against me, alright?” Daisy’s suggestion was so casual, and so innocent, that Daniel had to pause and check her face, to make sure that he hadn’t just imagined that moment that they had shared a couple minutes before. There were her big eyes, and her slightly open mouth…there were her hands, indicating with the ice packs. It was a genuine request. But Daniel knew…he KNEW…that there was a little something else behind it. Any trepidation he felt now quickly evaporated in the heat of his excitement, and he turned around and gently leaned his back against her bosom without uttering a word of protest. He felt himself sink into her breasts, which gave way, but being firm, not too much. A sudden cold bite engulfed his entire neck, and for a bizarre second, Daniel had imagined that Daisy had snaked her head down and bitten him on the neck. He felt his cock throb a little…and he knew he had to get himself back under control, even as, despite the ice on his neck, he had to consciously prevent his eyelids from blinking in slow pleasure.

“Maise…I don’t like seeing you like this,” Jim was saying to his wife, who was pacing back and forth, still wringing her hands. It was certainly jarring for everyone, seeing Maisy behaving this way. She almost never allowed anyone to see her anxiety, but it was starting to spill over now.

Maisy stopped her pacing and turned to look at her husband. The lines of worry were creased clearly in her face, but even now, she seemed to exert a stronger will over her fears.

“Oh I’m sorry Jim!” she replied with Emmaful earnestness, “It’s just that I hate to think of our little girl out there…just, suffering…suffering all by herself…all alone.”

She stopped and looked down at Daniel, who suddenly felt a little awkward, leaning as he was on Daisy. But he quickly reassured himself that everything that was happening was totally “in-bounds,” and anyway, the way Emma’s mom was looking at him was more apologetic than anything.

“And…of course I don’t mean anything against YOU when I say that, Daniel,” Maisy added quickly. “It’s just…hearing what you just said…well, you’re right. You’re absolutely right, Daniel. The bigger she’s gotten, the more isolated she’s become. And…and it’s through no fault of her own…or YOUR own, Daniel…that things have happened this way. You know, I reckon Em hasn’t been the only one to feel alone too. I know it hasn’t been easy for you, Daniel…and I know it must’ve been lonely work, so much of the time…feeling her slipping away from you like that.”

“I…y-yeah, well,” said Daniel awkwardly.

“Do you think we should call the police?” asked Maisy suddenly, turning back to her husband.

“What? No! No, not the police,” said Daniel immediately, trying to sit up abruptly.

“Hey! Take it easy!” exclaimed Daisy, putting a hand on his chest and easing him back down into her chest. “You can talk, just don’t move, ok? You need to let your body relax.”

“I…ok,” said Daniel, momentarily distracted by the sight and feel of Daisy’s manicured hand on his chest from behind. He felt his cock throb a little again, but he quickly brushed the feeling aside.

“Not the police,” he repeated quickly, shaking his head up at Maisy.

“Well why not?” she asked anxiously. “What if she…what if…oh, goodness, I don’t know! I don’t even know what I’m saying!”

“Ease up Maise,” muttered Jim. “We know what you’re on about.”

“So you DO think we should do something, then?” Maisy asked her husband, turning to him. Jim shook his head as he exhaled, shrugging his shoulders as he blinked at the ground.

“I don’t know what we CAN do, really,” said Daisy from behind Daniel. She inclined her head down towards him. “You really don’t think we should at least…you know…let the police know about her? It was fine when she was kind of…hidden here…but now that she’s gone off.”

“I…still don’t think we should get the police involved,” said Daniel. He was suddenly assaulted by the horribly uncomfortable thought of Emma surrounded by a dozen cops, all of them with their weapons drawn…all of them coming up no higher than her knees. Daniel feared for Emma’s safety, but almost immediately, he realized that he feared for the cops’s safety as well. At this point, he had no idea what Emma would do if she were threatened. He swallowed, and his fears deepened. He imagined them all shooting her…their bullets penetrating her skin…in an instant, he felt terribly guilty he had even worried about the cops’ welfare — it was HER he should be worrying about. Poor, crazy, disoriented Emma, out there wandering the fields, doing god knows what…he took a few deep breaths, trying not to panic.

“Well if she’s gone for too much longer, someone’s gonna see her,” declared Daisy, adjusting the ice pack on his neck as she kept his body held to her. “And then I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

“Daisy’s right,” nodded Maisy. “A big part of us agreeing to have her here was the understanding that she’d be staying put here. Our neighbors don’t even know about her…and I doubt Em’d like it if they found out.”

“If they haven’t found out already, and called the cops themselves” said Daisy, a little too forebodingly — her tone made Daniel uncomfortable. He knew that Daisy only wanted the best for Emma, but sometimes her bluntness was disconcerting.

“I mean, just think…” continued Daisy, oblivious to the effect her tone was having on the rest of the group, “You’re working in your field there, and all of a sudden you see a 17-foot tall…uh…giantess…uh…just, like…walking up toward…uhhh…toward…you…and, uhhh —”

But Daisy had trailed off, because, ever so slightly beneath them, the ground had started shaking. For a couple initial moments, everyone froze in silence, their instincts not yet immediately attuned to what the ground shaking actually meant. But the jarring vibrations became more and more intense with each passing second, and suddenly, everyone seemed to realize what they meant at the same time. Daniel struggled to straighten up against Daisy; he had become desperately afraid that Emma would come back, see him lounging on her older sister, and completely lose her temper. He had already seen how irritable she became when Daisy touched him, or got too close to him. But now…well, Daniel didn’t know what she’d do if she caught him literally leaning back into her breasts as she ministered to him. Daisy tensed up upon feeling the incoming tremors, but instead of releasing Daniel, she held him to her tighter, wrapping both arms around his chest to keep him immobile…and from his position, with his back to her, Daniel wasn’t in a good place to struggle back against her, coupled with the fact that he couldn’t move too much without wincing in pain. Maisy stood petrified, whether in fear or expectation or relief or a combination of all three, and Jim lumbered over and put his arm around her, looking apprehensively toward the horizon.

Emma was walking up to them. They could all see her now, her huge from emerging from behind the line of tall trees that lined the dirt road when it turned off in the direction of the adjacent field. Even though she was still quite far away, she was so huge that Daniel could actually read the expression on her face, and he was relieved to see that she didn’t look nearly as angry as she had been when she left. She looked…somehow different…there was a distinct and divergent way the light hit her face now. He couldn’t quite express it to himself, what exactly it was, but her face looked…somehow brighter…even more majestic and imposing than it had been before. Daniel wasn’t consciously registering these thoughts, but as soon as he saw her emerge from around those trees, his subconscious was alive and buzzing with this new reality: she had learned something…she had realized something…that had given her power. And it wasn’t just in her face; she was moving with a kind of direct, unhurried purpose that Daniel had never seen before. Emma could be rather clumsy…and when she accidentally stepped on a bush, completely flattening it as she came towards them, her bungling, unaware side was still plain to see. But before, Daniel knew she would have looked down at the bush and blushed, or maybe stumbled a bit, or looked apologetic…but this time, she didn’t even look down at it. She didn’t even flinch. It was like she hadn’t felt it under her foot at all. Which, Daniel realized, was all the more impressive, considering that she was barefoot…and…totally naked.

Daniel couldn’t believe how long it had taken him to register that fact. Emma’s toga was gone. She didn’t have any clothes on. Her huge, firm breasts were standing out proudly in the midday sun, her nipples erect, as the rest of her huge, lithe, toned body shone out with the hint of sweat. She was marvelous…she looked like…like those gigantic statues of Greek goddesses at the Acropolis. For Daniel, and for everyone, really, she was a wonder to behold. But very quickly, as the ground shook visibly now under her quick footsteps, the mood changed and the entire group unconsciously backed away a few paces. Daniel had managed to stand and he and Daisy were both backpedalling, along with Maisy and Jim — the incoming figure was too large, too powerful, and coming on too fast, for them to all just stand there without retreating. Emma’s nudity was an added wildcard to the situation. It made her look more impressive, yes…but it also made her look more unhinged, while bluntly suggesting that anything was possible.

They were all shocked at how fast she was moving. The motion of her huge legs didn’t seem particularly hurried, even though, to Emma at least, she was walking rather fast. But the length of her stride was such that, mere seconds after they had spotted her coming around the trees, she had crossed the entire length of the farm and was booming up right next to them. it looked to Daniel like she had grown, but he couldn’t be sure. He craned his head to look way, way up at her face, which he could barely even see now that she was so close. His gaze went back down her incredible body…and he saw that he now definitely had to look up to see her knees, which were fixed over his head like mini-boulders in her huge legs. But a mighty sound was coming from her, so loud that it made them all shrink back even further, covering their ears as they screwed up their faces.

“Dad! Hey, dad!” Emma called out as she approached the group. She was holding the drone in her fingers, which had since gone completely dead and motionless. Emma looked down and felt her mouth twitch a little in confusion. Why were they all holding their heads like that? Looking like they were about to fall over? She took a little step back, to see them all better over her breasts, and caught sight of Daisy and Daniel stumbling apart, each of them with their mouths open as they put their hands on the sides of their heads. Emma felt herself giggling a little internally…what were they doing!? This close to them now, she was once again amazed by how small they all looked together.

‘A little gathering of miniature people!’ she thought to herself. ‘God, I bet I could pick all four of them up in my hands…and have my hands go all the way around their bodies at once! I wonder if…wait, no, gotta talk to dad about this —’

“Hey dad!”

“E-Em!!” called up Jim, actually yelling for the first time in years. “You’re too loud!!”

“Too…what!? Dad? What?”

“Too…Louddd!!!” called up Jim again, with his wife, Daisy, and Daniel all joining in on the word “loud.” Emma paused and made a confused face, turning her head slightly to the side as she put her hand on her hip.

“What?” she asked, lowering her voice and feeling bemused. “Too…loud?”

“Yes!” called Jim up to her again, “But that’s…that’s a little better.”

“Huh?” asked Emma, bending down.

“That’s better!!” yelled Jim.

“Oh. Oh, ok,” said Emma, pausing for a moment. In her amazement at being reminded how small everyone looked, she had briefly forgotten what she had been doing before. She paused, looking to the side as she tried to remember. Everyone else just stood there, waiting for her to say something. There was simply nothing else TO do…they were all waiting to see what kind of mood she was in.

“Oh yeah! I…uhhh, sorry, softer…dad! Look at this thing! I caught it out of the air! It was…like, buzzing over me, dad!”

“Huh? Buzzing…over you?” asked Jim, frowning as he blinked blankly. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that his daughter, who was now a full 18 feet tall, was standing in front of him, totally nude, and looking for all the world like the incarnation of Athena herself.

“Yeah! I was just walking along…or, heheh, actually I was like, totally blowing this guy’s mind,” chuckled Emma, rolling her eyes up to the sky as she bantered on. She didn’t quite know why she was suddenly in such an ebullient mood — she knew that she was supposed to be angry about finding this drone that had been spying on her…but seeing everyone gathered there, far beneath her, just made her feel light and cheerful, almost girlish. And yet, at the same time, noticing how Daniel and her family winced and cowered every time she spoke, or moved, or did anything at all, reminded her of her moment in the sun not too long before, the moment when she had realized that she actually liked being this big. And that she was looking forward to getting bigger.

“And…haha, well I was just like, playing around with him a little bit, nothing too serious, really, and then I heard this thing buzzing over me and I — you should’ve seen me dad — I jumped up and caught it, and…here it is. It’s a freaking drone!”

“L-let me…let me see it Em,” said Jim unsteadily, taking a deep breath and walking up closer to his enormous daughter. Emma bent down towards him, glancing over at Daniel and smiling at him. He tried to return the smile, but he was having difficulty moving his face; he ended up just blinking rapidly at her as his mouth twitched. He was quite overwhelmed, along with everyone else, seeing Emma completely naked, acting for all the world like nothing was amiss. Her nudity somehow made her look even bigger than before. The way her free limbs just cut the air, the way the sunlight reflected off her skin, the way her firm, rounded flesh caught the light, and occupied space…it was all just mesmerizing, and terrifying at the same time. Daniel was sure that she had had another spurt; he was right, but he had no idea that another spurt, much, much bigger, was on the horizon, and fast approaching.

Emma stuck her tongue in between her teeth, looking down at her boyfriend. She could tell that something was up with him, and with Daisy too, who was standing behind him, still with that same reproachful, protective look on her face…a look, though, that was tamed by the new raw presence of Emma’s body. Half an hour ago, Emma might have felt the white-hot rage boiling up in her, and been forced to flee the scene again, before she was tempted to pick up her older sister in one hand and toss her into the middle of the pond. But now, and Emma wasn’t entirely sure why, everything seemed light and humorous.

“Um…could you, uhm…Em?” came her father’s voice, and she broke her eyes away from grinning at Daniel and looked down. She was bent all the way at her waist, her legs and torso at a 90-degree angle, and she had lowered her hand, but even still, with Jim reaching all the way up on his tiptoes, the drone in Emma’s fingers was still a good foot out of his reach.

“Haha, oops, sorry dad,” giggled Emma, and lowered the drone into his reaching hands. He started examining it, frowning, as Maisy came up behind him, peering down at it as well. Emma took this opportunity to back up a little, glance behind her to make sure she wasn’t about to crush anything, and then lower herself into a cross-legged sitting position. Her big ass reverberated down into the ground, creating a 6-foot-wide crater in the grass, as the earth shook beneath her. Everyone else nearly lost their balance, and had to grab onto each other for support.

“Jesus…Christ, Em!!” yelped Jim, in a high-pitched voice no one had ever heard before, “Take it easy!!”

“Dad…I literally just sat down,” chortled Emma, shaking her head as she rapped her fingers on her knees. “Why don’t you take it easy.”

An uneasy silence hung in the air as everyone stared at Emma, sitting there cross-legged before them. Daniel had seen the massive bulk of her firm flesh jiggle and bounce as she sat down, and her breasts especially had been sent into a eye-popping series of tremendous bounces that were only just now settling down. Emma saw them all looking at her body, and she could feel the remnant vibrations still going through her flesh…through her breasts, her hips, her stomach…everywhere. She couldn’t help but smile broader. She was sitting down on her bare ass, and even still, none of them, not even Daniel, came up to her shoulders. It was like she was an adult, sitting in a group of tiny little children…except that the children were her parents and her boyfriend. Emma could clearly see the psychic path toward despair that she had been on before — she had felt totally alienated by this incredible size discrepancy, but something had broken inside her when she had been alone on that dirt road…when she had turned toward the sun. A reckoning had taken place inside her head, and she had come out the other end with a newfound enthusiasm for…life. This was her life now. And all these little people around her just needed to get with it. She was going to be happy.

“Uhm…well…ah…” said Jim, not knowing what to do except look down at the inert drone in his hands. “So you…grabbed this out of the air, did you Em?”

“Sure did!” she said brightly, her fingers drumming down on her knees. “And it was all like…trying to get away and everything…like a little bee, haha!”

Jim looked up at his daughter and then back to the drone. In his hands, it was the size of a small dog, and it was strangely disorienting for him to hear his daughter compare it to a bee. But as his eyes darted over to those huge fingers of hers, thumping over and over on her knees, it wasn’t hard for him to remember just how tiny everything had become to her.

“And you see that camera there?” Emma continued, stretching her hand out to point down at the little camera affixed to the top of the drone. She was sitting what seemed like far away from her parents, but her pointing finger came within about a foot of where they were standing, and both Jim and Maisy swallowed nervously, seeing their daughter’s gigantic finger so close to them. It was almost as thick as Jim’s forearm.

“Um…yes,” said Jim, nodding in an exaggerated way, so she could tell that he had seen.

“It was like, going all crazy when I caught it,” explained Emma, pointing her finger up to the sky and twirling it erratically to convey the camera’s motion. In doing so, she created a mini-dust-devil, which kicked up from the vortex her finger was producing and sent a whirlwind of dirt scurrying across the ground towards Daniel and Daisy. Daniel limped out of the way, and Daisy couldn’t help but utter a little alarmed cry as she dodged it as well, giving Emma another reproachful glance and a shake of her head. She opened her mouth to complain, but Emma turned away from her and continued speaking to her father. She had felt a twinge of negativity at Daisy’s reaction. Didn’t she realize who she was dealing with? Emma wasn’t just her younger sister anymore.

“And the drone or camera or I don’t know what was, like, beeping and beeping,” continued Emma, making expressive gestures with her hand as her other continued drumming on her knee. “Like there was some kind of alarm or something.”

“Is that right?” asked Jim, who was now actually invested in examining the drone.

“Mmhm, and then all of a sudden it went dead,” nodded Emma, reaching up to brush the red hair out of her face. “Like…whoever was controlling it just, like…jumped ship or something. Or disabled it, or whatever the term is.”

“This is sophisticated technology,” said Jim in a normal speaking voice.

“Dad,” piped up Emma good-naturedly, shaking her head down at him, “I can’t hear you. Here, let me just make it easy for you.”

Without wasting any more time, she shot out her hand, wrapped her fingers around her father’s waist, and lifted him effortlessly off the ground, bringing him up to her face.

“E-Emma…Emma, no!” cried Jim, almost dropping the drone as he flailed his arms out in protest. Maisy put her hands up to her face, and Daniel and Daisy stood there, frozen. Daniel tried to say something, but nothing came out.

“Relax dad, I’m not gonna hurt you,” giggled Emma, carefully reaching up to his face and giving his nose a playful little bop with the pad of her forefinger. “I just wanna be able to hear you. And see? I’m speaking really softly now, right? So my voice doesn’t hurt your ears?”

“I…y-yes, thanks…for that,” said Jim, not knowing what else to do or say.

“So…what was it you were saying before?” asked Emma patiently, feeling very good about the control she had over the situation.

“I…just…just that this technology is…very advanced,” Jim answered, recovering himself, even though his legs were dangling 5 feet off the ground. “Not the kind of thing you can just go and…and buy at the store.”

“Put…put dad down, Emma!” called up Daisy, finding her voice. Daniel turned to her and was about to shake his head and plead for her to be quiet, but in this situation, he simply didn’t know what to do.

Emma heard her older sister and glanced down, her face twitching slightly with annoyance.

“Uh, trying to have a conversation here,” said Emma, shaking her father’s body slightly back and forth. “Look, he’s fine!”

“I’m…it’s all fine, yes!” called Jim back down, his words shaking out of him with Emma’s motion.

“If that’s advanced technology,” said Emma, frowning down at the drone, “Then…what does that mean, dad? Is it, like…is it maybe the government or something?”

Jim felt his stomach churning, both from the vertigo he was experiencing and from the uneasy psychic pit that was widening down there. Yes, it looked exactly like some kind of government technology. He wasn’t an expert when it came to that kind of technology, but he knew enough about electronics and engineering to know that what he was holding in his hands was extremely expensive…and that, wherever it came from, it didn’t spell good news for any of them, particularly Emma.

“It…it might be,” he answered, thinking it best not to overly alarm his daughter, especially when she was holding him like this. “Why don’t…why don’t you put me down Emma, so I can…so I can take this thing inside and study it a little closer, ok?”

Emma blinked her big eyes at her father for a couple long moments. She was still feeling good about herself, about everything, really, but…she wanted some answers about this drone. Just seeing her father’s expression darken as he looked at the drone made her feel a bit more apprehensive than she was comfortable with.

“You…you need to study it some?” she ventured.

“Mmhm, yeah,” he nodded up at her, hoping to god that she wouldn’t suspect any ulterior motives in his request.

“Ok…ok,” she said quietly, lowering him down to the ground and loosening her fingers, letting him walk free. Maisy, Daisy, and Daniel all tried their best to hide their relief. Jim, for his part, made a beeline straight for the farmhouse, determined both to play the part and to actually start examining this drone in his workshop. Emma watched him go, with his little legs shuffling quickly across the ground. She suddenly felt tired…and then…overwhelmingly tired. Maybe it was the growth spurt that she had recently undergone, or maybe it was the intensity of that…that epiphany she had experienced. Either way, as she watched her father hurry into the house, she felt her energy draining the farther away he got.

“Em?” asked Maisy, taking a step closer to her, speaking loudly enough so that her daughter could hear her.

“Hmm?” asked Emma, lost in thought, still looking at the dwindling figure of her father.

“What…what happened to your clothes, honey?” Maisy was making every effort to not sound accusatory or upset.

“Huh…? Oh, they, ah…heh…they tore,” Emma muttered, with an absent chuckle, now staring indistinctly at the house. A strange thought was hanging like a haze in her mind: the house was beginning to look more and more like…a toy.

“They…tore, sweetheart?” asked Maisy. “So you…had another growth spurt?” She was trying not to sound anxious, but accomplishing this feat was proving quite difficult.

“Yeah, and they were all wet and…so yeah, I just ripped em’ off,” murmured Emma. She took a deep breath, sighing out over her mother’s head. “Uh, listen, mom? I think I’m gonna…uh, gonna go take a nap in the barn, alright?”

“A nap? O-ok, sure…sure, sweetie,” said Maisy, now wringing her hands. “Can I…can we b-bring you anything? Are you hungry?”

“Yeah,” said Emma, her voice sounding hollow as she stared off past the house into the distance. She wasn’t really sure why she sounded so flat all of a sudden — she felt fine…great, even. But she was so tired…so tired.

“Yeah, I’m…I’m always hungry,” she added, chuckling a little. She blinked slowly and looked down at her mother…she looked like a little child, and Emma had to blink a few times to get her pupils to focus correctly. “Uhm, heheh, but…but you don’t need to bring me anything,” she said, smiling. “I’ll…uh, be fine. Just gotta get a little rest is all.”

She spotted Daniel and Daisy out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to look at them.

“Wanna come take a nap with me?” she blurted out at Daniel, smiling kindly at him, her eyes heavy with fatigue. Daniel was struck dumb and motionless by her question — he loved her so much, and when she was acting all sleepy like this, well…it hit a soft spot in his heart. But his entire body was still sore, and his whole interaction with Daisy…his finally admitting that he was truly afraid of Emma, her unpredictability…the danger that now seemed to loom whenever she was around…his constant need to keep her placated…it was all just so much, and he didn’t know what to say. And even still, he knew that no answer was worse than any answer that came out of his mouth…but he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Are you crazy!?” shouted Daisy. “After what you did to him?? You are totally out of —”

“You know what?” laughed Emma, raising her voice slightly, which made Daisy’s mouth shut like a box, “I’m sorry Daniel…I know it’s only like, early afternoon and whatnot. You have plenty of other things you probably wanna do with your day than sleep in a barn, huh?”

“Uhh…Emma, I —” he began, but she was blinking heavily down at him, a smile plastered across her face as she focused all her attention on him. That little screeching thing beside him could easily be ignored…and Emma knew that if she paid it even the slightest bit of attention, she would awaken something destructive in her…something, in her present good mood, she did not care to trifle with.

“No, no, I’m not gonna let you go all soft on me,” she giggled sleepily, petting his prone body with a slow, gentle swipe of her finger. “I know you’ll just cave and do whatever you think I want you to do…you sweet little man…but no. I won’t let you. Enjoy your afternoon. Go…go swimming some more, or something. Or catch me some fish, haha! I know I’ll be hungry when I wake up.”

Daisy was saying something else, but Emma didn’t wait around to hear any more of it. She gave Daniel the gentlest of pets on his cheek with the pad of her finger and then abruptly stood up. Daniel couldn’t help but crane his head up — suddenly, there was a vagina in the sky. And then, with a whooshing, lumbering force, the column of her huge leg swung by him, nearly knocking him over with the sheer force of its wind, and the ground was shaking once more as Emma made her way over to the barn. It was surreal, watching her walk…she moved so quickly, and with such undeniable and mighty force, and yet, it looked to Daniel like her limbs were almost moving in slow motion. The heavy languor of her steps stuck in Daniel’s mind, and made him want to run away, to shout, to scream, to rush up to her and embrace her lower leg and squeeze for all he was worth. This was Emma…but she was getting beyond him. She was truly growing into something else. The guilt of the last half hour darkened his brain, and as he watched Emma duck her head to enter the barn, he resolved to pay her a visit there soon…if only to watch her sleep.

Chapter 22

For Daniel, the next couple hours seemed to creep by like molasses. On the surface, he was interacting with Emma’s parents, talking to Daisy about the problems surrounding Emma, and what to do about her, and how they should possibly contact the Institute again, or how they should possibly get the police involved, and what the capture of the drone meant, and on and on and on. Daniel wasn’t really participating much in the conversation, though, even as he reacted externally by nodding or shaking his head. The truth was that ever since he had watched Emma walk sleepily to the barn for her nap, in that slow, lumbering gait that almost seemed to move in slow-motion, Daniel had yearned to be close to her…to smell her scent, to put his hands in her pretty red hair, to look at her gorgeous face, and appreciate her. He felt terribly guilty for his previous conversation with Daisy, and he desperately wanted to remind himself how in love he was with Emma, no matter how big she had become.

And yet, as he sat there, superficially listening to the avid, dramatic conversation around them (mostly between Maisy and Daisy), Daniel knew why he hadn’t already excused himself to go join Emma in the barn. He WAS afraid of her; he knew enough now not to be fooled by that attractive, sleepy look that had hung heavily on her eyes, when she asked him if he wanted to take a nap with her. Even that tired, laconic sweetness in her face couldn’t persuade him that it was safe to be around her. He knew that Daisy was right — Emma didn’t know her own strength, and could not be trusted with behaving herself whenever she felt any kind of strong emotion, whether good or bad. She had narrowly avoided hurting him quite badly just a little while before, and Daniel knew, deep down, that the only reason she hadn’t was because he had gotten lucky. If she had squeezed his ankles — or his neck — a little harder, he knew that things would look a lot different right now.

“I’m not saying we get, like, a hundred cops to come up here and guard her or anything,” Daisy was insisting, “I just think that it’d be totally stupid not to get them involved somehow. I mean…what are we gonna do? Wait for her to do something even worse?!”

“I’m just not sure, sweetie,” Maisy answered, shaking her head slowly. “I know…that it’s probably a good idea to at least, um…let them know that she’s here. Just in case one of the neighbors sees something, or—”

“Or hears something,” added Jim, still examining the drone, a troubled look on his face.

“Or hears something,” Maisy repeated, “And gets…well, and gets scared.”

“But that’s not enough!” exclaimed Daisy emphatically, making a fist on the table. “Look, what I’m saying is…that Em isn’t in her right mind AT ALL right now, and that…like, we have to get other people involved. People who are equipped…people who KNOW how to deal with this kind of thing.”

“No one knows how to deal with this kind of thing,” Daniel heard himself say. All three of them turned to look at him, and their attention, combined with the words he had just spoken, brought his mind out of the barn and into his current setting. He realized that Daisy’s elbow had been touching his, but now that he had just shot her down with his deadpan words, she had moved it away.

“Trust me,” Daniel said, looking around at them, now fully present, “No one knows how to handle this situation. At least, no one we’ve encountered so far. And I can absolutely tell you that getting the cops involved is a bad idea. I know Emma, and I know that she won’t appreciate that one bit.”

“Well who cares what she appreciates,” Daisy countered, blinking at Daniel like she couldn’t believe he was defending Emma. “She almost pulled your head off this morning, and you wanna try and tell me that we don’t need some kind of a security —”

“Security…what, Daisy?” cut in Daniel. He wasn’t accustomed to taking the more dominant role in conversation (especially with Daisy), but her vociferousness was beginning to irritate him. “Security detail?” he continued, raising his eyebrows. “With guns? Come on Daisy, you saw how emotionally fragile she is right now. How do you expect her to react if a bunch of cops show up, with, like…all these guns and everything?”

“Oh god, it would be just awful!” sighed Maisy, frowning and shaking her head.

“It’d make her feel terrible,” continued Daniel, looking squarely at Daisy, who still looked stunned. “Or it’d make her really…really mad.”

“Well…so what if she gets really mad?” mumbled Daisy, crossing her arms. “She can deal with it. It’s not like she’s gonna…gonna be able to do…to do anything about it.”

An uncomfortable silence filled in the space after Daisy’s words. She knew, and everyone else knew, that what she had just said wasn’t true at all. The prospect of Emma “doing something about it” darkened the room.

“How about those nice doctors at the Institute?” asked Maisy, breaking the silence after some brief agony. “Maybe we could get back in touch with them and…and maybe see if they could come up here and have a look at her?”

“No,” Daniel immediately answered. His one-word response wasn’t energetic or emotional, but it made everyone once again turn to look at him. Maisy’s eyebrows went up expectantly.

“Uhh…no,” Daniel repeated, smiling a little as he chuckled and shook his head. “No that’s…not an option.”

“Well why not?” asked Daisy, confused.

“Yes, why not, Daniel?” asked Maisy. “Surely they’d have at least some idea of what’s going on with her, and they…uhm, well, they might be able to help her.”

Daniel’s mind flashed back what seemed like ages before, when he had gotten the frantic call from Dr. Kline that Emma had become erratic and uncontrollable, demanding that she see him. That long, dark car ride to the Institute, sick with worry, and then seeing her standing there, waiting for him in those headlights, in her medical gown…that had been back when he could actually look straight into her belly button…and the way she had hugged him and sobbed with relief about how much she wanted to go home. And then, of course, he remembered how they had actually left the Institute, with Emma effortlessly shaking off the pleading force of that…8-foot giant man…and then the way she had savagely pointed at all the doctors assembled and shouted: “NONE of you can make me do ANYTHING!” Those words still echoed in Daniel’s head. At the time, he had been focused on getting her back home, but the more he thought back to that moment, the more he had become convinced that coercive means were not going to work with her. And that had been back when she was…shorter than 9 feet tall. She was TWICE that height now.

“I just…uhm, I saw what it was like at the Institute,” said Daniel simply, deciding that he didn’t want to go into the whole thing with them right now. “And I don’t think it was good for Emma. She was very…stressed out there. And I don’t think the doctors helped. Besides, in the end, they didn’t even learn what was wrong with her.”

“Really?” asked Maisy, incredulous and discouraged. “Nothing? Not even one…idea!?”

“Not really, no,” said Daniel, shaking his head. He hadn’t alighted on the decision yet in his mind, but he could feel the momentum already building in his body. It had been a couple hours already. He hadn’t heard anything from the barn…Emma must be sleeping now…and he was going to go see her…alone.

“Well it’s a good bet powerful people know Em’s here,” came Jim’s voice from the corner. “This is more advanced technology than I’ve ever seen…and for the size of the thing, to…it’s gotta be some kind of government property.”

“You mean…the government’s spying on us!?” asked Daisy.

“Well, not on you, pumpkin,” Jim remarked with wry humor.

“But…Daniel hasn’t told anyone,” said Masiy, casting her husband a concerned look, “So how could they know that she was here!?”

“No idea, Maise,” answered Jim, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe they tracked his car…maybe they’ve been watching Em for a long time. Who knows?”

Daniel knew that all of this was important, but his mind was becoming increasingly drawn to the barn. He could feel himself tensing his body, preparing to stand.

“Well then it’s only a matter of time before we get, like news reporters and…people like that knocking on our door,” said Daisy, managing to seamlessly blend annoyance and excitement in her voice. “This is gonna be a nightmare.”

“Honey, I think maybe you’re jumping the gun a little here,” said Maisy kindly. “Just because maybe the government’s been monitoring Em doesn’t mean that —”

“Oh mom, come on,” Daisy interrupted, “You KNOW that someone’s gonna leak that there’s an 18-foot giantess living out in the country…I mean, I’m surprised that it hasn’t leaked al…uh, where are you going?”

With some effort, Daniel had stood up, grimacing because of his sore ankles. His bruised neck was still throbbing as well, but it didn’t matter right now.

“I’m going to go check on Emma in the barn,” he answered simply.

Daisy’s mouth hung open a little, and an uncomfortable silence weighed once again on the room. Daniel blinked and turned towards the door, satisfied that he wasn’t going to have to explain himself any more than that. But as soon as he turned, he heard Daisy’s voice again, now at a higher pitch. And hearing it made him annoyed…annoyed at her, but more than anything, annoyed at himself. He KNEW that Daisy was speaking sense, but it just didn’t sound good to him. He wanted to go see Emma, and he was going to do it, regardless of any advice to the contrary.

“You’re seriously going out there?!” Daisy disbelievingly. “Look at you! You can barely even walk without wincing — you remember WHY, right!?”

“I’m…yes, I remember,” replied Daniel shortly. “But she’s asleep and…I just want to check on her, is all.”

“Daniel…” said Daisy warningly, inclining her head doubtfully, trying to persuade him out of it with her eyes. But he just stared straight back at her, unblinking. In his mind, he was atoning for his conversation with Daisy earlier.

“Well…at least…let me go with you,” Daisy suggested, backing away from her initial position. “So that you’re not alone with her.”

“Nope,” answered Daniel quickly, making an effort to keep his voice bright and cheery. “I want to go alone…I wanna, you know…just have a little time to myself with her, just…watching her.”

Daisy looked like she was going to respond, but she opened her mouth and then closed it again, sighing. Maisy used the brief lull as an opportunity to smile and say:

“Ok, Daniel, you go have your time with her. But…uhm, just please…uhh —”

“I’ll be careful,” Daniel said, smiling. He sympathized with the difficulty Maisy was having in telling her daughter’s boyfriend to be careful around her.

“I’ll be careful,” Daniel said, smiling. He sympathized with the difficulty Maisy was having in telling her daughter’s boyfriend to be careful around her. And then he turned around for good and limped out of the house, making a point not to look back as he did so. The pain in his legs wasn’t so sharp anymore, even though it had graduated to a persistent dull ache that was almost as debilitating as the acute pain had been before. The fresh, sweet air of the late afternoon felt delicious on his face as he made his way slightly up the incline toward the barn. Everything was so still…the pastures, the air, the temperature…everything seemed lazily suspended in time, as it so often seemed in the country.

‘It IS nice here,’ Daniel thought, limping closer to the barn. ‘And the air is so much cleaner…the pace of life is slower…you notice things you don’t when you’re in the city…the butterflies…you can actually hear the breeze in your ears…no sound of cars. It’s nice…really…really nice.’

Daniel realized that he was distracting himself with these errant thoughts; and then he realized that he was distracting himself because he had grown nervous all of a sudden. He was at the entrance to the barn now, and from inside, he could hear the soft, heavy sounds of Emma breathing. She was definitely asleep. Daniel leaned into the barn, touching it with his right shoulder as he made to poke his head around the side of the entrance. But as he did so, he heard Emma exhale, and he FELT it through the wooden barn wall on his shoulder. Her exhale literally shook the whole barn, if only slightly…but it was enough that Daniel felt it go through his body.

A thrilling shiver ran down his spine. Daniel didn’t know if it was in fear or awe or arousal or some combination of all three, but he felt himself stirring in his groin, in his stomach, as his heart picked up and beat faster. She was a force of nature. Her sleeping breath created its own wind, and rattled buildings. How had his sweet, unassuming little girlfriend grown into such a behemoth, such a powerful being!?

His desire to see her, though, surpassed the extent of his awe, and the urgency of his fear. He stepped around the side of the wood into the barn’s main entrance, and saw Emma’s gloriously nude body curled up in the fetal position, half-buried under soft golden heaps of hay, gently rising and falling in slow and steady rhythm with each breath she took. Two mellow golden sunbeams shined down in twin columns through the holes in the roof, serenely illuminating the rounded curve of Emma’s hip, and the cozy, gorgeous softness of her sleeping face.

Daniel was spellbound. He walked straight up to her, not halting until he was standing less than two feet away from her face. Her expression was so peaceful, so tender, that Daniel felt himself becoming emotional just looking at her. When she was like this, she didn’t have to deal with the reality of her condition — she was just…at peace, soft, warm, and comfortable, far away from the worries of the world. Her lower jaw was slightly slackened, but her lips were still closed. Even at 18 feet tall, Daniel realized, Emma had the same sleeping facial expression she always had.

Her sweet exhaled breath made him stumble back on his heels, but Daniel was careful to ensure that his feet didn’t make too much noise against the straw on the floor. He stepped forward again, closer to her still, digging in his heels a little to guard against the force of her next breath. He saw that her wavy red hair was slightly disheveled, lying about the hay in haphazard wisps. The rest of the hay seemed undisturbed, but Daniel could see that there was a visible path, in the shape of Emma’s head, that went slightly up and to the right of where her head was currently resting. With a stab of delicate understanding, Daniel realized that, in her sleep, Emma had been adjusting the position of her head to the slow movement of the warm, golden sunbeam shining down through the roof. It was precious…she was like a cat.

Daniel stood there for minutes on end — how long it actually was, he had no idea. The sheer tenderness of the extended moments called for nothing more than stillness, and calm, relaxed breathing. Daniel could almost feel their old relationship becoming rekindled in the warm serenity of the barn.

But then, he suddenly realized something…something odd that slowly broke him out of his reverie. Emma’s body obviously appeared to grow larger with each gently inhaled breath, and then appeared to shrink accordingly as she exhaled the air out of her mighty lungs. But Daniel had suddenly realized, with a sudden start, that even though Emma had already exhaled out a few times, her body still appeared to be swelling. Daniel was confused — how could she be inhaling and exhaling at the same time? And then it hit him: Emma wasn’t inhaling…she was GROWING. He saw it, first in the gentle burgeoning of her bare hip, and then in the steady enlargement of her arm, which was halfway tucked under her sleeping form. 

Daniel’s eyes grew wide as they swept over her whole body…her whole frame was growing, there was no question about it…right in front of his eyes. He had never actually SEEN one of Emma’s growth spurts in real time, but this spurt was so dramatic that there could be no doubt what was happening. Her head, her elegant neck, were all getting bigger…her broad shoulders expanded vertically, appearing to grow upward from her fetal position. Her breasts, which had been partially concealed underneath her body, popped gently out from underneath her as they too ballooned and expanded. The luscious curve of her torso was elongating in the still air, and her thighs were blooming into twin horizontal pillars even more impressive than they already were. Daniel’s eyes bounced from Emma’s toes to her fingers, all lazily curved amongst the hay on the dirt floor, and he could see them lengthening out across the floor. A slight rustling whispered into the air, getting stronger and more urgent with each passing moment. Daniel realized that it was the sound of the hay getting displaced, giving way to Emma’s burgeoning body.

He didn’t know what to do. Having just experienced an almost-impossibly tender moment, Daniel felt even more jarred than he would have been otherwise. She was still asleep, but as the seconds ticked by, and her steady growth continued, Daniel felt increasingly worried and disoriented. He felt like he had to do something, even if that just meant waking her up. But he didn’t want to wake her up…the idea of her being conscious for this event didn’t seem appealing. He thought of stepping quietly out and going back to the house; this seemed like the best idea so far…but the seconds kept passing and still he hadn’t moved. He didn’t want to leave her here alone like this. Strangely, it felt like abandonment. But she was getting huger and huger…and it felt to Daniel like his time was running out to act.

He saw her nostrils suddenly flare, and the skin on her face twitched. A cold shot went through him. Now was the time to run, but he didn’t move.

“Mmmrrrrmmmmmmmm!”

Emma’s deep, sleepy moan infused the air, ratting Daniel’s eardrums, and causing dust on the barn rafters to levitate and diffuse through the air. Daniel felt overcome with awe at the utter power of such a simple sound from her. It was different than anything he had ever heard before — her body’s capacity for sound had quite clearly passed over a threshold into something new. Daniel’s mind shot back to a dinosaur documentary he had seen often as a child…those giant plant-eating dinosaurs, grazing on the Jurassic plains…that’s what it reminded him of.

And then Emma’s whole body was moving amongst the hay, all slight and gentle movements, but motion that nonetheless changed the entire scene. Hay went everywhere as Emma moved her thighs back and forth against each other, flexed her hands, and eased back her shoulders as she tensed her entire body in a mighty stretch. Daniel was transfixed as he saw the muscles straining and trembling under her skin…and when she relaxed from the stretch, everything continued to get slowly bigger, bigger, and bigger. She was still growing. Daniel looked back at her face, and he felt his own body tense up instantly. She had opened her eyes, and was staring sleepily straight at him.

“Mmmmm, heyyyy Daniel,” Emma murmured sleepily, blinking her eyes slowly at him, and then, for what seemed like a long time, she just lay there sideways, her eyes a bit unfocused as she continued to stare at him. Daniel started to think that she had gone back to sleep, but then she spoke again, shaking his body with her voice.

“Come to snuggle with me, hrrmmm?”

“I — I was just uhh…coming to check on you,” stammered Daniel quickly. He saw that Emma’s eyes were becoming more and more focused, and once again, he felt a strong urge to run. But he was afraid that anything dramatic would cause her to wake up entirely, and so he instead chose to back steadily away, facing her the whole time. She was still growing…

“Aw that’s *hic*…that’s sweet of you,” she hummed softly through a hiccup. The effect of such an ordinary thing as a hiccup was dramatized across the expanding canvas of her body, and Daniel saw (and felt) her flesh rippling with the vibration. He kept backing away, and Emma finally seemed to notice.

“Hey where’re you going?” she sighed drowsily, and she swung her left hand out from its resting position on the floor, catching his body up effortlessly in her grasp.

“Hgghhhhhhh!!” Daniel exclaimed, feeling the blood engorge his face as she squeezed him too hard, lifting him up off the floor as his helpless body twisted and squirmed in her hand. Emma’s fingers already went easily around his entire lower torso, but it was doubly alarming for Daniel now because he could literally feel her palm expanding around him…her fingers felt like live snakes that were slowly swelling, coiling and squeezing with inescapable force.

“Come on in her and snuggle with me you…*yyuuhhhh!*…you sweet little guy,” Emma yawned. The yawn itself was so huge that Daniel could feel her sucking the air out from in front of his face, even though he was more than three feet away. Emma smiled as she closed her eyes, humming pleasantly as she hugged Daniel close to her augmenting bosom. For the moment, at least, he stopped trying to escape her grip, and instead decided to just lay still against her in the hope that she would drift on back to sleep so he could slip away. She was lying completely on her back now, and she was holding him right in between her breasts, which continued to balloon on either side of him. He could hear her heart hammering away underneath her breastplate; with his ears smushed into her flesh, her heart sounded like someone was beating a bass drum in an adjacent room. It was almost too much for his ears to take.

For over half a minute, they both just lay there, with Daniel becoming increasingly optimistic that Emma was becoming overtaken with sleep. But a loud, sharp clear of her throat, somewhere far beyond him, doused his hopes. All around him, he could feel her flesh still growing, slowly…and this close to her, he could actually hear her skin expanding. The swelling flesh of Emma’s breasts on either side of his head were now each almost half as long as his body…which was rising up now quickly. Emma was sighing out, taking his body on an up-and-down trajectory that emphasized just how prone he was. In her clutches, he had absolutely no power, and was totally at the mercy of anything her body did, whether she was conscious or not. He started to panic, and squirmed desperately, trying to get free.

He may as well have been trying to escape the fingers of a huge heavy marble statue; each of Emma’s fingers were at least as thick as his forearm, and even though Emma was barely exerting any effort holding him close to her, the mere weight and force of her fingers alone were enough to hold him firmly in place. And still, all around him, she was getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

“Hahhhhhh,” sighed Emma up at the barn roof, as her fingers slowly snaked around him some more, petting him with their expanding length, “It was sweet of you to come visit me….mmmmm, yes, really…sweet of you…*sigghhhhhh*…”

There was a pause after Emma exhaled, and Daniel could tell that she was more awake now. The bottom half of his legs felt her abdominal muscles clench gently, and she shifted her weight a few times in the haystack. Her body was waking up.

“Huh,” Emma said out into the silence, placid and calm, still clearly half-asleep, “I feel…a little warm, Daniel…and it’s like my skin…it’s like it’s buzzing a little. Heheh, you know, it reminds me of…hmmm, of that time at the…at the…”

In a whirl of motion, she suddenly lifted Daniel out from between her breasts and set him down on the ground in front of her. Before he could get his bearings, he felt his lungs clench up inside him as Emma sat up in the hay, leaning forward towards him and propping her chin up on an upraised forearm, a fleshy pillar which was already a little taller than his shoulders. Even lounging like this, on her side, her head was over two feet above his own…and rising steadily. Her eyes narrowed down at him as her lids fought off the sleep.

“You look…smaller,” she said slowly, eying him up and down. “A lot smaller.”

“Uhm, G-Emma…I…uh, I think…” stuttered Daniel, but his words died away in the air as she switched her attention from his body to her own. Her eyebrows went up as her gaze travelled across her visibly-growing limbs. A slow, slinking grin of understanding crept across her face, and she turned back to Daniel, her chin in her hand, as she blinked heavily again.

“Mmmmm, it’s happening again, isn’t it?” she chuckled softly, closing her eyes as she faced him. “And you get to see it *yaaaauugghhh!*…you get to see it this time!”

Daniel was perplexed by Emma’s yawns — she seemed to understand what was happening, and yet, at the same time, she still seemed to be struggling to stay awake. Didn’t her dramatic growth warrant more of a reaction!? But there she was, lounging languorously on her side, that same big, sleepy grin on her face.

“I…th-think I need to, uhhh…to pop back to th-the house for a minute!” Daniel said in a high-pitched voice that did nothing to hide his growing fear. Emma was literally growing into the sunbeam now, and her body was beginning to cast a shadow on him. She wasn’t even moving.

“What?” chuckled Emma, tilting her head to the side in her palm. “Noooo…no don’t leave me here alone. It’s so cozzzzzy in here with you, Daniel…come on! Come on and snug up to me.”

Emma languidly extended her hand again, but this time, Daniel wasn’t able to avoid flinching, and he took a couple steps back, away from her incoming fingers. Emma paused her hand in front of his body, pouting her lips a little as she sleepily registered his resistance, but then she seemed to get absentmindedly distracted by the sheer size of her hand next to his body. She placed the base of her wrist down next to him and extended her hand upwards — her fingers reached almost halfway up Daniel’s thigh, and as Emma held her hand in the same position, wiggling her fingers humorously, both of them saw their tips creeping steadily up towards his waist as she continued to grow.

Something in Daniel’s mind broke, and he made a run for it. But he hadn’t gotten more than two running paces towards the barn entrance before he felt a powerful sweep under his legs, and he wiped out face-first into the floor, to the sound of Emma’s thick, sleepy, murmuring laughter behind him.

“Silly little thing,” she teased, using the two fingers she had tripped him with to grip his left lower thigh and drag him slowly back towards her. “Where do you think you’re going? I said I wanted you to cuddle with me.”

“E-Emma! Emma! O-owwww! Oww, that hurts!!” cried Daniel, kicking and flailing in futility. His injured ankles were spared from her grip, but the force of her gentle tugging was still such that it felt like she was about to pull his leg out of its socket. She splayed him down on the ground, lightly rubbing him into the dirt floor, before wrapping her palm around him and lifting him up off the ground, towards her face.

“Oh and look…now you’re all dirty,” she teased, her voice still soft with sleep. She inhaled and blew, drying his eyes out instantly before he shut them in desperation, coughing and gasping for breath as he did so. It was like he was suddenly caught in a gust of gale-force winds.

“Mmmm, that didn’t quite work,” sighed Emma, yawning again as she rolled over on her back in the hay, holding Daniel’s body above her with one hand. From his perspective, it was terrifying — he could see her whole, huge, naked body beneath him as it continued to grow, and he was helplessly caught up in her hand. He looked to her face, hoping that he could somehow get through to her…but even in her half-waking state, he could see something gleaming there in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before.

“Emma…” he said, as slowly and clearly as he could, “I want you…to put me down. I need to go back to the house.”

Emma looked up and down his body, and broke into another chuckle.

“No, no…I want you to stay here with me,” she said, shaking her head. “Heheh…looks like your clothes got all messed up for good when you fell in the dirt. Let’s get rid of them!”

“What!? N-no, I —” stammered Daniel, kicking in her hand, but Emma had sat up now completely in the hay, and used her free hand to seamlessly pull off his shirt and pants. She tried to pull off his shoes and socks in the same way, but this required a little more nuance, and she sighed out amiably as she stuck her tongue into the side of her cheek in concentration, pinching the rubber ends of his shoes between her fingernails and ultimately pulling them off completely. Now Daniel was only in his socks and underwear, and his whole body felt exposed and tiny in the hugeness of her expanding grip. Somewhere in his brain, he registered that Emma had been growing, nonstop, for at least a few minutes…and it was still happening at the same steady pace.

“Holy…hah! GOD I’m getting big, aren’t I?” she laughed, seeming to wake up completely as she looked down at her breasts, and at the rest of her burgeoning body. “Mmmmmm, it feels soooooo good! Like liquid gold all over my body!”

Daniel saw his chance, with Emma momentarily distracted by her own growth, and he managed to kick free of her grasp, landing 7 feet below on the dirt. He picked himself up, ignoring the shooting pain in his ankles, and ran as hard as he could towards the barn entrance.

“Uh uh uh!” giggled Emma, her voice rising playfully, sweeping out a leg from her sitting position and blocking him with her huge foot. “Why do you keep trying to get away from me, Daniel? Haha, it’s like you think you CAN, or something…”

Daniel was panting in a panic now, and he tried to run around the massive out-splayed foot in front of him (which was almost half as long as he was at this point). But Emma’s heavy giggles rang in his ears as she simply swept her foot along the floor, gathering his body against its flesh, straight into her outstretched, waiting hand.

“You think you can just run away from me!” she teased him, playfully prodding his bare chest with the nub of her huge forefinger.

“E-Emma…Emma I…I want to go back,” Daniel panted, looking up into her face with pleading eyes as his feet dangled in midair. “I want…I really, really want, to go back.”

He had said all he could, without being so blatant that he would make her mad…but now Emma was just studying his face, her eyes again going slowly over his body afterward, and then back up to his head again. Her mouth opened slightly and breathed out; Daniel again felt his hair blow back as he caught a face-full of her sweet breath.

“But I want you here with me,” she said softly, tightening her grip and loosening, tightening it and loosening, around his waist as she spoke. She felt Daniel go limp in her grip, and the liquid warmth that was already spreading over her body seemed to double in heat and intensity. She was definitely wide-awake now. It didn’t matter what he wanted. What could he do, to deny her what she wanted right now? She was so big that she had easily manhandled his little body with her FOOT…and she was STILL growing…right NOW. The fact that he had still tried to scramble away showed Emma that he clearly didn’t understand what was going on…and what had happened in her mind earlier that morning, when she had been alone on that country road…when she was looking into the sun.

She reached over and placed him back down on the floor, and this time, Daniel didn’t even try to run. Emma spread her arms out in a final stretch, high, high up over her head, and then collapsed down on her bare hands, shaking the floor as she came down into a crawling position on all fours. She loomed before Daniel on her hands and knees, like a huge tigress, rising up a full 9 feet in the air. He was completely smothered in her shadow, and his body was now trembling uncontrollably as her shadow, bit by bit, continued to swallow him up. Emma wasn’t moving now, though…it was her body, still growing, growing before him.

“You look like a little animal down there!” she laughed, swaying her burgeoning breasts back and forth from her crouched position. “Do you REALLY think that you have a say in what happens to you right now?”

“Emma…p-please,” begged Daniel. “You’re t-talking crazy right now…y-you’re…you’re scaring me!”

“Hah! Well maybe it’s ok that you’re a little scared,” replied Emma, now showing her teeth in her smile. “Maybe that’s what it’ll take for you to acknowledge how things have changed.”

“B-but…but Emma, they haven’t changed!” cried Daniel desperately. “Not really!! You’re still YOU!!”

“Haven’t changed?” repeated Emma, raising both her eyebrows amusedly. “You can’t be serious, Daniel. LOOK at me right now! LOOK at what I’ve become…what I’m STILL becoming! Even as we speak right now, I’m STILL GROWING!”

She extended out her hand again next to his body, making him flinch. Her fingers were now creeping up towards his waist. Laughing musically, she leaned forward a little more and dug her elbow into the dirt beside him, comparing the height of her forearm to his body. She wiggled her fingers playfully in his face — he was only a few inches taller than her forearm, and obviously a lot less strong. She extended out her pinkie finger and dabbed him gently in the face, covering it completely.

“Look at that,” whispered Emma in an awestruck voice. “Look at how huge I am now compared to you….mmmmmmm, and I can still feel it coursing through me. I’m still growing, Daniel…still growing…oh my GOD, this is the biggest spurt ever!! Can you BELEVE it!?”

Daniel could NOT believe it — Emma replanted her arm out in front of herself, fully extended, and he once again found himself in the looming shadow of this gargantuan entity. This didn’t feel like Emma — that gleam in her eye had only grown brighter, and as she swelled huger and huger before him, he couldn’t help but feel that she was surpassing him in every conceivable way. That grin on her face seemed to say as much.

Emma could hardly contain herself any longer. The more she grew, the more awake she became, and the warmer she felt inside. It was absolutely exhilarating, crouched there like a tigress, literally growing over her prey. She knew that she wasn’t going to hurt Daniel, but in the moment, it was fun for her to imagine that he was a little animal that she had been stalking…hunting. His little body was just so…prime, so cute…so ready for her to do whatever she wanted to it.

“Take off your underwear,” she giggled down at him, “And those silly little socks!”

“Wh-what…for?” Daniel asked, but a moment later Emma had tilted her head slightly and arched her eyebrow, and he was taking them off.

“Puuurfect,” she murmured, feeling the arousal spread across her body like electricity, mixing with the melted-gold warmth of her continuous growth. “Now you’re ready.”

Daniel didn’t need to ask what he was now ready for, because a second later Emma had swooped down her hand, caught up his body in her firm grasp, and brought him up towards her open mouth.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Emma giggled, opening her mouth wider than Daniel could have believed possible. A crazy, primal fear cracked his brain, and his entire body became rigid with fear. She was going to eat him…she was actually…going to EAT him!?!?

“Emma…Emma, no…NO!! No, put me down, put me down!!” he screamed, kicking his legs wildly as he strove without result to free himself. But Emma simply turned his body around, so that he was facing the barn entrance, and backed him slowly up to her plump, awaiting lips. He felt his bare feet brush them, and he felt their heavy weight begin to slowly press into his lower legs. He felt her smile as her lips literally grew into his legs, lightly denting their plush redness with his shins. Daniel could see the light from the afternoon sun streaming in through the barn entrance, and, somewhere off in the distance, he could even see the farmhouse. He thought of yelling out for help, but what was her family going to do!? What could anyone do?

“I don’t think you realize,” chuckled Emma, brushing his legs with her lips, “That it doesn’t matter what you say right now. I wanna put you in my mouth and SUCK on you, and that’s what I’m gonna do. You’re like a little treat for me…and it doesn’t make any sense for me not to gobble you up. Mmmmmmm!”

Without wasting any more time, Emma pulled the lower half of Daniel’s body into her mouth. Her lips sealed shut around his belly button. She had inhaled his legs completely, and instantly, he felt the searing hot tug of her suckle against his cock and balls. He didn’t have any choice in the matter — his body was a slave to its physiological reactions, and even though he was terribly frightened, he felt himself get hard in her mouth. His feet hit her tonsils, and she gagged a little, laughing at herself as she recovered herself and flattened her tongue, making room for him as his feet slid into the back of her throat.

“Sttheeee, Daaahnniel,” she muttered into his body, sucking on him in between words, focusing on repressing her gag reflex, “Auh realithed thsomething…mmmmmm….you tasthh gooood…”

“Stop, Emma…” moaned Daniel, his eyes shut tightly in mental pain and anguish, trying desperately to resist the inexorable pull of her lips, which continued to grow and burgeon around him. He was now just a head and a torso, struggling fruitlessly, hanging out of her mouth. “Please…I’m begging you…stop…”

“MmMm,” she chuckled deeply, shaking her head back and forth, and his body with it. “I waaaaan it, Dahnyll…..soh auhm taaaking eh!”

Emma flared her nostrils as she took a deep breath — she couldn’t believe how hot she was now, with HALF of Daniel’s body in her mouth. The attention she was paying to repressing her gag reflex was making it that much more arousing for her…SHE was in total control here. SHE was making it all happen, and there wasn’t anything that he was going to do to stop her. And why should he even try? She had to be at least 20 feet tall now…and her body still hadn’t slowed down yet. She could still feel the warmth rushing over her, penetrating her bones. A quick glance down at the rest of her body confirmed that it was still growing, still swelling in the hay. She crossed her eyes to get a good look at Daniel down the bridge of her nose. His little torso was squirming, going back and forth, back and forth, trying to get out. He still didn’t get it. He didn’t understand what was going on…what had already happened. If he had understood, then he would be relaxing, enjoying the privilege of what she was giving him. He didn’t understand it now? That was fine…but he WOULD understand, soon enough.

Emma sucked hard, wriggling and writhing her tongue against Daniel’s little cock and balls as her lips puckered and undulated erotically around his waist.

“Huuuuhhhhh!!” Daniel cried, shaking his head back and forth. “Nooooo! No, PLEASE….Emma!! It’s TOO MUCH!! TOO MUCH!!! STOPPPPPP!!”

Emma shook her head and kept laughing, transported by the wave of lust that was against her mind. She was gonna make him cum…she was gonna suck that cum right out of his balls, right up out of that cute little cock of his, and he was going to just give up and shoot and spurt it all into her mouth. If this was what it was going to take, for him to see how much control she had…how much power she had…how much HE was HERS…then so much the better. She felt his body go totally rigid against her lips, and she responded by sucking even harder, sensing the impending orgasm.

“NOOOO!!” screamed Daniel, his voice rising to an inhuman, screeching wail. To Emma, it sounded rather cute, and she delighted in the hot burst of cum that quickly followed, spraying across her tongue, instantly sending it alive with salty tingles.

“MmmmmMmmmmmmm!” moaned Emma appreciatively, sucking up all the cum into the back of her mouth and swallowing it hungrily. She registered that Daniel’s body had gone limp in her mouth, and, crossing her eyes again, she saw his torso hanging from her lips, his arms dangling downward, his head lolling from side to side.

‘Did he just pass out?’ Emma thought to herself, feeling her clit twinge as the heat of the exchange washed over her. She flexed her throat, priming to gargle his cum in his face for fun. She reached out to pet his little head with her finger. The warmth of her growth spurt was still in her bones, but Emma could tell that it was finally slowing down. She moved Daniel’s head up and down a little with her finger; it lolled again in place.

‘Huh…he DID pass out,’ thought Emma. The thought aroused her, but she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. She had wanted him to see her play around with his cum in her mouth. ‘God, that would’ve been sooooo hot,’ she thought to herself, flexing her throat again as she swallowed his cum down reluctantly. She tongued his lower legs, petting his hair softly with her finger. ‘Still…there’s always next time…when I wake him up…’

“Stop RIGHT there!!” yelled a voice suddenly from the barn entrance. Emma looked up, mildly interested, to see that there were ten police officers standing there, blocking the entrance, with their weapon drawn.

“Uhhh…excuse me?” replied Emma, pulling Daniel gently out of her mouth and laying his unconscious body down on the hay next to her.

“Don’t…make another move!!” yelled the lead officer, stepping out in front. “You’re under arrest, ma’m — you need to come with us.”

Emma was grinning now. This had to be some kind of joke. All these little police officers in their little uniforms, with their little guns pointed up at her — it was too cute.

“Oh my godddddd, I love your little outfits!” Emma giggled. “They’re adoooorable!”

“Ma’m…I’m warning you!” called the officer. “We don’t want to use force, but we WILL if you don’t cooperate!”

“Huh,” mused Emma, her eyes going over the collection of cops in front of her. She suddenly realized that, no, this was NOT a joke, and that they actually WERE there to arrest her. Still, the realization wasn’t really a cause for concern — it was just a lovely little opportunity for her. She glanced sideways at Daniel…he seemed to be sleeping away peacefully there, half of his body covered in her saliva. She laughed softly to herself, faced the officers, and stood up. The cops watched her rise up and up and UP above their heads, and their mouths opened, aghast and awestruck at the same time. Emma’s head stretched up and up, until the top of it banged into the upper barn rafters.

“Oww!! Fuck!” Emma laughed, rubbing the top of her head as she stepped away from the overhanging top rafter. She hadn’t seen it, but her exclamation had made all the cops back away even more, as they put their hands to their ears to protect their hearing from her powerful voice. Free from its confines, the top of her head was now actually scraping the very roof of the barn itself. She looked down at the astonished assembly before her, who were all at least a foot shorter than her knees. They all backed up a step or two, causing Emma to giggle down at them playfully. She wiggled her toes in the hay. Her legs were like tree trunks now, and she had to arch her head over her breasts to even see the party of police trying to arrest her. In the past ten minutes, she had grown a full three feet — she was 21 feet tall now, heavier by a full ton than she had ever been before, and yet, in her spirit, she felt lighter than air.

She suddenly had a hankering for fresh air.

“So…you’re gonna arrest me, officer?” she teased down at the lieutenant, putting her hands on her hips as she stared wide-eyed down at him in all her naked glory. “Got any cuffs big enough for me?”

Chapter 23

A pleasant gust of cool breeze blew through the top opening of the barn, washing through the rafters and gently touching Emma’s face as it barely ruffled her red hair. It smelled so sweet, so delicious, that Emma unconsciously let out a little sigh of pleasure. She definitely wanted to go out in the open to get some fresh air. She looked back down at the assembled mass of police officers who were gathered and crouched tensely at the barn’s entrance, with their little toy guns trained on her. Emma blew out another exhale of quiet laughter down at them, and they backed up again as a massed unit, even tenser, some of them visibly shaking. She knew that these were real cops, and that their uniforms weren’t costumes, and that the guns and tasers in their hands weren’t toys…but it was just hard, SO hard, for her to take them seriously. They looked like little action figures, none of them coming up less than a foot below her knees. She put her tongue in between her teeth and looked up at the bird’s nest in the barn rafters.

‘Come on Em,’ she laughed to herself, ‘Get with it…this is…heheh…this isn’t a game. These little men are for real, hahaha!’

“Come…WITH you?” asked Emma, bending herself down towards them, resting her hands on her knees. She couldn’t suppress a giggle as she saw them all backing away from her again, just because of this simple action. “THAT doesn’t make sense, mister…uhhh…mister police officer man, haha! Come with you WHERE?”

“W-we’re taking you down to the station,” came the lieutenant’s reply, his taser trembling in his hand as he pointed up towards Emma’s exposed naked belly.

“The station? Haha, you’re just trying to be funny, aren’t you?” Emma knew, somewhere in her mind, that the officer wasn’t doing anything of the sort. She knew that, from the perspective of the police, and of the little gathering of her family watching anxiously from behind, that this was a very serious situation. But it didn’t make any sense! Why would they be arresting her right now!? She had literally just been sleeping, and then Daniel had come in to check on her, and then they had had a nice little intimate time that had been maybe a little too much for him, and…that was it! The cops had come to break it all up. They couldn’t have possibly known anything about her unless…

Emma turned her gaze slowly past the police to her family, and then, specifically, at Daisy. She felt her brain darken as she began to put the pieces together. So Daisy had called the cops on her. Who else would have done such a thing!? Not her dad — he had never much cared for the police. And her mom surely wouldn’t have wanted the situation to escalate like this. Only Daisy…her sister…the one who had been angry at her, yelling at her, calling her names…SHE had been the one, and Emma knew it.

Emma exhaled through her nose as she looked up at the barn rafters again. Her mind was awash in all kinds of conflicting emotions, but right now, as she stared away from all the people beneath her, she allowed her anger to really come through. She couldn’t believe it! Her own sister…betraying her like this! Of all the…

But Emma felt her mouth open a little, and she let out a little exhale of a laugh. What did it matter, what Daisy was TRYING to do? Whatever it was, it’s not like it was going to work! Emma marveled at how quickly she was able to recover from that dark flash of anger, and she again noticed the bird’s nest in the rafters. She smiled at it fondly before looking down again at the ridiculous little gaggle of people beneath her.

“Th-there’s nothing funny about what we just saw, ma’m!” responded the lieutenant. “Now come on…slowly…with us…out of the barn…”

“What did you just see?” asked Emma, genuinely puzzled as she put her hands on her hips. She was so big now, though, that one of her elbows went through the upper portion of the barn wall, smashing a large hole in it with a loud crash. The police officers backed away in alarm, and one of them actually fired his taser from sheer instinct. Luckily for him, the barb missed Emma’s thigh, and the clicking sound of the taser was drowned out by Emma’s voice, which shook the foundations of the barn even though she was speaking normally.

“Oh wait…WAIT!” she exclaimed, starting to laugh. Everyone down below covered their ears. “Are you, like…are you saying that you little people were SPYING on me and him!?” She pointed down to Daniel’s unconscious body in the hay. “While we were having our PRIVATE time!?”

“That is not what I saw happening, ma’m!” called up the lieutenant, nodding at his team. “We were called about a possible crime taking place, and what I saw definitely looked like r—”

“You’re actually serious, aren’t you?” laughed Emma, putting up a colossal hand to interrupt. She looked over at her family. “Do they even know? Daisy? Did you tell them what’s actually going on? You know…with me and everything.” She looked straight down at the lieutenant and gave him a bright smile. “Because this little man wouldn’t be talking to me like this, all serious-like, if he knew…”

“Last warning ma’m!” shouted the lieutenant, bracing himself along with the rest of his crew, their tasers drawn. A few of the cops were pointing with real guns as well.

“Don’t shoot her!!” screamed Maisy suddenly from behind. “Not like this!! This isn’t what we wanted!!”

“Shoot me!?” chuckled Emma, her eyebrows going up. “Haha, mom, come on, when these guys are done playing we can all…we can all, ummm…”

But Emma trailed off there, because she had suddenly felt a series of slightly stinging sensations in the area of her upper thighs and hips. A series of loud, aggressive-sounding clicks filled the air, and Emma realized that several of the officers, the lieutenant included, had fired their tasers at her. They didn’t even feel like insect bites — after the initial sting, the flesh of her thighs and hips absorbed the voltage, soaking it up like it was nothing.

A whirl of emotions flashed through her mind, and for an instant, Emma actually reverted back to her old office-worker self, someone who would have been positively petrified to have been the focus of so many cops, let alone tased by them. But this was only one streak of emotion rifling through her brain — she was irritated that they had actually been bold enough to SHOOT her with those little toys they were holding, though, of course, they hadn’t done much good. She was also confused; why were the police taking all of this so seriously? What on earth was their problem!? But quickly, one dominant emotion swallowed up all the others; Emma simply couldn’t stifle her laughter. They all looked so absurd down there, with those little wires attached to their guns, staring up at her with growing fear, as they realized their plan had fallen flat.

“Haha, you actually thought those little things would DO something to me?!” she laughed. “Get real! And get out of my way — I’m gonna get some fresh air. You better leave Daniel alone — let him sleep. I tuckerd him out, haha!”

Emma stepped toward the cops, fully intending on dipping her head and walking out of the barn, but very quickly, everything changed. Emma’s size, combined with her flippant attitude, was positively menacing for the cops there, and when she had stepped towards them, a few of the ones who had their actual guns drawn panicked…and fired up at her.

“NO!! STOPPP!!” cried Maisy, rushing forward with her hands raised up. Daisy had started forward too in horror, and Jim was yelling something as well. But Emma couldn’t really hear much of all that down there. What she felt was a sudden sharp pain, a bit more intense than the tasers, in her lower stomach, and most pointedly, right on the inside of her groin, directly to the left of her sensitive labia. The bullets penetrated through the upper layer of her skin, but no further, and when Emma moved her body, her skin flexed and stretched, and bullets fell out onto the ground. They had barely drawn any blood. But they HAD hurt a little, most particularly the one close to her labia. That one had smarted fiercely, like someone her own size had flicked that spot with their finger. The loud pops of the guns told Emma that they had actually started firing live ammunition at her, and that knowledge, combined with the sharp, stinging pain in her groin, made something snap in her. Now she was actually angry, and remained so.

“The FUCK are you doing?” she burst out. She wasn’t actually raising her voice much, but it still vibrated with the energy of her anger. At the word “FUCK,” she had swiftly bent down towards the two cops closer to her who had fired, far faster than any of them could have expected, and swung the back of her right hand down toward them. There was no possible way they could have gotten out of the way. Emma felt their bodies give way like little dolls against her backhanded motion, and they both went flying backward, hitting the side of the barn wall and crumpling down motionless in a heap together.

As she had bent down, Emma felt another series of stings, this time up and around her neck and face. They were actually firing at her again! Only this time, the bullets were actually hitting thinner skin, closer to her eyes. They hurt more, but just like the previous ones, once Emma swiftly moved, the bullets dropped out of the top layer of her skin and fell to the ground. To Emma, though, the added shots made her even angrier. It felt like a little swarm of bees was suddenly stinging her face and neck…and the thought that one of these bullets might actually hit her in the eye and permanently damage her vision pushed Emma over the edge.

“Ok…stop…STOP it!” she snapped, swinging her hand again towards the front line of cops. This time, they had all already gone scurrying into a retreat, and they managed to avoid Emma’s initial sideswipe at them. But she was already moving in their direction, and before they could get any farther, she swung out her leg, tripping all four of them, and making them face-plant down in the dirt, right outside the barn. Emma was shaking her head and blinking rapidly, to try and get over the stinging in her face, but even now, there was something humorous to her about the line of policemen, all lying face-down in the dirt next to each other. She was too high up to notice that two of the cops she had tripped had actually suffered broken legs from the contact with her foot. The two other ones tried to get up, but very quickly, Emma put her foot down over them, hardly even pressing into them at all. But they screamed out nonetheless:

“Nooooo!!! Pleeeeease!!! Don’t!!! Don’t step on us!!!”

“Well don’t shoot me then!” countered Emma, putting her hands on her hips as she continued shaking her head down at them.

“Here…here, guns…there they are…no guns!!” they both cried, tossing their weapons out at her feet. Emma bent down and picked one of the handguns up, bringing it up to her eye level as she pointed it away from herself, marveling at how tiny it was in her fingers. She could barely even keep hold of it.

“Huh…better get rid of this thing before I accidentally shoot it off,” muttered Emma to herself, and she simply squeezed it in between her fingers, crushing the gun instantly into a flat sheet of metal. She admired the shiny little disk for a moment, turning it around between her fingers, before casually flicking it away onto the ground. There was a lot of indistinct shouting going on below her, but so far up, it was hard for Emma to understand what was being said. She vaguely understood that some of the police officers on the ground were yelling out…sounding like they were in pain or something. She looked down and saw that the two beneath her feet were flailing their little arms under her toes. Seeing their movements, she was able to register that their movements did actually feel like something…just the slightest bit of a tickle on the bottom of her foot. Her cheek and neck still stung a little from the bullets, and Emma put her hand up to her face and felt the slightly-raised beginnings of small welts. Her mind alighted on her anger again.

“Hey! Now my face hurts!” she said irately down to the two cops pinned under her foot, as she gestured to her cheek. “What were you even thinking!?”

“We’re s-sorry!! We’re sorry!!” yelled the officers from between her toes. “Just please…let us get up!!!”

“Well if I DO that,” mused Emma, lolling her head to the side as she continued to look down at them, “Will you promise to just go away and leave me alone?”

The two men were about to offer their most sincere promises to that exact effect, but they were interrupted by the loud voice of their lieutenant, who was now speaking through a megaphone.

“Step away from the officers!” blared the lieutenant through the loudspeaker. “Take your foot off them…NOW!”

Emma looked with curiosity on the scene below. More cops seemed to have arrived, and they now numbered around 15 or 20. All of them seemed to have their guns drawn now, and were pointing them directly up at Emma’s face. For the first time in the encounter, she had a flash of fear — what if they all shot at once, up at her eyes? She had always had excellent vision — her eyesight had been something she was proud of. And here all these ridiculous tiny men were, threatening her like this. Her fear quickly morphed into real rage, and she very nearly decided to simply increase her weight on her foot, just to show all these silly puffed-up men who they were dealing with. But she glanced down at the trapped officers beneath her feet, and caught sight of the wide-eyed terror in their faces, in between her toes. They were so tiny…so completely helpless…like the little squirrels she had caught in traps in the forest when she was a kid. And just like the squirrels, these men were acting on pure instinct now. They wanted to get away from her.

Without even thinking, she took her foot off them, and watched as they scampered away, falling on their faces several times, as they ran in behind the line of armed officers. The other two cops she had tripped hadn’t moved. But Emma wasn’t much worried about them. She frowned at the assembled crowd, and noticed that her family behind them seemed to be restrained. It was like they were being prevented from interfering. Another surge of a different kind of anger went through Emma as she looked at Daisy.

‘Is this what you wanted?’ she thought as she looked at her sister. ‘Well, this is what you asked for, anyway.’

Emma started turning away from the whole crowd, and she looked out past the plowed fields to the pond in the distance. In the west, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, signaling the end of the day…The afternoon was late, and the sky was beginning to glow red. Emma sighed out pleasantly, conveniently forgetting everything behind her. It might be nice to take another little dip in the pond...the nice cool water…she could submerge again completely and block out all the sound from the outside world. It would be so nice, so peaceful.

‘Yeah…let’s do it!’ she thought to herself happily, and she started swinging her legs out towards the pond. She didn’t even realize how much her movements made the ground shake. She hadn’t gone more than a single pace when she felt the stinging little bees again, this time all over her back. Her eyes widened, not in pain but in renewed rage, and she whirled back around.

“WHAT!?!” she bellowed down at the officers. “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME, HUH!?!”

She was feeling the little stings on her front now, but she didn’t care. She held up a hand over her eyes to protect them as she angrily stomped forward, leaving footprints that were well over twelve inches deep in the hard dirt. The lieutenant was shouting something at her in his pathetic little megaphone, but Emma’s voice easily drowned him out.

“YOU WANNA TAKE ME IN!?” she yelled down at them. “YOU WANNA ARREST ME?? WELL GUESS WHAT!? YOU CAN’T!!! YOU CAN”T MAKE ME DO ANYTHING!!! I JUST WANT YOU TO GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

She went straight for the lieutenant himself, swooping her hand down and catching him up, her fingers easily going all the way around his waist as she yanked him up to her face, nearly breaking his back from the sudden whiplash. He found himself face to face with the glowering face of the giantess, her face contorted into an angry frown, as she held him close to her face, so that there was only a few feet in between them. The lieutenant’s megaphone had fallen out of his hand on the way up, but he was still holding his gun. Emma quickly pinched it away with her thumb and forefinger, effortlessly flattening it into another shiny disk in front of his eyes as she continued to scowl down at him.

“THERE!” she boomed in his face, rupturing one of his eardrums, “That’s what I think of your STUPID little toys!” She let the disk drop to the ground as she looked into his eyes, gauging his reaction. She wanted to see his fear, and she wasn’t disappointed. The lieutenant was totally red in the face, and looked like he was about to pop. Emma realized that she was maybe squeezing him a little too tight, and eased up on him. She needed him to be able to speak to his little team down below, who were still shooting at her, but lower. Her lower legs stung with their gunfire. Emma took a deep breath to steady herself, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again.

“Look,” she said, the anger still trembling in her huge voice, “I’m about to lose it here, ok!? Tell your little…people…to stop shooting me.”

Emma suddenly got an idea, and whipped the lieutenant around, displaying him to the crowd of cops down below. His legs dangled fruitlessly in her grasp.

“QUIT IT!” she shouted. “STOP SHOOTING ME…OR ELSE…I’LL…I’LL SQUEEZE HIM…RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!”

It hadn’t occurred to Emma how terrifying this threat actually was, to everyone listening. The idea had just popped into her mind, and she went with it. Wasn’t that how they did it in the movies? Threaten to do something bad to get other bad stuff to stop happening? And anyway, it seemed to work. The cops had all put down their guns and were holding their hands up, yelling up at her and gesturing adamantly. The lieutenant was also yelling something down at them, although Emma couldn’t quite hear him…something like “Stop!” or “Stand down!” But Emma couldn’t really be sure.

In any case, her plan seemed to be working. She brought the cop back around to face her, and she was struck by the sudden impression that this man in her hand was not actually…a man…but instead, he was a kind of doll…a large action figure that she could play with. He was just WAY too small to be anything else. Her hand easily wrapped all the way around him, with plenty of spare room left for her fingers, each of which were thicker than his arms. Emma frowned slightly as her brow creased, although this time, it wasn’t in anger. She was simply studying him. She gently pinched his little hand in her fingers, lifting it up and letting it fall, lifting it up, and letting it fall again. She blew out a bemused exhale as she blinked at him, shaking her head. It was just too surreal. Before, when she had been playing with Daniel, this same strange thought had occurred to her…the thought that she had awoken from her nap into some kind of alternate universe, where all the “people” around her were extra small…but then again, as she looked around at the barn, the farm, and beyond, SHE was the one who was definitely out of place.

She held up the man, slightly above her head, looking closely at his dangling little feet, with their shiny little boots. Emma heard a little commotion below her, but she didn’t pay too much attention. She was too busy marveling at how tiny the cops’s little boots were.

“Heh! So cute!” she murmured, feeling an odd sense of lightness suddenly pervade her mind. She was going to have that little dip in the pond…yes…but she’d tell this cop to take his friends and go home first…but…before that…these little boots! They were precious, so much so that they were a little ridiculous

“Lemme see one of those,” she muttered to herself, and she pinched his boot in between her fingers and popped it right off his foot, eliciting a pained howl from the lieutenant as his tendons stretched unnaturally.

“Oh what?” teased Emma, shaking her head at him. “Stop whining. I’m just getting a closer look at your little —”

But right then, the cops below started shooting again. They had seen Emma yanking off their lieutenant’s boot, and they thought that she was about to do to him what she had done to Daniel. And so, naturally, they reverted to their only defensive option. Emma felt the little stings on her legs again, and her calm evaporated instantly.

“I TOLD them….to STOP!!” she yelled at the lieutenant, who was now barely conscious in her hand. Between Emma’s shouting, and her painful manipulation of his body with her fingers, he was barely in control of his faculties. She brandished his body at them again, shaking him violently in her hand, back and forth, so that his head and limbs lolled all over the place, like he was a marionette.

“YOU WANT ME TO SQUEEZE HIM, HUH!?” she thundered down at them, and without waiting for an answer, she whipped him back around, so he was looking straight into her face, and started squeezing him slowly. Almost instantly, the man’s face turned a dark red, and then purple, as his cheeks puffed up with blood, and his eyes grew bloodshot. Emma bore down on him, frowning under glowering eyes as she kept going. She was going to show him how big of a mistake he had made, coming to the farm, and bringing all this…nonsense along. But when blood started trickling out of the man’s nose, and his left ear, Emma stopped herself. She wasn’t really trying to…to KILL the man. That was going way too far, of course.

‘But you’re about to, Em,’ she suddenly thought to herself. ‘You’re about to kill him.’

She softened her grip, and the man gasped out in relief. Just then, though, a sharpshooter from the back of the cop crowd fired a sniper shot from a powerful rifle, and it would have hit Emma in the eye if she hadn’t shifted a little at the last second. Even still, the bullet hit the side of her orbital bone, penetrating deep enough into the skin to stay lodged in there. It was ultimately a relatively harmless shot, but it sure hurt more than anything else they had shot at her.

“OUCH!!” she growled, baring her teeth in pain. “FUCK!! OK, THAT’S IT!!!”

She held the lieutenant up close to her face one more time, and for an instant, she was about to crush him right then and there, in front of everyone. But Emma knew she didn’t actually want this to happen, so she instead did the next thing that came into her mind. She reared back and threw him. As soon as he left his hand, the little stings on her lower legs stopped. The cops had all stopped shooting their weapons, and were watching in horror as their lieutenant flew through the air. Emma was watching him too.

‘Ohhhhh shit….shitshitshit!!,’ she thought immediately as she watched his body hurtle far out over the plowed field. ‘Fuckkkk...no, no! I hope I didn’t BREAK him…I mean, uhhh…hurt him…or…’

It was obvious that the man wasn’t going to survive. Emma hadn’t intended on it at all, but she had thrown him in an arc reaching almost 60 feet up into the air, in a long, long trajectory that was sure to end in a violent, deadly collision with the ground. Unless…

Emma didn’t realize it, but she was skipping after the lieutenant anxiously, trying to get a closer look where he would fall. She knew that she had just done something…bad…or at least, in her mind, she was registering that there would be consequences to what she had just done. But right now, she was just locked on the man’s downward path, hoping that somehow, he would end up landing in a soft pile of mud or a stray bale of hay or maybe…

The pond glittered in the dying red light of the sunset. Emma felt her heart leap a little. His fall seemed to be perfectly coordinated…could it be!? Could he really be going straight for it?? Emma felt herself inhale expectantly as she continued her anxious skipping after him. She saw his little arms and legs waving and gesturing wildly as he flew through the air, and it occurred to her that, in the act of throwing him, she might have actually hurt him a little. The way he was tumbling through the air reminded her of someone falling down a steep hill, and who can’t stop their momentum. She knew that she couldn’t possibly catch up to him, but maybe, just maybe…he’d end up landing in the pond.

And he did. Emma cracked into an open-mouthed smile as she blew out her breath in relief. By sheer luck, the lieutenant had fallen almost exactly into the middle of the pond, where the water was deep enough to accommodate his fall. A moment later, the sound of the splash arrived in Emma’s ears. She was already rushing up to the pond, the cool twilight air rushing pleasantly over her bare skin as she ran. She didn’t realize how much she was shaking the ground with her long, powerful strides; she didn’t hear the ambulances behind her, or the paramedics tending to the scores of injured cops she had left in her wake. All she was focused on was making sure that she got this lieutenant out of the water safely, and apologized to him.

She was encouraged to see his body struggling and floundering in the water when she came to the pond’s edge and, without even thinking, she waded into the water, going up to her mid-thighs at the 10-foot mark as she reached down and plucked the coughing, spitting, stunned man out of the water. The lieutenant seemed to have lost about half his clothing in the ordeal of being thrown; his uniform was torn diagonally down the side, and his chest was bare. Both of his feet were bootless now, and one of his feet hung limply in the air; unwittingly, Emma had snapped his ankle, taking off his boot a minute before.

“Oh my god…heheh, I’m soooo sorry,” Emma chuckled contritely, laughing a little in embarrassment. “I, uhh…wow, yeah, totally didn’t mean to throw you that far.”

“It’s…*huhhuhhuh* it’s…o-okay…m-ma’m,” panted the lieutenant. There was no more following protocol now, for him or his officers. He knew he was lucky to be alive, and that the most pressing matter now, for him and his team, was to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“God, you sure you’re alright?” asked Emma kindly, petting the man’s wet head with the tip of her finger. “I just threw you across the farm, haha! I mean, hey…it’s ok to take a little deep breath and just, you know…relax for a minute.”

The cop shuddered at the giantess’s touch, but even in his disoriented, fearful state, he knew better than to try and squirm away from her now. This woman was seriously ill in her mind, and the best thing that he could think to do was just to play along with her when she was being gentle, like she was now.

“Ok…*huhhuh*…ok,” he breathed, nodding his head. Emma watched him silently for a few moments, her hand now cradling half of his body as she continued to gently pet him with her finger. The adrenaline of having just avoided a horrible mistake was still coursing through her, but she was making sure to take deep breaths herself, along with the officer. A cheerful lightness came over her, as can often happen when a catastrophe is avoided, and she started probing the cop’s body a little with her finger. She felt a strange, fascinating sense of childlike curiosity, now that she was free to simply admire how small this man was. There weren’t any annoying hordes of cops shooting at her now, and she could be free to explore at will. She drew her huge finger over his heaving little chest, tracing his tiny arms, and going down to his legs. She thought of tearing off the cop’s pants, just to get a look at his little cock, but just then, she remembered that she had left Daniel sleeping in the hay. After all that commotion in the barn, surely he had woken up! She wanted to see if he was ok.

Emma looked up towards the barn, and for the first time noticed the assembly of ambulances flashing their red lights into the gathering gloom. A nasty twinge ate at the back of her mind, but she brushed it away.

“I th-think…m-ma’m…” heaved the lieutenant, “I think I need…an ambulance too.”

“What? An ambulance?” asked Emma, distracted. “What for? You landed in the pond.”

“I…I th-think…my insides…uhhh…got all jumbled up, ma’m…uh…n-not your fault, of…of course.” Emma peered down closer at him and saw that he had gone pale. She started to worry about him, and her legs began moving back towards the barn.

“Well no, but…all you cops, coming in with your little guns,” Emma muttered, half to herself. “You shouldn’t have been shooting at me.” She peered down at the lieutenant again in her hand, slightly tightening her fingers around him. “Right? You shouldn’t have shot me, you know?”

“I know, I know, m-ma’m!” exclaimed the lieutenant quickly, nodding his head as energetically as he could. “We were…we were wrong! We made a mistake!!”

“Well alright,” said Emma, frowning slightly, “I’m bringing you back. But they better not shoot at me again, ok? Or else I’m…uhhh.” Emma shook her head as she stared off into the distance. She actually didn’t know what she would do…but she knew that it wouldn’t be pleasant.

“W-wait…wait!” cried the lieutenant, holding his hands up. “L-let me…let me make sure that they’re, uhh…that they’re not going to do that, o-ok!?”

“Do what?” asked Emma, distracted by the hullabaloo she was approaching. Sirens, flashing red lights, people dashing all around…people lying on stretchers…little things on their faces…things that Emma realized were oxygen masks after puzzling over it for a moment. Everyone was hurrying, like they were trying to get out of there as fast as possible, and every step she took, they became more and more frantic.

“Shoot at you!” yelled the lieutenant. “I want to make sure…they won’t shoot at you!! So c-could you…stop for a second, please? Ma’m?!” Quite sensibly, he was afraid for his life, and was terrified that even a single shot would send Emma back on her rampage, which would likely leave him torn in half.

“Uh, ok, sure,” said Emma, stopping for a second. She was still distracted by the commotion. When had all this happened!? She knew in the back of her mind that it was to do with her, but for the moment she was just confused, seeing it all.

“Don’t shoot!! I’m ok!!” shouted the lieutenant, cupping his mouth in his hands as he called down to the people on the ground. “I repeat — do NOT shoot!! Do NOT engage!!” Emma was slightly taken aback by how wild and uncanny the man’s voice sounded.

‘Gosh, he’s totally freaked out,’ she thought to herself bemusedly.

“Lieutenant!?” called up one of the officers, who still had his weapon drawn. “Lieutenant? Talk to me! Are you —”

“Shut the fuck up and put your gun away!!” yelled the lieutenant, his voice cracking. “Everyone!! Get in the cruisers and GO!! LEAVE!!!”

The other officers seemed to understand the direness of their boss’s warning, and they immediately obeyed, turning to run to their cars, crossing into the paramedics, and some of them colliding with each other. Emma watched all of this with a kind of distracted, distant interest…but really, she felt gratified. They were all leaving, and she could be free to go check on Daniel.

“Ma’m?” came the lieutenant’s voice, sounding hoarse and strained. “Do you think you c-could…uhhh…I mean, if you’d be so kind…?”

“Huh?” asked Emma, blinking as she looked down on him. For a second, she had wondered how this thing in her hand could be talking, but then she of course remembered that it was, in fact, a living man.

“Could y-you…uhm…p-put me down, please?” he asked, as pleasantly and gently as he could.

“Down? Oh…Oh! Yeah, sure…sorry,” said Emma, and she bent down immediately, depositing the lieutenant on the ground. Wincing with pain, he nonetheless wasted no time in crawling into a cruiser, and moments later, it was speeding away, along with the rest of the police cars and ambulances. Away from Emma’s attention, a duo of cops had just given up trying to persuade Maisy and Jim to get into the car with them. Both of Emma’s parents had refused to leave her there, even though a substantial part of them wanted to flee too.

All of a sudden, everything had gone quiet. All the activity had ceased, the flashing red and blue lights disappearing into the distance at a rapid pace. The sun had now totally set, and the light-sensitive farm lights had switched on around the farm, flooding the front of the barn in a haze of dull orange light. Emma looked down at her parents, and suddenly felt a little chilly. They were huddled close to each other, looking up at her with wide, concerned eyes. Emma couldn’t tell if they were afraid OF her, FOR her, or both, both either way, she didn’t feel like dealing with them at the moment. She still wasn’t sure who had called the cops, and didn’t want to think about it too hard. The corner of her eye was hurting, and the right side of her face, her lower stomach, and the skin up and down her legs was starting to itch and burn a little uncomfortably. She glanced down at her body and saw masses of little red and purple welts beginning to form all over, like she had just been stung by a swarm of bees.

“Fuck!” she whispered frustratedly, itching herself all over. She brought her hand up to the corner of her eye, which was hurting the most and touched it, squeezing the little welt that had formed there, like a little pimple. A second later, she felt a little something pop out, and she held it up to her face in the light on the top of the barn. A little pebble…no…a bullet, she suddenly realized. She felt a little flash of anger, but it died away quickly as she flicked the bullet far out into the gathering night. She really wanted to see Daniel now.

Emma dipped her head under the barn entrance and came inside. An orange kerosene lamp filled the interior with soft light that clashed strangely with the disorder around. The hay, normally kept neat, was everywhere, and some of it was still drifting through the air in lazy wisps. If Emma hadn’t been so high up, she would have noticed the bloodstains on the walls. but she wasn’t looking at any of that. Daisy was there, kneeling down over something…Daniel…who looked like he was just now waking up. Emma bent down to brush Daisy aside, but she didn’t need to — her sister had heard her enter, and had staggered backward, eyes as big as saucers, until her back hit the wall. Emma didn’t pay her much attention; she was focused on her little boyfriend, who was blinking and coughing out in to the barn air.

“Heyyyyy there!” Emma murmured, feeling immediately happy that he was waking up. She gently knelt down and tucked her legs underneath her, reaching out to Daniel to scoop him up and cuddle. But Daniel seemed to come to his senses rapidly and, seeing her hands incoming, his eyes got big and he spasmed backward in the hay, crawling backward in desperation away from her.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” chuckled Emma, thinking that he must have been having a bad dream. “It’s just me! Just me!”

But that didn’t seem to help. Daniel just crawled away from her even more frantically. He spotted Daisy plastered up against the wall, and he staggered to his feet, totally naked, and rushed straight over to her. She opened her arms to him and received him, and together they rushed out of the barn, leaving Emma there alone, her arms extended after them.

Emma wasn’t even angry. Not yet. She was just totally and utterly confused…perplexed. None of it made any sense. She started to rise up to follow them, but then she suddenly sank back into her kneeling position. She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand any of it…but more than anything, she felt hurt. Daniel had just run away from her, and she had no idea why. And even worse, Daisy seemed to be in on the whole thing, acting like Emma was about to do something terrible as soon as she saw her.

Emma felt an awful load sinking down into her brain, and she wanted to cry…of all the moments, she thought, now was definitely one of those times to cry. But the tears wouldn’t come. Even though her lip trembled as she watched her family retreating into their house, her mind couldn’t focus itself enough for her to cry. She would have welcomed the release, but she couldn’t have it right now. Blinking rapidly, and her heart beating quickly, she gathered up the chaotically-strewn hay around her, creating a makeshift bed, and lay down on her side, staring forlornly at the little flickering flame in the kerosene lamp, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened.

Hundreds of miles away, the group of stony-faced men were watching live drone footage of what had just happened. The dark room was thick with tension, and several of the men were shaking their heads.

“My god…” breathed the young Captain Casey as he stared at the screen. “It’s happening…it’s finally happening.”

“And sooner than we thought,” came the gruff voice of General Garrick, who was sitting at the head of the table.

“Sooner than YOU thought, actually,” said Casey angrily, turning on the general. “Now look what’s happened! A dozen officers in the hospital, if not KILLED, just because you didn’t think it was time to —”

“I will not,” cut in Garrick, “Be lectured right now, Casey. You know why we had to wait. Maybe you were right in overestimating her instability.”

“Overestimating!?” exclaimed Casey, looking around the room. “I think that what we just saw shows that —”

“It shows that her family…or the local police, or both…are utter fools,” said Garrick, his voice rising above the captain’s. “What we just saw is a convenient lesson for us all in how NOT to deal with her. Barring any fatalities, I think we’ll actually find this footage highly beneficial and instructional for the future.”

“So,” said Casey, shaking his head as he smiled sarcastically to himself, “So…all that aside, general…are we on now? Please tell me that we’re finally on.”

General Garrick looked around the table and folded his hands in front of him. His jaw hardened as he stared back at the screen.

“We’re on.”

Chapter 24

The next few days seemed to blend together for Emma; it didn’t matter whether it was night or day, hot or cold…she remained in the barn, curled up in the hay, trying to sleep as much as she possibly could. Whenever she was awake, her mind was troubled by a whole cacophony of memories that all clanged and clashed against each other in her brain, making it difficult to reason anything out. When she did try to focus on specific events, she either became terribly scared and remorseful, like when she remembered the vague image of ambulances dashing away into the dark, or vituperatively hurt and angry, like when she remembered how all those cops had shot at her…at her FACE…or when Daisy had opened her arms to Daniel as he staggered away from Emma…the two of them fleeing off into the night, to the house…away from her, clutching each other.

It was all too painful for Emma to seriously contemplate, and whenever she tried, her head quickly began to hurt so badly that she quickly gave up.

‘I can’t do it,’ she thought despondently. ‘I can’t think about it…ANY of it. I have no idea…no idea what’s going on.’

The bullets the police had shot at her hadn’t done any permanent damage, even the one that had nicked close to her eye. However, over the next day or two, the little pockmarks where the bullets had hit developed into an itchy rash, which partially spanned over the side of her right cheek and then down a little onto her neck. Emma tried to resist scratching it, but whenever it itched particularly badly, she just couldn’t help herself. Whenever she remembered that it was all because the police had shot bullets at her face, her mood soured, and she stewed in the anger that was once again beginning to encroach on her mind.

It didn’t help that she had become twice as hungry as she already had been before. Her massive growth spurt earlier in the week had created a permanent “new normal” as far as her diet was concerned. She was so much bigger than she had been before, and her body correspondingly required more food. Her father had started leaving food at the barn entrance. On the first day after the police had come, he had tried to engage her in conversation, but Emma had turned away from him, lying in the fetal position, showing him the huge expanse of her back.

“Just…just thought I’d, uhh…let you know, Em that, uh…that the cops in the hospital are…are all, uhhh…”

“What?” asked Emma in a hollow voice, staring at the opposite wall of the barn. “They’re all what, dad?” She felt oddly prepared to hear that they were all dead, and she had no idea how she felt about it. She felt like she would either be consumed by remorse, or would simply shrug and not feel a thing…it was a strange and unsettling place to be, mentally.

“They’re all…doing ok,” Jim said, stepping slightly around the dozens of bags of food as he tried to get a better look at Emma. Even though he was her father, and loved her dearly, he didn’t dare go into the barn. He and the rest of the family understood it as “her territory” at this point, and none of them knew how she would react if they came too close.

“A few are still in the ICU…but, uh…none of them have…have…”

“Died?” asked Emma in that same hollow voice.

“Yeah…they’re all…still alive,” said Jim. He was about to mention how a few of them, particularly the one Emma had swiped into the barn wall, had almost died, and would likely be handicapped for life, but his daughter’s voice sounded strange, and it sent chills down his spine. He decided to leave those details out.

Emma knew that he expected her to show some kind of reaction to this, but even the thought of this expectation annoyed her. She had no reaction. She felt nothing. And come to think of it, she just wanted to be alone. Jim could sense Emma’s feelings, and he pushed the bags a little closer to the entrance.

“Just, uhh…ok, ok, got your, uh…food here,” he said with uncharacteristic hesitancy and awkwardness. He started back in surprise and fear as Emma abruptly turned around in her lying position. Such a sudden movement from a 21-foot-tall giantess would have been enough to startle anyone, especially someone who had seen what Jim had seen the previous night.

Emma had seen her father’s scared reaction, and she couldn’t avoid a dark, mocking grin. Of course he was going to stagger back like that, the terrified little man. He was so tiny that of COURSE he couldn’t see that she was just lying there, minding her own business…any movement he made would totally freak him out.

‘Typical,’ she thought mockingly, shaking her head. ‘Typical tiny-person reaction…god I’m getting sick of it…so sick of it it’s actually getting funny.’

“S-sorry Em, you just…d-don’t scare me like that!” exclaimed Jim indignantly, obviously shaken as he continued stepping back with his hands held up.

“Psssh, you’re ridiculous dad,” Emma murmured, propping her head up on her arm. Even in this position, she was taller than him by a good foot or so. Her eyes fell on the bags of food, burlap bags, 16 in all.

‘That’s not even close to enough,’ she thought immediately. ‘I’ll eat it in ten minutes, and it won’t even dent my appetite.’

“A-Anything wrong?” Jim asked. He could tell that something was definitely wrong, but it was impossible for him to read Emma’s expression. She was smiling darkly at the food, almost smirking at it. More than anything, though, he was not encouraged by Emma’s attitude. If she had been remorseful and crying to herself when he came, it would have been easier for him to work with her. But she didn’t seem to be remorseful at all…worse, she didn’t really even seem to grasp what had happened.

“No,” said Emma suddenly, her eyes snapping back to her father. “Nothing’s wrong. Thanks for the food, dad.”

With her head still propped up, she used her free hand to reach over toward the bags, which were so small that she could pinch them in between her two fingers easily. Without even bothering to empty it out, she simply dropped the whole thing, meat, vegetables, bag, and all, straight into her mouth, chewing and swallowing the whole thing in a matter of seconds.

“Augh! Gack!” she exclaimed, sticking her tongue out a little as she gagged on the tough burlap. Emma felt a little irritated, in the same way that ordinary people do when they bite down on a bit of gristle in their meat, or a particularly tough stem when they’re chewing and swallowing vegetables. She hadn’t thought the bags would be too much of a problem going down, but apparently, they were a bit more difficult than she had expected.

Without pause, she pinched the second bag and dispatched it in exactly the same way, this time making sure to chew a bit more before she swallowed. Jim just stood there, watching his giant daughter wolfing down pounds of food, without even seeming to exert any effort. The sight was mesmerizing, but it was also frightening; in addition to the sheer enormity of her appetite, there was something unsettling about how she was eating the bags too.

But to Emma, it was simply easier than emptying the little things out into her mouth. Such an action would have required more effort and dexterity from her big fingers than she wanted to exert…and besides, the bags were just more fiber, anyways. Within three minutes, all 16 bags were gone. Only when there was nothing left did Jim realize that he had just been standing there, watching Emma eating.

“Uhhhh,” he muttered apologetically, and he made a move away from her back towards the farm house. He was suddenly realizing that he wasn’t comfortable just hanging out with her there, when there wasn’t food to distract her. The things he had seen her do the day before were still very fresh in his mind, and he had no idea how to predict what mood she was going to be in, or what she was going to do. It also didn’t help that her huge, curvy body was still completely naked. Jim hadn’t seen his daughter naked since she was 11 or 12, and now that he was seeing her 21-foot voluptuousness in all its glory, it wasn’t even a question of feeling awkward. He had absolutely nothing to go on.

“Wait…dad!” said Emma, and unconsciously, she knocked her fist into the ground. She had seen that he was going to run away into the house…that he was scared of her…that he was going to abandon her just like everyone else, and somehow, subconsciously, she knew that if she reminded him how big she was, it would make him stop. But she felt too lazy to actually crawl over and block his way, so she just brought her fist down into the ground…not too hard, but definitely hard enough to make the earth shake.

Jim stopped and turned around slowly, and Emma could see that he was shaking. “Wh-what is it, Em?!” he stammered.

‘Gee, maybe did it too hard,’ she thought. It was certainly a little funny, and definitely cute, to see her dad trembling like that. But more than anything else, Emma felt the prick of irritation growing stronger in her mind. For god’s sake, why was he being so freaking dramatic!? It was just HER, after all.

“I need more food than THAT, dad,” she declared, picking a strand of burlap out of her teeth. “That was like…a little snack.”

“O-ok…ok Em,” Jim said, nodding quickly. “I’ll, uhh…I’ll bring you some more here. Just might, uh, might have to go buy some more.”

“Ok, well…yeah,” said Emma, now feeling awkward herself. She saw her dad turn around again, as his shoulders slumped a little before he resumed the trudge back to the house. Somewhere in her mind, Emma knew that, in their terms, she had just eaten up four or five Thanksgiving’s worth of food…at least…And she knew that cost money. Watching her dad nod like that, Emma felt a little wave of guilt. Her poor little dad, going out to buy his giant daughter all the food she needs…her sweet, tiny little daddy…but even still, Emma just had a hard time wrapping her mind around the size disparity. If her parents kept bringing her these little “snack offerings,” what else was she supposed to do? She was hungry! She had to survive, after all! But all the same…

“Hey, uhh…dad?” she said, starting to crack an odd smile.

“Yeah?” he asked, turning back around to face her, blinking up at her blankly.

“Just let me know if you need, uhh…haha, any more fields plowed or anything…heheh…you know…stuff like that,” she said, chuckling at the perceived humor of what she was saying.

“I, uhhh…?” was all Jim could say. He didn’t know what his daughter was getting at, and he was starting to worry that she was playing some kind of messed-up game with him. His paranoia was beginning to get the better of him.

“You know…haha, don’t want you to think I’m like, ordering you all around like my little servants or something!” laughed Emma, now sitting up in front of the barn and folding her huge legs into a cross-legged position. She stretched her back and arched her spine backward, her muscles rippling as she stretched her torso out, gently tapping the back of her head into the wood of the upper barn. Even sitting down like this, she was over 11 feet tall.

Jim didn’t say anything — what could he say? Emma smiled down on him for a few more seconds, before adding:

“I mean, haha, I guess all I’m saying is that…just, let me know if you need some stuff done around the place that, uhm…that you can’t do yourself. Cause I got these big guns now, haha!”

Laughing, Emma held up her arms in a double-bicep pose, flexing them. She was just trying to be silly, to dilute the seriousness in the air, and she was also just genuinely trying to offer her services. But really, when it came down to it, Emma didn’t quite know what she was doing. She knew she was acting weird, but she was just plowing on ahead, trying to find some sense in it all.

“A-alright, Em,” stuttered Jim, quite intimidated by the size of Emma’s arms. They were proportional, but when she flexed them like that, it really just hit home how huge she was. He started backing away again, and was about to make a full turn when Emma stopped him one last time.

“Uh dad…” Emma began, but then she stopped. She suddenly feared dredging up buried pain.

“Em?”

“Is…is Daniel doing alright?” Her voice sounded hollow, like a stranger’s in her ears.

“He’s fine…doing fine,” said Jim stiffly, nodding his head. “Think he’s sleeping…uh, ok, gotta go get that food.”

Emma watched him go. He had answered too quickly. Her visage darkened, and she turned around and crawled back into the barn, trying over and over to swallow the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat.

Of course, Daniel wasn’t doing alright. He had been understandably shaken since Emma had…taken him against his will. He didn’t want to think about it in terms of the “r-word,” because doing so only made him feel more upset than he already was. Maisy and Jim were giving him his space in the house, and had seemed to have largely accepted that Daisy was the one taking care of him. Daisy, overcoming the more combative aspects of her nature, seemed to understand that Daniel was in shock, and that it wouldn’t help anything if she showed her own anger. Instead, she appreciated that it was important for her to show her calm, gentle support — she took him his food as he rested in bed; she sat with him; she suggested passing the time with shows she thought he would like, just to take his mind off what had happened.

And all the while, Daisy kept her own fury down. She couldn’t believe what she had seen Emma do to Daniel. Sensing trouble, she had quietly followed Daniel to the barn, and had called the police when it had become clear that Emma was about to do something terrible. Of course, now she was regretting that decision, but what else could she have done instead? She replayed the event over and over again in her mind, and there didn’t seem to be many good options. She knew that everyone — Emma included — was in uncharted territory, and had been so for a long time…but it didn’t help with how angry she had become at her “little” sister. As far as she was concerned, Emma had become a totally different person. Her growth condition, whatever it was, had clearly messed up her mind, to the point where she didn’t have a firm grasp on reality anymore. Deep down, Daisy knew that Emma hadn’t meant to cause any of the harm that she already had…in her mind, her sister had become mentally unfit, and could no longer be held responsible for her actions, at least in a legal sense.

But somehow, that wasn’t quite enough for Daisy. Emma was still “there” enough, mentally-speaking, for Daisy to feel like her sister hadn’t gone completely insane. And when she had watched Emma calmly take Daniel and abuse him in the barn, she had not been able to shake off that expression she had seen Emma make — it was delighted…transported, even. She had been excited to take him against his will. Exerting power over him had actually…turned her on, even. It all made Daisy feel sick, and she could not shake from her mind the thought that, even though her sister had definitely lost it, she was still somewhat present mentally. And this thought fueled her anger.

Even deeper down, of course, there were other things. Emma had always been a little prettier than her, a little taller, a little more ambitious. Emma had been the one to move to the city; Emma had been the one to land a handsome, gentle, caring boyfriend who made good money; Emma had done a lot of things that Daisy envied. But all of this was buried very far beneath the surface, and even Daisy herself wasn’t too aware of it all.

She just knew that, as the days passed by, she felt herself feeling more and more sorry for Daniel. The poor man, ordinarily in good spirits, had developed this kind of hollow-eyed stare, and rarely came out of his bedroom. Everyone felt bad for him, but Daisy was the one willingly shouldering the burden. Each passing day, she spent more and more time with him, and with this time, they grew even closer than they had already become.

Daniel knew that it was natural to be traumatized by what had happened to him, but the crushing sadness he was experiencing did not actually revolve around the events inside the barn. Instead, they were centered on this idea, which had been growing stronger each day he had spent on the farm, that Emma had grown into someone different…someone who he couldn’t recognize. The Emma he knew would never have violated him like that. Daniel had tried convincing himself that he hadn’t protested loudly enough, that she couldn’t hear him, but he knew it was useless. She HAD heard him…she had just laughed it off and chosen to do what she felt like doing.

‘She’s not a bad person,’ Daniel thought over and over to himself, the sadness squeezing at him harder and harder. ’She’s just…a different person now.’

Maisy was dealing with the trauma in her own quiet way. It had been especially wrenching for her to see her youngest daughter, her little Em, in such a situation with the police. There was absolutely no precedent for Maisy to fall back on…nothing she could take solace or comfort in. Any parent would have been harrowed by seeing their offspring shot at by police, and that sight alone had disturbed Emma’s mother badly enough. But the added sight of seeing her gigantic daughter…do those…those things to the police…the way she had swung her arm and plastered that man against the barn wall…the way she had kicked out and snapped that other man’s leg…the way she had thrown that lieutenant like he was nothing more than a rag doll…Maisy knew that it was by sheer fortuitous accident alone that Emma hadn’t killed at least a few of the police officers. The reality of her daughter’s power and strength — and more importantly, her will to use it — had dawned on Maisy like a blood-red sunrise, illuminating a stark and terrifying new landscape in her mind. She knew that Emma was still somewhere in there, somewhere inside that enormous, gigantic behemoth of a body…but Maisy had to grapple with the bare and painful realization that her daughter had grown into something genuinely unpredictable and terrifying.

So, having no idea how to navigate this horrible uncharted territory, Maisy started working on the only thing she could think of to somehow pass the time: clothes for her giantess daughter. Ever since Emma had returned from her “walk,” totally naked, with that wild light in her eyes, Maisy had felt like her daughter really had gone off the edge of the cliff, so to speak. It pained her to see Emma so exposed, even though her daughter didn’t seem to mind it in the least. The sight of Emma’s massive body was also deeply unsettling to Maisy, since the sheer extent of Emma’s curvaceous, voluptuous strength had clear sexual undertones — she looked like a Greek goddess, and even though she was Emma’s mother, Maisy had found herself unconsciously, helplessly gawking at Emma’s hugeness as she moved…her huge ass cheeks bouncing and jiggling up and down, back and forth, her big, heavy breasts swinging down from her gargantuan chest, the way the firm, feminine contours of her thighs shook and quivered with every thunderous step…it was all a bit much for Maisy, and so she set herself to working on an immense summer dress for her daughter. Somewhere in her mind, Maisy nursed a hope that if Emma wore clothes again, she might somehow “come back” to reality.

It took Maisy most of the next week to finish the dress; she knew that it was very likely a futile endeavor, since Emma’s growth spurt hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down recently. Jim was the only person in the household who saw Emma regularly, albeit briefly, when he would drop off her food outside the barn, and from him, Maisy learned that Emma hadn’t seemed that much bigger than she already was.

“Well maybe that’s good!” she had ventured hopefully. “Maybe that means she’s finally done…she’s finally grown as big as she’s gonna get!”

“I don’t know, Maise,” Jim had said doubtfully, looking towards the barn. “I just…I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Well I’ve got to count on something,” Maisy had retorted in a rare moment of flustered irritation, as she turned back to her sewing. “I’m making Em this dress, and I’m giving her an extra foot or two of room to grow into it. If she gets too big for it, then I’ll just…I’ll just make her another one.”

Jim blinked down at his wife’s work, which spanned the entire living room floor. He knew better than to call her efforts into question, especially at an emotionally volatile time like this, so he kept quiet. But he was curious about one thing.

“So, uhm…how big are you making it?” He didn’t know why he was so curious about this detail, but there was no avoiding the reality that he had, in a kind of strange, contorted way, become fascinated by his daughter’s size.

Maisy looked up. “The dress?”

“Yeah,” Jim said, averting his eyes away from his wife and staring down at the huge expanse of fabric splayed out across their floor. Maisy had chosen a baby blue color…the same color that Emma’s childhood bedroom had been painted.

“Well I thought…uhm, judging by what you’ve said…she stood up in front of the barn entrance the other day, didn’t she?”

“Yeah…she did.” Jim didn’t like to think too hard about it, since his memory of the sight made him feel as upset as it did intimidated. Emma’s head had actually risen a good deal above the entrance now, with her standing on her flat feet. She had been bouncing a little up and down on her toes, which made Jim feel terrified that she was about to do something. But it turned out that she had just been excited to eat the food he had brought…and in any case, she hadn’t seemed terribly interested in engaging with him. Jim couldn’t help but feel like his daughter was totally beyond him now, out of reach in every sense of the phrase. It didn’t help that her huge body looked about as delicious and alluring as he could have believed possible, and with her carefree flaunting of her nudity…well, Jim had no clue how to deal with it all.

“So the barn entrance is twenty feet, right?” came his wife’s voice.

“Uh yeah…yeah, that’s right.”

“So I’m thinking she’s what…22 feet or so now?” ventured Maisy.

“Sounds about right,” murmured Jim distantly, staring down at the colossal dress taking shape on the floor. “Maybe a bit more at this point.”

“Right, well, I’m making this dress to fit a 25-foot woman,” said Maisy, working as she talked. “So even if she does keep growing…hopefully this’ll tide her over for…for a little bit, at least.”

She had been about to say “for a few weeks,” but she knew that it was pointless to even try hoping to box in Emma’s growth into timelines. She didn’t have an inkling of a clue what size her daughter would be that far into the future. Even more pressingly, however, she hadn’t mentioned this time frame because there was a growing sense, in a dark part of her mind, that something was going to happen between now and then…something big. A crushing sense of dread was settling into the entire household, and its grip was such that everyone felt it, but no one wanted to talk about it.

A couple days after the police had left, they had all noticed drones starting to hover more conspicuously over the farm. Emma had been the last to notice, since she stayed in the barn most of the time. But to everyone else, the little robotic specks in the sky had become an everyday occurrence. They all knew why the drones were there, but knowing didn’t help ease any of the anxiety. After the third day, the family finally broke down and agreed that Jim should phone the police, asking what their next move was going to be. They all dreaded the answer — they were preparing an operation to arrest Emma, or even worse, to kill her — but when Jim got through, the cops would not give a straight answer.

“You mean to say that all these drones flying around…they’re not yours!?” Jim had asked incredulously. “Well whose are they, then??”

“Sir, I’m not at liberty to discuss that information with you,” said the officer tersely on the other end. “Let me just repeat my very clear warning: you and your family should leave your homestead immediately, for your own safety’s sake. The department will set you up in a hotel room at no expense to yourself, until an appropriate time in the future, when the danger has been lifted.”

“B-but…but hang on a minute, now!” exclaimed Jim, becoming hot as he started raising his voice, “You’re…you’re talking about my daughter there! “Danger lifted!?” What does that mean??”

“Sir…” said the officer over the phone.

“And…and we can’t just abandon her here!” shouted Jim into the phone. “She needs…she needs a lot of food, and…who’s gonna provide for her, if not for us?”

“We’re well aware of her peculiar needs, sir,” said the officer. “I’m just saying that you would do well to look after your — ”

“I AM looking after my family!!” thundered Jim, getting very red in the face. Maisy and Daisy looked at him, bewildered. Neither of them had ever seen him like this before.

“Emma IS family!!” he continued, yelling. “She’s my DAUGHTER!!”

“Your daughter raped her boyfriend, and then seriously injured a dozen police officers who tried to stop her,” retorted the officer. “We’re not responsible for her behavior, sir. One last time, get out of there, for your own benefit. We’re not going to warn you again.”

Jim slammed the phone down. His wife and daughter looked at him with wide eyes, neither of them daring to speak for a few long moments. A gentle rustle made them turn; Daniel had limped out into the living room, to see what all the shouting had been about. Somehow, he had known the gravity of the conversation.

“What’d they say?” asked Maisy in an ashen voice, after the silence had become unbearable.

“He said…he said that he’s not telling us where the drones come from, and that we should get out of here.” Jim’s voice was as tense and set as his jaw.

“You mean…leave her?” asked Maisy. “Just…leave Emma here by herself?”

“They’re preparing some…operation or whatever,” said Jim helplessly, his tension breaking as he sighed out and shook his head.

“To arrest her?” asked Daisy, who had gone over to support Daniel, whispering to him that he should go back to bed. Wordlessly, he shook his head at her.

“I don’t know,” said Jim in a hollow voice, staring at the dress-in-progress on the floor. “I don’t know what they’re planning to do to her. He wouldn’t tell me.”

“Well I mean, of course they’re just…just going to arrest her, right?” asked Daniel, waving away Daisy’s gentle insistences that he get back to bed. “She didn’t…kill anyone.”

His words hung unpleasantly in the air; everyone, including Daniel, knew that the only reason this was true was pure luck.

“So…so they can’t…they can’t do anything worse to her, right?” Daniel continued, a little shakily.

“I don’t know what they can do,” said Jim darkly, shaking his head again. “I don’t know…”

“I know one thing,” said Maisy emphatically, making it a point to sit back down to her sewing as she got busy again. “I’m not leaving her here alone to be…to be taken away by whoever.”

“Maise, you know that it’s gonna happ—” began Jim despairingly, but Maisy cut him off.

“I’m not saying it’s not gonna happen, Jim,” she snapped. “I’m saying that if and when it does happen, I’m gonna be here. I’m gonna watch them do it so they…so they’ll have to murder her in front of her own mother, if that’s what they’re planning…”

Maisy’s voice cracked and broke down, and she started crying, her body shaking and convulsing as she sat in place. Jim came over and silently put his arms around her, and after a few seconds, Maisy seemed to recover herself, looking quickly up and Daniel as she wiped the brimming tears out of her eyes.

“I…I know she hurt you, Daniel, and…and I’m just devastated about what happened. She was very wrong, very wrong, to do that to you,” Maisy continued. “But she’s still my daughter, you know, and I’m not leaving her here alone.”

“I know, Maisy, I know,” said Daniel, extending out his hand in a calming motion. “I’m not…I’m not leaving her either…leaving her alone here…uhm…y-yeah…you don’t…uh, you don’t have to explain it to me.”

An odd silence followed his words. Everyone wanted to say something, but no one had any idea what to say. The dark reality of their situation was tangible, palpable…they could all taste it. The uncertainty of what was going to happen only made it worse.

“Come on,” whispered Daisy gently to Daniel. “You shouldn’t even be walking around right now — look at you…you’re about to keel over!”

“Well…heheh, uhh…I think you’ve got me,” chuckled Daniel, finding a strange, humorous comfort in Daisy’s warm touch. He had his arm around her shoulder now, and he could feel the muscles in her back working to keep him supported.

“Not for much longer, I don’t!” she countered, matching his sudden lightheartedness with some of her own. “Come on, let’s go! Back to bed…you’re taking my shoulders for granted.”

Maisy and Jim watched them go, and both parents felt a bizarre sense of pride for their eldest daughter. This hadn’t been easy on anyone, and they knew that Daisy had been especially enraged and alienated by her sister’s behavior. To see how she was using her energy to support and care for Daniel, in the midst of his own torment, made them both feel like there was perhaps some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, though neither of them had it in them to speculate what that light might actually be. Maisy watched them for a bit longer than her husband, and something pricked in her brain as she watched how carefully Daisy was leading Daniel, with her arms around him, and how willingly he let her lead. But she wasn’t going to go any further with these thoughts, and she pursed her lips, setting herself back down to her sewing work, as the gentle whine came snaking into the house of more drones hovering outside.

Maisy worked with more diligence than even she was accustomed to. There was a growing sense that she was working against the clock, and so she stayed up extra late that night to work, eventually taking a little time to sleep before she finished it mid-morning the next day. Jim had already taken Emma her bags of food, which now had gone up to 16 a day, and he came back a bit shaken from watching her eat. She wasn’t even gagging on the bags anymore — she just seemed to drop them down into her mouth, barely chewing, before swallowing it all whole.

“She in a good mood?” asked Maisy, unsuccessfully trying to keep the uneasiness out of her voice as she blinked brightly at her husband.

“I…couldn’t really tell,” he said, settling down into his armchair. He already seemed exhausted, even though the day was just a few hours old. The truth was that the nearly-constant presence of drones hovering over their farm made him worn-out with anxiety and anger. Jim resented this kind of intrusion into their lives, even though he knew perfectly well why it was happening, and even that it might actually be justified. He hated the uncertainty, and the power that the authorities were wielding over them all, playing their cards close to the chest and all…a couple times, Jim had actually had to resist taking his rifle and dispatching a few of the drones on his own. He knew, though, that such behavior would be counterproductive, and would land him in serious trouble eventually. So he tolerated it all, just waiting…waiting for something to happen.

“Oh?” asked Maisy as she folded up the new dress into a large sofa-sized object in the middle of the room. Again, she was trying to sound light and nonchalant, like she and Jim were discussing Emma’s moodiness when she had been a teenager.

“She didn’t really pay too much attention to me,” Jim sighed. “She just…ate her food, you know…watching the drones moving around overhead, out of her reach.”

“Did she say anything about them?” Maisy asked.

“Nope,” replied Jim, shaking his head. “She just looked at them silently…I have no idea what’s going on in her head. When she, uh…when she did look at me…”

“What?” Maisy pressed.

“She just…I don’t know Maise,” said Jim, gesturing helplessly with his hands. “The way she’s been looking at me these last few days…it just scares me.”

“Do you think she’s thinking about…about doing something to you?” asked Maisy seriously, feeling a surreal clench in her stomach.

“I — it’s not that, so much.” Jim was straining to explain himself. “It’s more just that…I don’t know…she’s got this look in her eye, it’s hard to describe, Maise…there’s something “off” about it. It’s like she’s not looking at me as a…as a person anymore.”

“Oh come on, Jim…what can you mean by that?” asked Maisy, chuckling a little to chase away the latent fear growing in her.

“I mean…it’s like, imagine you’re her,” Jim responded, sitting up a little in his chair. “I’m looking UP at her calf muscle now, Masie. Her calf. I couldn’t even touch her knees, even if I reached up as high as I could and jumped, for crying out loud!”

“I know she’s big now and all…” Maisy began, but this time it was her husband who interrupted.

“Big?!” he exclaimed, his eyes blinking and suddenly going wide. “Maisy, she’s gigantic!! Her…her hips are like…I mean…her legs are like fuckin’ oak trees!”

“Jim!” scolded Maisy. “Is that language really necessary?”

“I’m sorry hun, I just…I don’t know how else to get my point across,” said Jim genuinely. “The way she moves, I can feel it in the ground when she props her head up on her elbow or something…I’m not even talking about when she stands up, Maisy, I’m talking about —”

“I know Jim, I know,” reassured Maisy, coming over and putting her hand on his shoulder. “I’ve seen her…you don’t have to describe it.”

“You haven’t seen her recently,” muttered Jim, letting his wife massage his shoulder with her hand. “She’s definitely gotten bigger.”

“Well hopefully not too big for the dress?” Maisy gestured over to the folded stack of fabric.

“Not yet…I don’t think,” said Jim quietly. There as a brief pause, and neither of them said anything as they stared at the summer dress Maisy had made. It certainly was nice, but it was so huge that it would have seemed comical, if not for the serious underlying tone.

“She just looks at me like I’m a…I don’t know…a squirrel or something, murmured Jim.

“A squirrel!?” Maisy laughed.

“Or a cat…or a dog or…something, I don’t know,” continued Jim in that same quiet, pensive voice. “Like she can’t even really wrap her head around that I’m a person.”

“Well I’m sure she knows you’re a person,” said Maisy reassuringly as she stopped her massage and rounded on the huge folded dress. “In any case, if you want I can talk to her about it when I bring this to her.”

“Please don’t,” Jim replied immediately. “And I don’t even know if it’s a good idea for you to —”

“To what? Visit my daughter?” asked Maisy. “No Jim, I’m sorry, I don’t care what the risk is to myself. I’m going to give Em this dress and I’m going right now. Are you going to help me load this thing onto a cart or not?”

“Sure I’ll help,” Jim sighed. “Just don’t count on her to accept it. I think she likes being…like she is.”

“Well I can’t stand to think of her out in the barn like that,” declared Maisy firmly. “I have to try and get her to wear it, Jim. Maybe it’ll make her feel more normal again.”

After Jim helped Maisy load the dress onto the cart, she rounded the side of the house, pushing the cart as she made her way up towards the barn. When she got a clear view of the whole farm, however, Maisy stopped and turned toward the pond. Even at this distance, she could see that Emma was sitting there on the edge of the pond, staring off into the distance as two or three drones hovered high above her head, their sights clearly set on her like buzzards in the sky. Maisy swallowed the lump in her throat and started heading that way.

‘These drones really are ridiculous,’ she thought irritatedly, as they buzzed over her own head. There had to be at least five or six of them over the farm right now, at least. ‘Now I know why Jim was so mad about them.’

Maisy tried hard not to think about whoever was operating the drones, and what they were planning. All she could do was try and see if she could somehow pull her daughter back from the brink.

The closer she got to Emma, the more nervous Maisy became. There wasn’t any question in her mind now — Emma definitely looked bigger. As Maisy approached the pond, she saw that Emma was quietly moving her extended legs up and down, up and down, in the water. Even though she was sitting on the shore, Emma’s legs almost reached a quarter of the way to the middle of the pond itself…and even though she was moving her legs slowly, languidly, she was making such big waves that the water was overflowing the banks all around the pond.

But Emma didn’t seem to take much notice of that, or of anything else, for that matter. She was staring out into the sky, with an inscrutable expression on her face that Maisy could see as she sidled up close to her. She didn’t want to get too close, but she also didn’t want to make it obvious that she was scared of her daughter. She settled for a good twenty feet away from her, and, summoning her courage, called up to her.

“Em? Em, I’ve brought you something!”

The sound of her own voice broke her heart. Try as she might, Maisy’s voice was shaking. She was suddenly overcome with emotion — she felt so bad for her daughter, and what had happened to her. But at the same time, her voice shook from fear. Even sitting down, Emma was over 11 feet tall.

The wind seemed to whip around (even though there was no wind), and Emma turned her head and looked down at her mother. She blinked her big eyes a couple times, and for several long moments, Maisy wasn’t even sure that Emma recognized her. The way that her daughter was looking at her…it instantly made her think back to what Jim had said…and she suddenly understood what he had meant.

‘Like a squirrel…’ His voice echoed in her head.

Maisy was just about to say ‘I made you a dress!’ up to Emma, but just then, her daughter turned back away from her, instead choosing to look at her feet as they gently kicked back and forth in the pond. Maisy stood there with her cart for a little bit, not knowing what to do. And then she came closer.

“Em…I’ve…I’ve made you a dress!” she called up. “It…it should fit you, I think! Y-your…haha, your dad thinks you don’t wanna…uh, w-wanna wear anything, but I thought…I just thought that m-maybe…maybe you’d like it!”

“You made me a dress?” asked Emma, turning back around and peering down at her mother. Maisy stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that her daughter was talking at what to her seemed a normal volume, but to Maisy, her voice was almost deafening. The bass and timbre of the sound itself rattled and vibrated through her entire body. She was instantly reminded of the first time she ever went to a movie theater as a young girl, and had to be taken out crying by her father.

“Y-yes! Yes, and it’s…it’s baby blue!” exclaimed Maisy. “You’ve…always liked that color!”

Emma frowned slightly down at the pile of fabric in Maisy’s cart, but quickly her expression changed as it dawned on her that her mother had carefully folded the dress up and put it in the cart. Emma blinked again, and an amused sparkle of recognition lit up her eyes. Maisy felt excited, but even in the midst of her excitement, she could see that her daughter looked tired…so very tired, and that the sparkle in her eye was in spite of the overall brooding and melancholy energy that surrounded her.

“You didn’t…make it by hand, did you, mom?” Emma asked, tilting her head to the side as she studied the tiny figure beneath her.

“I…I did!” Maisy shouted up to her. “You know I did!”

Emma splayed a huge hand across her cheeks and over her face for a while, so that only her eyes were showing, as she continued to look down at the folded dress. Maisy didn’t know what it meant. Was she about to cry? Was she laughing? Surely she wasn’t put-out!? Or was she??

“If…y-you don’t want it, that’s o-ok,” said Maisy, when she could take the silent tension no longer. She was deeply intimidated by just looking at Emma’s hand, as it gently kneaded into her cheeks.

‘How is she even having human thoughts anymore?’ The sudden thought popped into Maisy’s mind. ‘She’s something else entirely now.’

Maisy tried to shoo this thought away — it felt dehumanizing to Emma…or…something of the opposite. Either way, she didn’t like it, and tried to pretend the thought hadn’t occurred to her.

“No, mom,” said Emma quietly, removing her massive hand from her face and arching it over and down, towards the cart. Maisy instinctively backed up a couple paces, but then forced herself to remain still. Even though her daughter’s voice was still very loud…and huge…there was a kind of quiet, tired gentleness in it that reassured her. Maisy watched in wonder as Emma’s thumb and forefinger pinched the fabric and effortlessly lifted it up. It had taken the combined effort of Maisy and Jim to lug that dress up onto the cart, and it hadn’t been an easy effort, either. But Emma was lifting the dress up now with her two fingers as if it weighed no more than air. As Emma’s hand rose up, the dress spilled out, unfurling, and showing its actual shape. Maisy watched as her daughter’s bottom lip quivered an instant, before twitching into something like a smile.

“I can’t believe you made this for me, mom,” murmured Emma, her eyes going up and down the dress as she held it up before her. A slight midday breeze suddenly kicked up, breathing a delicious breath of fresh air through the dress, rippling it slightly in the air.

Maisy thought this was all going so well that, for the moment, she forgot that there were surveillance drones humming and buzzing overhead. The moment was too beautiful to be corrupted by anything.

“Do you…wanna try it on?” ventured Maisy. “Just…you know…to see if it fits?”

It felt crazy, but she was actually slipping back into her role as a mother again. But then, after nodding silently, Emma stood up, and Maisy had to take another couple steps back. The moment wasn’t shattered by any means…but it had definitely changed into something else. All of a sudden her daughter was in the sky, and holding the dress high up above her glorious, curvaceous body. The dress itself may as well have been in the clouds. It was absolutely mind-boggling to Maisy how such an ungainly, heavy object like that dress could be so quickly and effortlessly whisked into the air that high…but looking at her daughter’s body, it made complete sense why this could be so.

Once again, Jim’s words seemed more correct than ever — Emma’s legs did look like trees: strong and sturdy, and yet, at the same time, inescapably feminine. Maisy had never felt so small in her life; she quickly realized that there was more mass in a single one of Emma’s calves than there was in the entirety of her body…probably even twice as much. Her daughter was so enormous that she seemed to have her own weather system — every time she moved, she created wind, and the temperature of the air seemed to change with her movements. Maisy didn’t know what was real and what was a mirage at this point. Looking up, she could hardly even read Emma’s facial expression, it was so far away.

The dress came billowing down, like some kind of spaceship from the sky, as Emma stretched her long, firmly-sculpted arms through the spaghetti straps. The wind from the descending dress blew back Maisy’s hair, and she took a few more steps back, this time just to shield herself from the heavy activity going on above her head.

“Ha! Hahahaha!” laughed Emma, the sound booming out across the farm.

“D-does it fit!?” shouted up Maisy, but Emma hadn’t heard her mother. She was too busy spinning around, first left and then right, as the dress surged in a rotating circle around her mid-thighs.

“I can’t believe it!! I can’t believe it!!” sang Emma exultantly, seizing the edges of her dress with her hands and shaking them excitedly. “An actual DRESS…that FITS me!! Actually, it’s even a little big on me, hahahaha!!”

“Oh! Oh Emma, that’s…that’s just great!” yelled up Maisy, who was now in full retreat, running away from her dancing, spinning daughter. She was acting on pure instinct now — she knew that Emma didn’t really know where her body was. A second later, there was a splash as one of Emma’s feet came hurtling down into the shallow water of the pond’s edge. Emma didn’t even seem to notice, though, and a few seconds later, she was laughing and dancing in the pond itself, the water coming up to around her knees. She twirled and weaved in disordered circles as her huge breasts heaved to and fro with the force of her momentum, first left, then right. The ground was definitely shaking now with her stomping movements, even if they were somewhat deadened by the pond.

Once Maisy was a good distance away, she turned around again. It was an incredible sight — her gigantic, beautiful daughter, in a baby-blue dress that was a little too big for her, splashing and dancing around like a nymph in the water.

“Hey!!” thundered Emma suddenly, averting her head upward towards the drones, which had all lowered themselves a little closer, so doubt so their operators could see what on earth was going on.

“HEY!!” repeated Emma, bending down and cupping a huge amount of water in her hands. “HEY YOU GUYS! Guess WHAT!? My mom made me…a…DRESS!!”

At the word “dress,” Emma sent the water hurtling straight towards the nearest drone, and even though it was a good 40 feet off the ground, out of her reach, it couldn’t get out of the way of the powerful volley of water, which struck it hard and sent it into a jerky down-spin towards the pond. Emma laughed loudly as she caught the drone in her bare hand, and held it up to her face, making wide eyes at the camera.

“You guys hear THAT!?” she yelled at the drone in her hand (which was no bigger than an acorn to her now). “LOOK at it! She made it all by herself!!”

Emma then turned the camera around and scanned her body up and down, giving the drone operators a good look at the new dress, and at her powerful curves.

“You pervs!” Emma laughed, winking at the camera as she brought it back toward her face. “Spying on me all the time — I bet, now that I have a dress on, you wanna look up it, huh? Well I’ll make it easy for you — here ya go!”

Giggling, Emma stuck the drone up under the dress. She had no idea why she was doing this, except that it seemed funny at the time. She wasn’t even thinking about the fact that her mother was standing there, at some distance, watching her and having no idea what to think. Emma briefly considered shoving the drone deep inside her, just to play around with these fuckers.

‘Might be nice to actually have something up there again!’ she thought humorously to herself.

But she quickly realized that she wanted to crush it more instead, while they watched. After dancing around some more in the water, she pulled the drone back out from under her dress, and held it up to her face again. This time, though, her ecstatic face was twisted in fury.

“THERE! You disgusting perverts!” she spat at them. “That should tide you over for awhile…and now…goodBYE!”

She tried to imagine the operators, whoever they were, watching on their screens as she crushed the drone into a shiny disk of metal, flicking it like a discarded hangnail into an adjacent field. She turned back towards Maisy, but her mother had already retreated into the house. She was happy that her daughter had loved her gift, but Emma’s erratic behavior had just proved too much for her. It upset Maisy to see her like that.

‘It’s some kind of mental illness, to go along with the physical…growth,’ she thought, coming inside. ‘It just…has to be. She really has lost it.’

Emma had stood there in the pond, breathing heavily for a few long seconds, before she sighed and sat back down at the pond’s edge, going back to her pensive foot-swishing in the water. She wasn’t quite sure why she had erupted like that just now, but it definitely felt good, to somehow get back at those pesky bastards who were spying on her night and day now. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, Emma knew that the drones indicated something foreboding, like the early small meteorites that heralded the arrival of the comet that ended the dinosaurs.

‘Silly little tidbit,’ she thought to herself, laughing, remembering the first day she learned about dinosaurs in the third grade. Still, though, it was accurate. Deep down, she knew the drones were omens for something else…something big. But she just didn’t care to think about it. She was so huge now that she felt invincible. She even caught herself daydreaming about swatting police helicopters out of the sky, as they fired round after useless round at her.

‘Well that’s not until I’m like…50 feet or something,” she thought. ‘Take it easy!’

More and more these days, it felt like her brain was in a fog. Once she tried alighting on something concrete to think about, she either became confused, angry, or terribly sad. The miniature size of everything around her was the confusing bit — every day, she felt more and more like she had been dropped out of an alien spaceship, into a tiny little dream-world where all the people were little, all the houses were made of stuff she could break or crumble with her hands in an instant, and where the very landscape itself seemed like it was teasing her with how insufferably small it was. The pond was just one of a hundred examples. It wasn’t even really a “pond” at all…it was just a big puddle!

She got angry whenever she thought about how those cops had shot at her, and how that one cop had nearly blinded her with that rifle shot. the bullet-rash on her face was starting to go away, but it still itched and stung. The drones were a constant nuisance, and a reminder that whatever had happened that night, the consequences were not going to be avoided.

‘Let em’ come at me, then,’ she thought defiantly. ‘I’m not going to be so gentle with them this time.’

But it was whenever her thoughts turned to Daniel that Emma grew terribly sad. She couldn’t really understand why he hadn’t come back to the barn to see her. Whenever she thought of coming out of the barn and going to her house to see him, though, she always pulled herself back. Somehow she knew that there was only going to be pain waiting for her there…plus, whenever Emma thought about Daisy now, she could feel the hot anger bubbling up inside her, and even in her disordered and confused state, Emma knew better than to court and nourish those kinds of feelings.

The days passed slowly by, and with the passage of time, Emma could tell that she was growing even more. It was nothing like that crazy spurt she had had before, when she grew three whole feet in a matter of minutes, but the constant soreness in her muscles, and the perpetual deep ache in her bones, told her that her growth was far from over. The dress her mother had made her, which was delightfully loose-fitting before, was now, day by day, becoming tighter and tighter around her body. Emma kept the dress on most of the time; she enjoyed how well it fit her, and even as her body grew into it, filling it, the fabric gave way with a pleasant elasticity. Still, though, Emma couldn’t avoid the realization that, a few days after she had been gifted the dress, there wasn’t any more loose space to fill. And then, inevitably, the next day, it was a little tighter, and the next day a little tighter still, until, by the end of the week, the dress itself left marks on her body whenever Emma took it off.

As her body grew, so too did Emma’s appetite. She had been eating 16 bags of food for breakfast and dinner each day, but that steadily grew…17 bags one day, and then a couple days later, after a pointed complaint to her father that they weren’t feeding her enough, she counted 18 bags…then 19, and finally 20. Still Emma wasn’t satisfied, but the additional bags at least put something of a dent in her seemingly-bottomless hunger.

The sheer novelty of her body’s growth was enough to distract Emma from her troubles much of the time. She amused herself by seeing how tiny the barnyard tools were in her hands now. The pitchforks and shovels were like little utensils to her now, so much so that she accidentally snapped her father’s pickaxe with her fingers while she was playing with it, splintering the thick wooden handle like it was a toothpick. The bales of hay reminded her of stacks of kleenex, which was appropriate enough, since one time she sneezed straight into them, instantly obliterating twenty bales and causing them to fly about the barn for some time, eventually all drifting back down to the floor in a disorganized heap. The horses and sheep were like little stuffed animals, whenever they dared to venture into the barn, but this rarely happened anymore. Much to Emma’s dismay, all the farm animals seemed afraid of her and stayed well away.

Once, toward the end of the week, when Jim was dropping off the food, Emma, to amuse herself, extended her leg out and stuck her bare foot up next to her father’s body. Jim had frozen in fear, and Emma had let out a pleased giggle.

“Dad…haha, look, my foot’s over half as tall as you are! What about that, huh?”

“Y-yeah…h-how…about that!” laughed Jim. He couldn’t get back to the house fast enough, and for the rest of the day, and on into the night in his dreams, he returned again and again to the sight and feel of Emma’s toes wiggling up against the side of his lower torso.

But more than anything else, as Emma passed the long, languorous hours of the day in the barn, she could feel herself becoming more and more lonely. The same question bandied about in her brain, and as much as she tried to find distraction in other things, she could not turn away from the question in the end:

Where was Daniel?! Where was her little man??

It had been about a whole week now, and still, no word from him…nothing. Whenever Emma thought about him, her conscience pricked at her incessantly, like a poisoned pin…but she didn’t know why. She thought back to their last encounter, when she had maybe gone a little overboard, it was true…but that hadn't been the first time she had been a little careless in her lovemaking with him! And anyway, it was all just because she loved him so much, and wanted to cuddle him and kiss him and suck his adorable little cock and make him cum over and over again down her throat. What wasn’t to like about that!? Surely…he…he still liked her, right?! Surely he didn’t think she had grown into…into some kind of freak??

‘No, no,’ she would reassure herself, whenever this ugly thought resurfaced in her mind, ‘HE’S the one who came to ME in the barn…HE wanted to see ME! And why else, but to…to do all that stuff with me? To love me, to be with me?’

As much as she tried to convince herself that everything was somehow ok between them, her conscience wouldn’t allow it. She knew that something had gone terribly wrong…and that it had been HER actions at the center of it all. But Emma couldn’t, for the life of her, think of what she could’ve done differently. Daniel’s cries of “No! No!” were filed away somewhere in her brain, but somewhere currently inaccessible.

It was the end of the week now, and once again, the day had passed slowly, torturously by. She was again sitting pensively by the side of the pond, hoping that Daniel would come out of the house to see her. Her huge fingers tried to play with her dress, but they couldn’t twirl the loose fabric like they used to a few days before. Her mother’s gift had definitely broken her out of the melancholic, anti-social shell that had been slowly hardening around her, but even still, as Emma thought back to that encounter, just seeing her mother there next to her did little to help Emma’s sense of spatial dissonance. Her mom was like…a little elf, or something…a miniature little person-shaped…thing…that talked like her mom, if she bent down low enough to hear it.

‘Shut up…that was MOM,’ Emma told herself savagely. ‘Quit thinking crazy shit…it was HER.’

But if she was being honest with herself, she really had begun to have no idea. She had loved the dress so much because, unlike everything else in this world, it actually seemed to be made for HER.

Before Emma knew it, the sun had dipped below the horizon. She realized that all of that musing and thinking had tired her out, but more than anything else, she felt tired of waiting for Daniel. With the sadness and irritation enveloping her, she lifted herself up and strode back to the barn slowly, getting there in about five or six strides. The nightly bags of food were sitting there, waiting for her. She felt like choking up for a second as she thought of her sweet little dad, lugging all that food up to the barn for her, but a drone suddenly flew too close to her face, and Emma swatted at it angrily like it was a fly.

“Fuck off!” she hissed, and she actually managed to hit it, sending it missiling down a foot-and-a-half into the earth, about 40 feet away from where she was standing. She ate her dinner in silence, mindlessly dropping the bags of food into her mouth, chewing each once, and swallowing it all down.

She crawled into the barn, curled up in the hay, and tried to go to sleep. But she wasn’t able to. Daniel kept popping up again and again in her mind. His little face…smiling up at her. She longed to hold him in her hand, and squeeze his little body tenderly as she massaged him with the tip of her finger. All week, she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on him this intimately, for fear of upsetting herself, but now, her impatience, and her horniness, were becoming overpowering, and she gave herself fully to her lascivious thoughts.

‘Oh god…’ she thought to herself, getting turned-on, ‘Just think…just think what I could do to him now! Haha, I bet I could make him cum just by blowing on him, without even touching him! And I bet, when I squeeze his cute little body gently in my big, warm hand, it’ll just…just squeeeeeeeze the cum right out of him! Haha, like, he’ll just go *pop*, and that’ll be it, haha! He won’t be able to resist me…mmmmmm, I wonder how many times I could make him pop before he passed out again? Haha, awwwww, before his sweet little head bowed forward into my breast? Heheh, I am totally too much for him!’

Entertaining these thoughts, Emma started rubbing her clit, trying to reach orgasm. But something kept holding her back. Daniel wasn’t there. Why wasn’t he there!? That was the real burning question in her mind.

Suddenly, without thinking any more about it, Emma quietly, deftly, pivoted her body and poked her head out of the barn. The farmhouse was entirely dark…that is, except for one room at the far end of the house…Daniel’s bedroom.

‘Hmmmm,’ thought Emma, getting excited. ‘I’ve waited long enough…but no more. It’s time to pay my little man a visit.’

Chapter 25

A little while before, Daniel had been lying in his bed in the guest room, looking at his phone, when Daisy peeked in. She saw that he hadn’t noticed her at first, and she took the opportunity to watch him silently for a few moments. She felt so sorry for him…she really did, and it was almost disarming to her to realize how much her heart went out to him.

Daniel was not a complainer. Ever since that terrible ordeal with Emma the previous week, he hadn’t really been saying much. Of course, Daisy understood that he had gone through a traumatic experience, and that he needed his space. But at the same time, she had taken it upon herself to make sure that he was taken care of. She made sure his injuries were looked after; she took him his meals; and lately, she had been spending more and more time in his room, chatting about light, unrelated topics, just to allow him to take his mind off what had happened…and what was still happening between him and Emma.

The seconds went on by, and Daisy knew that she had already been watching him for too long. She felt appropriately guilty, but she reminded herself that she wasn’t doing anything that bad. The truth was that she had been temporarily struck by his figure in the bed, with his head bent slightly forward as he stared at his phone. His face looked calm and unexpressive. Daisy felt herself blink, and her heart skipped a little. He was so handsome…handsomer than he had ever seemed before, in fact. Together with his obvious physical injuries, the anguish and confusion of the ordeal he was going through made him seem twice as vulnerable…and there he was, just lying in his little bed there, trying to keep his mind off the fact that his girlfriend had grown into a titanic, terrifying 25-foot giantess who had totally lost her mind. But he was so unassuming, so calm, so quiet, just lying there, with the small screen lighting up his face. He blinked and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and Daisy, once again, was bewildered by the strength of her emotional reaction to such an ordinary picture. Daniel had just blown out a little exhale of a chuckle, and Daisy felt her eyebrows come together as she stared. It felt like she was starting to melt inside.

Daniel had been in a strange mood that evening, so much so that he had actually been scrolling through the giantesscity forum, looking at old pictures that Emma had posted when she had “only” been 7 feet, 8 feet, 9 feet tall. Daniel had read over a few of the comments again, but his stomach had turned, absorbing those lecherous thoughts from other men, and so he had ignored the rest of them. Really, he was just there for the old pictures of Emma, back when she was just…just herself. He felt himself tensing up all over as he looked at her smiling face, those gorgeous eyes, as she laughed back at him through time, crouched inside their old bedroom door frame. He kept scrolling, and saw how seductively she eyed the camera, in a picture she had auto-taken of the two of them, with her kneeling behind him. Even in this pose, she had been taller than him by a good few inches, and she had her big arm wrapped around him possessively, her huge hand splayed out against his chest, as she shot that provocative look at the viewer. It was like she was saying, ‘He’s mine…back off!’

‘Or…she was just using me as a kind of prop,’ Daniel automatically thought to himself, looking closely at her face rising up above his. ‘Something to make all those horny online dudes jealous…or maybe it’s just that she was using me to show how big she was getting. A mannequin doll for scale.’

He felt himself becoming uncontrollably sad. He couldn’t even look at pictures from months before without questioning her motives. That was what this horrible growth sickness had done to her…to their relationship. Aside from plunging Emma into a turbulent, moody, dangerous kind of insanity, it had made Daniel wonder at what point she had “snapped,” at what point she had become a different person from the one he was in love with.

‘But I AM still in love with her,’ said a firm, monotone voice in his head. ‘And she’s still the same — she’s just struggling to cope with what’s happening to her. When she wraps her head around it, she’ll be fine.’

This voice had been an ever-constant presence in Daniel’s head ever since he had first noticed Emma changing, since he had first noticed that odd, unnerving glint in her eye as she looked down at him in that off-putting way, the way that suggested that she was having trouble seeing him as an equal, or even as a complete human person at all. He knew she was out in that barn right now, curled up in the hay, sleeping or staring at the stars through the rafters she had broken. He felt his heart seize up, and he had to wipe his nose a little bit. He had gotten good at stopping these thoughts before they infiltrated to the back of his eyes and made the heavy tears start flowing. Daniel had always hated crying, and it had only taken two private, silent sob sessions before he had resolved to keep those emotions tamped-down. They didn’t do anyone any good. And besides, even if he still badly wanted to go out there to Emma, to see how she was doing, to tell her she loved him, Daniel knew that he couldn’t. At this point, even that steady voice in his head couldn’t convince him that it was really Emma out there in the barn. It was…she was…something else.

And god, why was he even looking at these old pictures now, anyway?! It was making everything so much worse. Daniel quickly flicked his finger over the screen, and moments later was looking up random sports statistics of his favorite teams. He felt a strange lightness come over him, the kind that often does when a weighty problem is willingly disregarded for another time, and he actually managed to chuckle a little to himself. Despite everything, he really was ok. And all things considered, he had actually really been enjoying his time with Daisy. She had been so caring, so giving, so selfless…even though Daniel knew she was going through a hard time herself. He found himself wishing that she was there right now; she usually was, at this time of night. He looked up, and his heart did a little jump as he saw her standing there in the doorway.

“Oh!” he burst out, blinking, and then smiling widely. “I — I didn’t —”

“I’m…oh wow! Haha, s-sorry!” stammered Daisy, putting her hands up. “I was just…hehe…just about to come in. Sorry if I startled you!”

“No! No, it’s…haha, it’s fine!” laughed Daniel. He was surprised at how happy he suddenly felt. And then, without thinking, he spoke his mind. “I was actually just thinking about you.”

“Oh you were?” inquired Daisy, her eyebrows going up as she smiled a little sheepishly. She was a bit taken aback by his sudden candor, but there was no denying that she could feel the warm feelings spreading throughout her body. Vaguely, she realized that this was a strange, surreal moment, one that seemed hyper-realistic, almost like she was watching it in a movie.

“Yeah…heheh, I was just wondering…uhhhh, wondering where you were, haha.” Daniel’s words petered out a bit at the end as he realized how revealing and awkward they sounded. But Daisy pounced on the potentially delicate moment with some quick humor.

“What?” she teased, gliding fully into the room and settling herself down lightly on the edge of Daniel’s bed, “Have I trained you to expect me here every night?”

“Kinda, yeah,” chuckled Daniel, inclining his head. Neither of them knew quite what to say after this, and they both just sat there together, the pressure of something building between them as the night seemed to deepen outside the window.

“So…what’ll it be tonight?” asked Daisy after a few long moments of silence, grinning as she reached for the laptop that she had left on the far edge of Daniel’s bed. “Tragedy or comedy?”

Daniel inhaled and pondered his answer. A few days before, the two of them had started watching a nightly show together on Daisy’s laptop. This nightly activity already had the makings of a shared ritual, and the two of them had started looking forward to the time spent together at the end of the day. At first, nothing had seemed terribly untoward about the activity — they had watched an action movie, with the laptop perched on a pile of pillows in between them. The bed was large enough to where they didn’t get too close, and anyway, the pillows had separated them. The next day, however, they had done the same thing, except this time, whether on purpose or not, Daisy had put the pillows further back, so they lay closer together, not quite touching…but closer. Close enough to where they both noticed it, but said nothing. The truth was, both Daniel and Daisy enjoyed the closeness…they both wanted it.

“Actually…uhmm…” began Daniel, feeling the same hyper-realism of the moment, as if he was watching himself speak the words, “Maybe we could just…hang out tonight?”

“Oh…oh ok, sure!” nodded Daisy, looking away from Daniel and studying a particular corner of the comforter with extreme precision. She felt bad for the excitement that was coursing through her. It didn’t seem right, in the midst of the bizarre adversity they were all living through, to feel this kind of way. She was reminded of how she had felt when she was a teenager, and crushing over a boy in her science class. She had ended up dating him for a few months, and ever since then, ever since that brief time in high school, she had not been with another romantic partner. Daisy knew that Emma had always been different from her, but even still, it had been a little difficult for her to watch her younger sister move out of the house into the city, and land a successful, cute guy like Daniel.

And now, in the midst of all the craziness that was happening with Emma, there HE was, sitting up on the bed, looking at her with a kind of light in his eyes that Daisy had never seen before, from anyone...let alone him. And she felt herself desperately wanting to reciprocate that look. She knew that this was definitely not the time or place to be having these feelings…and that Daniel was most certainly NOT the right person to be on the other end of them. But Daisy was not about to get up and leave. And when she saw Daniel scooting over a little in his bed, ostensibly to give her room to sit by him, she had to remind herself not to crawl too quickly over to fill the void beside him.

Daniel was having similar feelings, but from a different vantage point. On the one hand, he felt like it was weird and inappropriate for him to be entertaining any kind of feelings for Daisy, since she was Emma’s sister, and since he was still “formally with” Emma. But more importantly, on the other hand, he was chastising himself for being ridiculous. Of COURSE all of this seemed weird — it was a totally unique and unprecedented situation! His girlfriend was 25 feet tall, and had, for all intents and purposes, grown beyond him, literally and figuratively. He couldn’t reach her anymore…and at this point, he doubted that he actually wanted to. He was afraid what he would find. He and Daisy had been through hell, watching this happen to Emma, and their mutual suffering united them. No one else would understand what the other was going through…and this mutual isolation made them feel even closer than they already felt.

Plus, Daniel had been noticing recently how pretty Daisy was. She looked a lot like Emma…she really did…and even though Emma had the more “conventional good looks,” there was something especially appealing to Daniel about Daisy’s face…the way she set her jaw and moved her chin back and forth when she was thinking…and the way she had of looking at him with her big eyes. She was a serious person, and so seeing her behave sheepishly around him made Daniel feel even more attracted to her.

“So….whaddya…uh, haha, whaddya wanna talk about?” asked Daisy as she sidled up on the bed next to Daniel. She briefly thought about sitting cross-legged next to him, but she thought that would have been too silly. She didn’t feel silly right now. She wanted to lie next to him, with her legs stretched out next to his.

“I’m…not sure, really,” he chuckled, taking his turn to stare down extra hard at a random patch of comforter. A few seconds later, though, he felt his eyes rising up of their own accord, and he found himself looking straight into Daisy’s eyes. She was only a couple feet away from him now, and she was looking right back at him.

“I guess…uhm, heheh, I guess I just wanted to…to uh…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words, even though he knew what they were. It didn’t feel right. None of it felt right.

“To just spend a little time together,” finished Daisy, making the words sound easy and natural. She looked down, and saw his open fingers lying on the bed. She badly wanted to hold his hand.

“Yeah,” said Daniel, nodding as he kept staring at her. “Yeah. Haha I guess…I mean, this probably sounds really awkward to say but —”

“No, don’t worry,” reassured Daisy, and she just went for it, taking his hand in hers. Their warm flesh met, heating the exchange, and both of them felt chills of pleasure radiate through their bodies. Their eyes met again with a new kind of intensity.

“I just…I feel very close to you, Daisy,” said Daniel bluntly, blinking at her helplessly as he shook his head. “And I…I don’t know…what any of this means or…or what I’m really even saying right now, but…I —”

“I know, Daniel,” breathed Daisy, nodding her head as she squeezed his hand back. “I know. I feel very close to you too. I think…uh…I mean, it has to be everything that’s been going on, you know…”

“Yeah,” he agreed, squeezing her hand back, looking down and away from her, out the dark window, towards the barn. A part of him had wanted to see the kerosene lamp burning in the distance, lighting up the barn with its faint and fuzzy glow…it would have meant that Emma was still awake, lying there curled up in the hay. Even now, strangely, he would have welcomed the sign of her conscious presence, and freely allowed it to pull him back from what was about to happen. The distant outline of the barn was totally dark though…so dark that it looked odd and misshapen in the gloom. It almost looked like it was moving, but of course, Daniel knew that nothing was moving out there. Emma was asleep, and so he let himself seep back into this impossibly warm and tender moment with Daisy. The guilt ate at him from the inside, but he didn’t care anymore. In a way, the dark barn illustrated everything. Emma wasn’t there for him anymore. She was gone, somewhere far, far away. But Daisy was there…right there.

In that instant, though, with Daniel realizing that he and Daisy were about to do something terribly stupid together, he paused, drawing himself back. His eyes darted back to the dark cold outline of the barn. He couldn’t really see it now, but he imagined it there, sitting still in the night, containing the curled-up, sleeping body of his love. He wanted her terribly. She had grown past him, yes...abandoned him, in a way, yes...and definitely hurt him...but he still longed for intimacy with her, and strangely, having this intimate moment with Daisy just now had intensified his longing for Emma. He badly wanted to feel her hand in his, just like Daisy’s was now, with its slightly-smaller fingers getting gently but firmly squeezed by his own. He wanted to hug Emma again, to envelop her once more, to really convey through the pressure of his body how much she meant to him. All of this was impossible now, but as he turned to look back at Daisy, he was amazed — for it seemed like it wasn’t Daisy sitting there with him, but Emma herself, back to her original size, her gorgeous eyes looking up at him under her heavy lids. Daniel blinked and stared. He knew this wasn’t really Emma next to him, but his brain, under the strain of his mad longing and indescribable grief, was taking off on its own. He inhaled sharply through his nose. She even smelled like Emma.

“I don’t want us to do anything…we don’t want to do,” murmured Daisy, not even realizing that she was speaking in a whisper, and of course not realizing what was happening in his head, “But…Daniel, I…”

“I know,” he whispered back, squeezing her hand tightly now and suddenly pulling it towards him. Their faces had been a few feet apart before…now they were only inches away. Daniel could smell the fresh spearmint on her breath. She had just brushed her teeth. Emma had always used the same toothpaste. He felt immediately self-conscious, and hoped his breath wasn’t so bad. But his mind was racing right now, and any worries dissolved into thin air as he found himself moving his face closer to hers. Their noses touched. Daniel’s cock was rock-hard. He saw the little freckles up close on her cheeks...Emma’s freckles. They looked into each other, so close that they could barely see anything besides the shadows they cast on the other’s face. Daisy felt like a crazy person — she was doing this with Emma’s boyfriend…her sister’s partner…her lips were trembling, and she was holding herself back…but it wasn’t so simple as that. She loved Daniel…she had grown to love him. What else was she supposed to do?

Already it seemed too long. Daniel felt the moment slipping away. Maybe it was better that way…maybe they would come apart and…

He was parting his lips, just as he made the choice to push his face a little further into hers. The pull, the energy between them, was just too strong. He couldn’t resist; he didn’t want to resist. It wasn’t Daisy sitting with him now — it was Emma. Daniel pushed all protesting thoughts down into the bowels of his being, and he kissed her. Immediately, Daisy’s full lips opened up to receive him, and a second later their mouths were aggressively gaping into each other. Their eyes were shut tightly, and they clung together in an unyielding embrace, slowing each other down as their lips started caressing after the first initial push. They were blowing hard through their noses, seeding each other with their scent and fueling the passion further.

They suddenly felt a bit of a vibration through the floor, and they both stopped, immediately looking through the window toward the barn. Nothing. It was nearly a new moon, and it looked as black as ever out there.

“Just…a little wind, I guess,” muttered Daniel. A moment later they were back at it, although a few seconds later Daniel felt Daisy grab the back of his head and pull him back, firmly but gently.

“Daniel,” she panted, her chest rising and falling, “I don’t…I don’t want you to do anything that…that you don’t w—”

“I’m not,” he whispered, grabbing the back of her head with his own hand and shaking it a little in assurance. It was bizarre how measured his movements were; his brain was on fire, and he had no idea what he was doing or saying at this point. He was just going through the motions of his desperate fantasy. “I’m not…I — I want this... I know it’s crazy, but…I want it. I want…you.”

“I do too,” she whispered, staring at him with fierce intensity. “It’s insane, but…well, everything’s insane, and you’re…you’re the only…the only…I mean, I can’t even —”

“You don’t have to,” muttered Daniel, his own intensity barreling through, and he pulled her back towards him, kissing her again. Their bodies intertwined, and their embrace intensified. Daniel forgot about the pain in his limbs, the pain in his heart. He forgot about everything, except what was happening between him and this other person, losing himself in her lips and her scent. Part of his brain was screaming at him to stop, but the other part, driven by that terribly sad sense of longing, kept insisting that it was Emma, as she should be, in the bedroom with him. They started taking each others’ clothes off, breathing hard. They were so focused on each other, so totally transported in each others’ eyes, that neither of them noticed, through the inky black gloom of the deepening night, the large pair of eyes that had materialized at the window.

A couple minutes before, Emma had excitedly made up her mind to go pay Daniel a surprise evening visit. She had seen the sole light in the farmhouse that was on in his bedroom, and had immediately imagined him lying there in bed all cute, probably playing around on his phone like he had always done before bed. It was a strange thing for her to remember these little details from their previous life together — the way he would cuddle her, the way his body would twitch against her as he fell asleep, the reassuring sound of his steady breathing in the darkness. It all seemed so far away, so remote, so surreal to remember now that things were totally different. But as Emma got on her hands and knees and prepared to creep quietly out of the barn, these distant memories all seemed to come flooding back to her as she looked ahead at that warm, steady little light there in the darkness…the light of Daniel. Just imagining him in there made Emma ache with longing. She knew that they couldn’t cuddle like they used to; they couldn’t sleep in the same bed, or even in the same room or house. But Emma wasn’t going to tolerate this distance between them any longer. They could make do. They could get creative.

‘I could serenade him at his window,’ though Emma playfully, as she started slowly crawling toward the house. ‘And then he could open the window and we could have a nice little time, just chatting…just being with each other…ooooooh it’ll be so romantic…what is it about lovers talking to each other through open windows that’s sooooo nice? Hahaha…but I gotta make sure to surprise him…’

Emma was making sure…and at her size, moving around undetected, even if she was just crawling on her hands and knees, was no small task. But she was thankful that it was nighttime, and the near-silence that reigned helped her to focus on her movements, and to make sure that she didn’t disturb the rural tranquility around her. If she hadn’t been so focused on surprising Daniel, then she would have noticed that the persistent buzzing of the drones overhead was conspicuously absent this evening.

The earth beneath Emma’s palms and knees felt wonderfully soft and cool, and with each slow, deliberate motion towards the house, she felt the weight of her limbs making dents in the ground. She had a quick little flashback to when she had been a little girl on this same farm, trying to dig holes in the ground away from the rich earth of the sown fields. Aside from the plowed fields themselves, the ground had been quite hard…dominated by that tough red clay. Back then, Emma couldn’t have dug a hole more than a foot deep in an afternoon, with such an activity leaving her exhausted. But now, all she had to do was place her hand on the red clay and gently press her weight down upon it, and she left huge handprints that weren’t too far away from a foot deep themselves.

‘Guess a thing or two has changed,’ thought Emma, smiling to herself. She thought of the tracks she was making, and how Daniel would be able to see them the next morning, when the sun came up.

‘Aw, he’s gonna think it’s soooo sweet, how carefully I snuck up on him!’ Emma thought, with rising excitement. She was about halfway there already, and at this point, her heart was beating so fast from the thrill of sneaking around that she actually worried that Daniel might actually be able to hear her heartbeat as she got closer. Pausing for a few moments, Emma steadied herself, giving her heart time to slow down a little. She stared forward through the darkness, slightly downhill, towards the house. She was glad to see, from this distance, that the curtains of Daniel’s bedroom were still open. Although she wasn’t yet close enough to get a good view inside, she could see the vague outline of someone inside, probably sitting on the bed. Emma spasmed a little inside from pleasure.

‘Ooooo there he is!’ she exclaimed to herself, straining forward in the night to try and get a better look at him. She was still too far away, though, and so she continued crawling closer. A few seconds later, the house was beginning to look a lot smaller to her, and Emma had to remind herself how big she had become in relation to everything else.

‘Hmmm, getting close enough to where he’ll see me,’ she thought. ‘Better get down close to the ground to sneak up.’

Emma proceeded to lay herself down flat on the ground on her stomach. She felt a little silly, going to all these lengths just to creep up to Daniel’s window, but in her mind it was all going to be worth it when she saw the look on his face. Bit by bit, she started using her elbows and knees to pull and push herself along the ground towards Daniel’s window. It was amusing for Emma to realize what was happening — a 25-foot giantess slowly sneaking up on her childhood house in the dark to surprise her boyfriend…it all seemed so ridiculous, and yet Emma felt that what she was doing was super cute, and proved her affection for Daniel.

‘The lengths I go for him,’ she chuckled silently to herself, ‘Haha, I’m glad I haven’t lost my sense of humor, even though so many other things have changed….ooooh!’

She abruptly stopped crawling, because another little ripple had piqued up in her body, seeming to emanate out from the core of her bones. Was she having another little growth spurt? She knew that she had been growing at an increased pace the last week or so, after that huge spurt she had gone through in the barn with Daniel. Yes, there was no doubt…she could feel the dull electric buzz spreading to her muscles, and softly burrowing up her nerves to the surface of her skin. This spurt didn’t seem like it was nearly as big as the last one, but it was strong enough to where she noticed — it was more than the dull aches of the growing pains that she had already gotten used to.

‘Huh…of all the times I could be having one,’ thought Emma to herself a bit glumly. But a couple seconds later, she brightened up inwardly. Why was she feeling bad about this!? Nothing had changed — she knew she was getting bigger, and was going to continue getting bigger. So what!? In fact, as the warmth of the new growth started spreading throughout her body, she remembered that she was actually looking forward to getting bigger.

‘Gotta get out of these bad mental habits!’ she chided herself brightly. ‘This is who I am…embrace it, haha!’

A shiver of pleasure went through Emma’s muscles as she reacted to the growth, and she accidentally drove her elbow into the ground harder than she had intended. Her eyes went wide as she realized that she had just sent a noticeable vibration through the ground.

‘Daniel would’ve definitely felt that,’ she thought. For a whole minute, she lay quite still, about thirty feet away from the house, flat on her stomach (at least, as flat as she could lay on top of her large breasts). There didn’t seem to be any reaction to her mishap, though, and satisfied that she hadn’t been discovered, Emma continued crawling towards the house. Half a minute later she finally reached it. Her heart hammered away in excited anticipation as she slowly unfurled her huge body from its prostrate position and peeked her massive head up into Daniel’s window.

For about ten seconds she just stared through the window, unable to fully grasp what was happening. She had been shocked to see that Daniel appeared to be groping somebody on his bed…actually, he was hugging and kissing her. But that couldn’t be real…there was no way that this could be happening. Emma knew that her eyes were a little screwy, since she had been in the dark for awhile. She blinked a few times, steadying herself, but the scene hadn’t changed. Daniel and Daisy were starting to take each others’ clothes off…Daniel and Daisy were making out. Emma could feel her brow furrowing in confusion. For a few seconds, she concluded that, in fact, she had snuck up on the wrong bedroom, and that she was watching her mom and dad being intimate. She was having some weird brain fit or something, because that was the only explanation for why her mom and dad looked like Daisy and Daniel. But the scene kept on unfolding in front of her, and the longer she watched, the more it became clear to Emma that what she was seeing wasn’t just some mirage, or some mistake on her part. She was actually watching her boyfriend…make out with her sister. And it was two-way. They were both doing it to each other. They both wanted it. They both had their eyes closed, and they were both starting to haltingly pull and tug on the others’ clothing. Emma saw Daisy’s white bra exposed, and a moment later she saw the bare back of her boyfriend, as Daisy splayed her hands out on the skin, pulling him toward her on the bed as she fell on her back.

Emma started blinking rapidly in the window. A lurid, electric heat was beginning to glow like a furnace behind her face, and the heat from this new fire quickly overcame the warmth of her current growth spurt and spread like an inferno throughout her body. She could feel herself beginning to shake. Nothing much seemed to be happening inside her head. In an unconscious motion, Emma accidentally bumped her forehead up against the top part of the outside window frame.

Immediately, Daniel and Daisy whirled around in tandem towards the source of the sudden noise. Emma hadn’t realized it, but her forehead bumping the window frame had actually shaken the walls of Daniel’s bedroom. The two of them saw the eyes at the window, and they both yelled out, with Daisy’s scream rising up above Daniel’s with piercing intensity. She rolled over sideways and fell off the bed, and Daniel, bare-backed, with his pants halfway on, had started crawling backwards across the covers, away from the window.

Somehow, seeing the two of them react like that brought the reality of the situation home to Emma. Their reaction had been so normal — just like two people caught in the act of cheating would have been expected to behave. Any mental blocks or surreal obstructions to Emma taking in the situation vanished immediately. This was all real…it was really happening. And this fresh recognition opened up the floodgates in Emma’s brain, and her mind went blank with rage.

Without thinking, she drove her right knee into the bottom part of the wall under Daniel’s window. The wall immediately caved with a sickening crack, and the window shattered instantly. The raw sounds of Daniel and Daisy yelling now reached Emma’s ears with a new clarity, fueling her rage. And yet, even in the midst of her wrath, something in Emma’s head kept her from shooting her hand through the shattered window and grabbing Daniel…or Daisy. Something unspoken in the back of her mind told her that she couldn’t get hold of them. Because if she did, she would crush them. Instead, baring her teeth and starting to breathe out hotly, she drove her knee again into the wall…and again, and again, until the whole front part of the wall gave way and collapsed in a heap in front of her. Daisy was crawling backward on her hands and knees on the hardwood floor, petrified and unable to stand. Jim and Maisy had been running down the hall, and they had now burst into the room, which had only three walls now.

“Emma!!” Daniel screamed, waving his hands wildly in the air. He had sprung up from the bed, forgetting the physical pain that this caused him in the adrenaline of the moment. “Emma!! Emma!!! Stop!!! It’s not — we weren’t…!!!”

But Emma had stood up now, and the family watched aghast, through the destroyed wall, as she rose up out of view. They could only see her legs now.

“What’s wrong!?” yelled Maisy, clutching her husband. “Daisy, what’s happened??”

Emma didn’t know why she had stood up until she finally reached her full height. The roof of the house came up to the middle of her stomach, and her frantic eyes went over it, jumping crazily from the chimney to the spinning vent ducts of the air conditioner. She remembered that she had stood up to feel powerful, to rise up against what was being done to her. She grabbed the edge of the roof closest to her and pulled, intending to rip it off. But even though it creaked, and cracked, the roof itself remained stubbornly intact. She heard imploring, desperate screams and yells from within, but she didn’t register any of that anymore. She relented from the roof for a moment and turned her twitching, spasming face off toward the dark horizon. Emma couldn’t even stop to consider the curious lights were coming towards her in the sky.

‘I should just…run away,’ she thought, feeling an uncontrollable jerk of a sob well up behind her face. ‘He betrayed me…and she…she was with him…they were both…both…’

Emma couldn’t even begin to comprehend why all of this had happened, but right now, she felt another hot wave of blank rage coming on. She looked back down at the roof. It wasn’t coming off…but…

“Emma…at the window…” panted Daniel to Maisy and Jim as he got down shakily off the bed and limped towards them. “Saw us…me and Daisy…”

“Saw you!?” asked Maisy. “Saw…what? What do you mean??”

“We have…we have to get out of here,” Daniel breathed, forcing the words out. “Call…police…we need to AAAUGHHHHH!!!”

The whole family screamed out in terror as an earsplitting smash cut the air from above. The roof had suddenly started caving in right above Daniel’s bed. A second later, another smash shook the air, and Emma’s huge fist suddenly came punching through the ceiling.

“DANIELLLLLLL!!” Emma’s huge, doleful voice was crying out into the night, and the sound of its reverberating agony was scarier than anything else that was happening.

“DANIEL WHY DID YOU, WHAT DID YOU, WHAT…WHAAAAT!?!?” came the terrifying voice again, a crazed lament. Again and again, the massive fist came punching through the ceiling, widening the hole. The whole family cowered in the corner of the bedroom, paralyzed by fear. A moment later, Emma stopped punching through the ceiling only long enough to reach through the hole, grab Daniel’s entire queen-sized bed in her hand, and yank it up out into the night. The family heard the bed splinter and crack into a dozen pieces as Emma squeezed it in her hand. The destroyed fragments of the bed fell back down into the room, now nothing more than shards of wood interspersed with torn remnants of the bed sheets.

“What’s happened!?” yelled Jim over the din, hugging Maisy close to him. “What’s wrong with her?!”

“Let’s…let’s run!” cried Daisy, taking Daniel roughly by the hand and starting to run out the bedroom door, deeper into the house. “Come on, let’s go!! Let’s go!!!”

Daniel winced in pain as Daisy tugged him out of the room, and Jim and Maisy closely followed, even as they all looked up in awed terror at the damage Emma had already wreaked on the bedroom. They all felt like they were in a surreal nightmare, under violent assault from a colossal entity whose main source of terror lay not just in her size, but in her instability. Clearly, to Jim and Maisy at least, Emma had completely lost her mind — whatever disease had been tormenting her had finally breached all the way through to her brain, and they were all going to get crushed unless some kind of miracle help arrived. Daniel and Daisy, meanwhile, knew exactly why Emma was acting this way, but their knowledge did nothing to assuage their fear. If anything, their terror was enhanced.

Emma heard more confused yelling and shouting down in the partially-destroyed bedroom, and she stuck her hand in again, this time actually with the intention of grabbing Daniel. The mental restraint that had been holding her back before had quickly snapped as her rage boiled over, and now she just wanted him in her grasp. She wanted to see him squirm in her hand. But when she started feeling around for him, she got nothing. With her arm already stuck down through the hole she had punched in the roof, Emma wrenched her forearm back and forth, making the hole wider, and causing half the roof in the bedroom to cave in completely. They were nowhere to be seen. But looking down, Emma caught sight of the wisp of a nightgown fleeing off after a figure down the hallway, and she knew that they were trying to escape.

Looming up again, bringing her hand out of the widened hole, Emma raised her fist again and brought it down hard on the roof, over the area where she expected Daisy and Daniel to be fleeing towards. She made a healthy dint in the roof, and she felt the house shudder with the impact of her fist, but it hadn’t had quite the effect Emma had been hoping for. She wanted to punch straight through, to catch them running away. But towards the middle, the roof was more stubborn. It needed more force.

Emma gave it more force. Exhaling out loud as she bared her teeth, she punched down once, twice, three times more, until a big hole finally opened up. Her eyes flashed with triumphant vitriol as she looked down through the hole and saw both Daniel and *Daisy*? lying sprawled out across the floor, staring up at her in terror. Emma had no idea from her vantage point, but each one of her punches had sent shock waves crashing through the entire foundation of the house — through the ceilings, the walls, and the floors themselves. The entire family had been knocked off their feet, and lay cowering on the floor, their hands over their ears, trying to shield them from the earsplitting thunder of Emma’s fist.

But Emma was only focused on getting her hand in there to grab Daniel. She tried thrusting it through the hole, but her hand wouldn’t fit, and she ended up cutting it on a craggy, exposed rafter that she had split in half with her last punch. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it was enough to draw blood, which splashed down in a couple large drops right in front of Daniel.

“Oh…FUCK!” cursed Emma, yanking her hand back out and looking at the cut. “This is just…BULLSHIT!” She looked back down through the hole, and a renewed sense of rage coursed through her. Emma widened her stance as she crouched over the house. Taking two hands and grabbing both sides of the hole in the roof she had made, she screwed up her face in determined pain and pulled the hole in opposite directions as hard as she could. She felt the roof immediately creak and crack, just like she had felt before, but Emma was not going to give up so easily this time. She was not going to let him escape her. Her wrath would be known.

Inside the house, the family had been trying to struggle to their feet, but as Emma started pulling on the hole, another loud series of pops and cracks filled the air, and a shower of light debris began raining down on top of them. It was nothing short of terrifying to look up through the hole in the roof and see Emma’s wide eyes looking down at them, her mouth twisted up in stubborn concentration, as her face began to get red from the effort she was exerting.

“Emma!!” screamed Daisy all of a sudden, cupping her hands as she yelled into them. “Emma!! MOM AND DAD ARE HERE!!! Emma!! DON’T HURT THEM TOO!!”

Jim and Maisy turned to look at their eldest daughter, confused. But they didn’t have much time to dwell on what Daisy had meant. Emma hadn’t really heard what Daisy was yelling — she had heard a faint high-pitched kind of call, but the yells and screams of the family all were blending together for her into a single frivolous entity. She vaguely knew that none of them were happy with what she was doing, and that they were all probably asking her to stop, but she was not going to be prevented this time. Shutting her eyes and clenching her teeth hard, Emma bellowed out into the night, feeling the muscles in her arms straining and bulging as she strove with every ounce of strength she possessed to rip the roof off the house.

“She’s doing it…” breathed Jim, his jaw slack as he gawked up at his giant daughter. “She’s actually…gonna do it…”

“Holy…SHIT Daniel SHE’S GONNA GET US!!” wailed Daisy, clinging to him.

“W-we need to…get out…” panted Daniel, trying to struggle to his feet along with Daisy. “Get out…put distance between us and your par—”

*CCCRRRRRRAAAACCCCKKKKKK*

“YYYYUUUUAAAAAAAAAUUGHHHHHH!!” Emma screamed out again, straight up into the dark sky, as she finally managed to tear the hole asunder, spitting the entire roof in half as she literally pulled it apart. The rafters and beams split and splintered under her strength, and the whole family suddenly felt a cool flash of air on their faces as they were newly exposed to the nighttime air. Behind Emma, the family saw the night sky suddenly illuminated by dozens of artificial lights, and from the lights issued the rhythmic, slapping boom of engines.

But Emma didn’t see or hear all that was behind her. She was too focused, and too angry, to be paying attention to anything else. And in any case, her voice rose like a thunderclap above all the loud noises that were suddenly reverberating behind her.

“THERE you are!” Emma shouted triumphantly, pointing threateningly down at Daniel with her free hand, which had dropped a huge chunk of roof down beside the house. But as she pivoted her body to reach down and snatch him, her other arm, which was holding another large mass of decimated roof, whirled back and hit something hard. Emma wouldn’t have paid this much mind if she hadn’t simultaneously felt a number of sharp pricks penetrating her back. She spun around just in time to see the helicopter that she had inadvertently clipped with the roof fragment spinning off into the gloom, with the pilot only just managing to retain control before it crashed into the barn.

“What the — !?” Emma stammered, blinking in the sudden floodlight. It looked like there were about a dozen helicopters hovering in the air close by, all in formation, all of them with their harsh lights trained directly on Emma. She blinked a few more times, and for a couple seconds she considered ignoring them and going on with her business with Daniel. But the sudden sound of a loudspeaker reached her ears, and she knew that this…fleet…or whatever it was, wasn’t going to be ignored.

“Jackson, pull back! Pull back!!” barked the voice on the loudspeaker. “What’ve we TALKED about a dozen times — no one goes within twenty yards of her! Now Red!! Green!! Target three four five, around!! Around!!”

Emma watched as the lights quickly fan out around her. The pin pricks in her back were starting to feel numb, and a cool, almost pleasant sensation was beginning to emanate out from where it had initially hurt. Still clutching the piece of roof in her hand, she reached her other arm around to her back, and was surprised to find that her hand bumped into something thick and cylindrical. She grasped her hand around it and pulled it out of her back, holding it up to the light. It was some kind of…shot. Some kind of huge dart that had been full of some kind of liquid…but that was empty now.

“Release!! Release!!” cracked the voice in the loudspeaker. Emma heard some kind of swishing behind her, some kind of unfurling. The reality that she was being encircled…trapped…was slowly dawning on her. She turned around and saw, lit up by the floodlights, a wall of mesh…black mesh that was coming down from the helicopters hovering higher over her head.

Nets. They were nets. And they were going to catch her.

Emma turned back towards the front line of helicopters, fully intending on leaping in between them and running off into the night. But she found, when she tried to pivot, that her legs didn’t seem to want to move. And then, just as she realized this, she also felt herself falling…falling, falling, backwards, right into the soft embrace of the black nets that quickly enclosed themselves around her. She started struggling, clutching the bit of roof tightly in her hand, as she tried to will herself to throw it at the nearest chopper. But her arms didn’t seem to be working too well either. It felt like her entire body — from her neck down, at least — had been paralyzed.

“And down, and down!!” cried the man with the loudspeaker. “Eaaaaasy does it…to the ground!! Gently now…gently!!”

Emma felt herself being guided down to the ground. The helicopters had performed an array of swift and complicated maneuvers that had left her bound up tightly in the mesh nets. Her limbs were paralyzed, so she wasn’t able to even struggle. It was all incredibly disorienting for Emma, but frustrating too, because she knew that if her body had been working, she would have been able to tear through these measly little nets in no time. And then there would be hell to pay. But as it was, she had no choice but to just lie there in the net as it was humanely lowered down into the field…the field she had plowed herself a couple weeks before.

A confused din of noises, yells, shouts, and blares from the loudspeaker all muddled themselves in Emma’s ears. She was lying face-down, but found that she could still turn her head, move her eyes and mouth, and so on. But everything from her neck down wasn’t working. So many rushed thoughts were forcing themselves through her mind right now…so many, so fast, that she couldn’t alight on a single one. She was confused, wrathful, violated, vengeful, and scared all at the same time.

A minute passed. The helicopters seemed to have landed, and men in black were scurrying about. Emma could tell that a few of them were approaching her head cautiously. Did they have weapons drawn? Was this all in revenge for what had happened a week before!? Were they going to execute her?? At the same time, though, as these thoughts bounced around sickeningly in her skull, a kind of lightness came over Emma…a kind of cheekiness. So they wanted to harm her, did they? She’d show them. She thrashed her head as hard as she could in her bonds, and the men drew back. Emma felt momentarily satisfied with intimidating them like this, but the satisfaction didn’t last long. More men were assembling around her, and one of them, the one who had the loudspeaker, approached closest. Emma turned her head and was surprised to see that he was a younger man.

“Emma,” said Captain Casey, holding out his hands steadily in a calming motion, “Emma, I know what you’re thinking…this is all a terrible shock to you. But we’re not going to hurt you. You understand, Emma? We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Then who…who are you!?” Emma asked. She had been expecting her tongue to be sluggish because of the paralyzing drugs, but her speech was unaffected.

“You’ll see, you’ll see,” said Captain Casey encouragingly. “And I hope you understand why we had to take you like this. We just…weren’t sure how you’d react.”

“You made…the right call,” replied Emma after a few silent moments. It was crazy for her to look around and see all these tough, hardened army men staring at her…and back up slightly when she talked. Even in her current state, she couldn’t help but marvel at how tiny they were.

“I would’ve…smashed…everything,” she said slowly. She was starting to feel sleepy.

“Now, the anesthesia will be kicking in here in a minute or two,” said Casey quickly. “Don’t worry — we’ve got you, Emma. But I just need you to tell me one thing. Where we’re taking you…you can bring a visitor. Someone from your family to keep you company, you know? So you don’t get too lonely. Your family’s here, Emma. Which one of them would you like to bring along with you? It’s not forever, don’t worry. Just for a bit.”

Casey stood to the side, revealing Maisy, Jim, Daisy, and Daniel. They were wrapped in blankets, staring at Emma ashen-faced. Jim and Maisy looked terribly concerned, and Maisy was crying softly. Daisy looked hollow-eyed and traumatized. But Daniel…as Emma turned her head to look at him, she saw such pain and regret, such sorrow in his face, that it almost made her cry too. But then she remembered why he looked like that, and her face hardened. She felt herself getting angry again, even as the anesthetic started creeping into her brain. Hadn’t these special forces idiots even seen what was going on when they swooped in!?

“None of them,” Emma said flatly, looking straight at Daniel. His mouth opened slightly and closed again.

“None of them?” asked Casey, his brow furrowing. “I’m sorry Emma — did I hear that right? You want none of them to come with you?”

“That’s right,” said Emma firmly, her eyes not leaving Daniel. “I don’t need him…I don’t need any of them.”

“Ok, well…but are you sure?” asked Casey.

“Of course I’m sure,” said Emma in the same flat voice. “I don’t want him. He can’t come with me. He doesn’t deserve me.”

A few minutes later, she was fast asleep, and the helicopters carrying her fired up again and began to lift-off. After a few seconds of hovering her huge body a few inches above the ground, though, the three helicopters that were carrying her had to land again. They had underestimated her weight, and they had to attach net cables to two more helicopters before they could take off again.

“Good god,” muttered Casey to General Gerrick, who had been gruffly watching from the main helicopter the whole time. “She weighs over 3600…well over a ton and a half.”

“Remarkable,” nodded the general. His usual no-nonsense demeanor had been a bit shaken just watching Emma move, and hearing her speak. The mission had been a success, but what did they have on their hands now?

A few minutes later, Jim, Maisy, Daisy, and Daniel huddled up together, watching in stunned silence as the helicopters ferried away Emma’s huge, unconscious body, swaddled in the net, into the inky night.

Chapter 26

Four days later, Jim was pulling his truck out of the parking lot of a local hotel. Daniel sat in the front seat and Maisy and Daisy sat together in the back — everyone was staring stonily ahead, not saying much. The last two days had passed by in a kind of weirdly protracted blur. Everything seemed to be moving by so quickly, too fast for processing, and yet at the same time, coming to grips with the reality of what had just happened was proving to be a slow and agonizing process, with the government serving as their only real connection to the events they had witnessed around Emma and her…relocation.

The government had been tight-lipped about where they had taken her, and, despite heartfelt pleadings form both Daniel and Maisy, they were quite firm on that point: Emma had been moved to an “ undisclosed and secure location,” and was being well-taken-care-of by the best possible team of professionals who were dedicated to her case. At least, that was what the government had said. Daniel in particular was finding it hard to accept that he wasn’t even allowed to know where she was.

“But…but she’s my partner!” he had responded indignantly to Captain Casey’s refusal to say where they had taken Emma. “I…I have legal rights to know where she is!”

“Are the two of you married?” asked Casey dryly, already knowing the answer.

“W-well…no, but that doesn’t matter!” Daniel countered.

“It does, actually,” responded Casey, as the government men behind him began assessing the damage to the farm house. “Your partnership doesn’t have the legal protections that it would if the two of you were married, so I’m afraid you’re just going to have to entrust her to our care for the time being.”

Daniel had not been happy about this state of affairs at all, but there was nothing he could do about it. Before Casey could turn away, though, Daniel had one more question for him:

“But if she had said I could come…” he began, “…then, I could’ve come?”

Casey stood there looking at Daniel, not quite understanding. The young captain had to mentally remind himself that this family was and had been going through a lot, so it was reasonable to assume they would ask some pretty nonsensical questions.

“I mean…uh, yeah,” Casey answered, shrugging his shoulders a bit. “That was the whole point of asking her, right? We thought it would help her to have someone along who she trusted, who was family…but apparently she didn’t want that, so…yeah.”

Casey shrugged again and walked away, leaving Daniel all alone with the awful reality. He didn’t know what he had been trying to get at, asking that question, and felt empty and stupid as he slinked back toward Jim, Maisy, and Daisy, who were being calmed down by some more government men. Subconsciously, Daniel had been somehow hoping for Casey to tell him that there would have been no way that he could have come with Emma, even if she had wanted him to. But, of course, the reality of the situation was that Emma had rejected him, and that fact, and that fact alone, was why he wasn’t with her now…why he wasn’t allowed to even know where she was.

It had not gotten any easier for Daniel after two days. The government had put the family up in a hotel close by as they continued to assess the extensive damage to the farmhouse. Emma had punched multiple holes straight through the ceilings, destroyed about half of the east-facing wall, and, most conspicuously, torn the entire roof in half. At first, the family was still shell-shocked, and just content to have a hotel room to sleep in, but after two days, they began to question why the government would want to spend all this time evaluating the damage.

“They’re up to something,” Jim had declared after a continental breakfast in the hotel lobby, as the family sat on the beds in their cramped hotel room. “I know it.”

“But…up to what, dear?” asked Maisy, blinking with tired concern at her husband.

“I don’t know,” Jim answered, holding out his hands in a rare moment of gesticulation. “I have no idea. I just don’t really believe that they’re — what did they say — getting an insurance estimate, or whatever it was.”

“Then what do you think they’re doing?” asked Daniel, who was sitting next to Daisy on the bed that they had both shared the past two nights. They hadn’t even touched body parts, and had slept facing away from each other. Emma catching them together in their shared moment of weakness, and her subsequent violent reaction, had driven a hard wedge between them. Both of them were numb with all of the mental processing that had taken place over the past two days, and all the agonized, frantic thoughts and regrets had gotten them nowhere. They had not told Jim and Maisy what they had been doing before Emma found them; they had not even discussed it themselves.

“I think they’re taking samples,” Jim answered, looking seriously at Daniel. “I think they’re studying something…like, taking notes about…you know, about Emma’s strength, and what she’s capable of.”

The family had sat together in silence for a few moments, contemplating what Jim was saying. It certainly seemed plausible. And, of course, considering that the government had obviously been monitoring Emma for some time now, it didn’t seem too farfetched that they were carefully researching the damage she had done to the house.

“I just hope…hope that she’s ok,” said Maisy in a quiet voice, staring out the window. “I hope they’re telling the truth when they said they’re taking care of her.”

Again, there was silence. They had all been talking so much the past two days about everything — Emma’s abrupt “psychosis” (which Daniel and Daisy knew wasn’t true), the government people, what they had injected her with, the fact that the government appeared to have had a plan that they acted out, where they had taken her, and on and on and on. The long, exhausted silences that the family now found themselves in was the end result of two frenetic days of endless questions with no answers.

Just then, Daniel’s phone had rung out into the hotel room, and he saw that the number was restricted. He had known that this was the government calling him, and so he had answered, his heart pattering with expectation. Maybe now they would tell him where Emma was, and perhaps even that she had changed her mind and wanted to see him.

“Hello?” he had begun, answering the call as he stared at Jim and Maisy.

“Hello Daniel!” came the sound of Captain Casey’s voice on the other end. Daniel was heartened to hear the young man’s bright voice — it was a familiar voice, and one that heightened his expectations that he was about to hear some good news.

“How’s the hotel?” asked Casey amiably. “You guys doing alright over there?”

“Uhh…I — I mean,” said Daniel, caught off-guard by the strange conversationality of his tone, “It’s…you know, a hotel, haha. Kinda cramped, to be honest, but…but I…uh, we’re…we appreciate you all helping us out here.”

“Well you know, that’s just what I was about to get at,” Casey continued pleasantly. “We set you all up in that hotel strictly as a temporary measure, you know, while we sorted some things out, but we know that you’re all probably eager to get back to somewhere more permanent.”

“Uhm, y-yes…yes I think so,” nodded Daniel. He was hoping to get all of this fluff conversation out of the way so he could hear about Emma.

“So we were thinking,” said Casey, “That we could relocate you all back to your house — the one you and Emma stayed in before coming to the farmhouse weeks ago.”

“I…how do you…” began Daniel, but he stopped himself. He certainly had not been expecting this.

“Emma told us,” Casey answered Daniel’s implied question, shaking his head to himself. Of course, they had known where the house was all along. “She gave us the address and everything.”

“Oh! She…she did!?” Daniel asked, his heart skipping a beat at the mention of Emma’s name. “So she’s —”

“Yes, so we know that the local fire department had cut a hole cut in the living room ceiling,” continued Casey, talking over Daniel’s next question. “But that’s a simple fix, really, and we’d be happy to provide that for you. It shouldn’t take more than a few days for us to repair.”

“Well…uhm, that’s…that’s nice of you,” muttered Daniel, looking around at no one in particular.

“Yeah, the structural damage to the farmhouse is a lot more extensive,” Casey continued, “And it’s gonna take a lot more time to fix up. But we thought that you all might not want to stay in a hotel for months, and might appreciate going back to somewhere familiar?”

“….Yes…I…think that we would, yeah,” responded Daniel, nodding again. “Can I…can I just talk to everyone first, just to get the “ok,” before I give you a full answer on that?”

“Of course, Daniel!” answered Casey. “I’ll call back in ten minutes.”

“W-wait…wait!” stammered Daniel, before Casey could hang up.

“Yes?” The young captain’s voice hung on the line.

“So…how is Emma?” Daniel asked, feeling slightly stupid and lame asking such a basic, casual-sounding question.

“She’s fine,” said Casey lightly, with almost flippant bluntness. “Eating a lot, of course, haha. But that’s not surprising, is it?”

“N-no…no it’s not,” Daniel laughed, his face flushing as his heart sped up even faster. They were talking about her! “So…so do you think that I c-could, uhhhh, maybe sp—”

“Ok Daniel, so you talk over my proposal with the rest of the family,” interrupted Casey pleasantly, “And I’ll call you right back, mmk?”

The call had ended, leaving Daniel feeling like he had been slapped in the face. He just sat there on the bed with the phone still up to his ear. He could feel the awful, sinking weight of the reality plunging down through him, even as he continued to resist: he couldn’t get to her…through her own wishes, he was being denied access to her. Access in all forms. At least…at least she was still eating a lot. That meant that she was ok, right!?

“So…who was that, Daniel?” came Daisy’s voice, knocking at his ear. In that moment, Daniel felt such a vicious and intense antipathy toward Daisy that he very nearly snapped his head up and glared at her in front of Jim and Maisy. As it was, however, he had enough self control to stare wide-eyed at his thighs for a couple seconds before putting the phone down and turning to her with a calm and measured expression.

They didn’t need to talk it over for too long — everyone wanted to be able to just relax, which they couldn’t really do in the cramped hotel room. Daniel and Emma’s old house was large enough that everyone could have their own bedroom: Jim and Maisy could sleep in the master suite, Daisy could stay in the guest bedroom, and Daniel could make do with sleeping on the pull-out sofa in the living room. Ten minutes later on the dot, Captain Casey had called back, and Daniel had told him that they all had accepted the offer.

“Excellent!” Casey replied warmly. “Now you all just give us a couple days to fix everything up over there, and then you can move back in…take a nice little breather, you know?”

“Ahaha, yeah,” said Daniel, already jostling to try and sneak in a question about Emma. “So my girlfriend…c-can she…can she speak to me?”

“I’m afraid not,” answered Casey. His voice seemed infused with a kind of genuine regret, but this aspect was rendered unpalatable by the authority with which he was speaking.

“But…but why not?” asked Daniel, now making no secret of his displeasure. He didn’t care that he was in front of the rest of the family. He didn’t really care about anything else except speaking to Emma at this point. His agonizing guilt felt like it was a boulder on top of him, slowly crushing out the life, and he was becoming more and more panicked by the hour. A deep bubble of emotion welled up in him, threatening to rise up to his face and pop. He felt like he was about to burst into tears.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” said Casey simply.

A dagger through the heart. His brain processed everything immediately. Implied in the captain’s words was the fact that they had tried to get Emma to talk to Daniel…and that she had rebuffed these offers. Once again, try as he might to chalk the chasm between him and Emma down to the product of outside forces, Daniel had to face the reality that Emma was the one continuously refusing interaction.

“And…I’m sorry, but we’re really trying to avoid doing anything that would upset her,” Casey continued after a short pause. “When we mentioned you she got agitated and bent one of our…aaaanyway, look, like I said, you’re just going to have to trust us right now, ok?”

Daniel was staring forward into space, seeing nothing.

“Ohhh-kay,” finished Casey smartly, “Well you all just sit tight for a couple more days and you’ll be settling down before you know it. We’ll be in touch.”

But since then, the government had really not been in touch. Two more days passed, and, despite Daniel’s repeated attempts to call the restricted number back, all he got was an “error” recording that the line he was calling was no longer in service. He tried all the tricks, dialing “*69” and the like before calling, but none of it worked. The only way he could talk to the people who had Emma was if they called him. And they weren’t calling, until a couple days later, when someone did call to say that the house was nearly finished, and that they could all go ahead and start moving in. But it wasn’t Casey, and whoever it was seemed a lot less amiable, and a lot more blunt, than the young captain.

“Can I speak to my girlfriend please?” Daniel had asked urgently.

“No,” the gruff voice had answered on the other end. “Access is restricted. Have a nice day.”

And now the whole family was in the car, pulling away from the hotel, silent and exhausted, Jim driving, Daniel beside him, and Maisy and Daisy in the back seat. The tension between them all had been building in the little hotel room, especially between Daniel and Daisy. The only thing uniting them at this point was their mutual and unspoken pact that Jim and Maisy would never know what they had been doing before Emma caught them. Aside from this pact, they had barely interacted with each other…barely spoken…barely even looked at each other. It was a strange and cruel irony that they had been forced to sleep in the same bed together for the past four nights. Daniel thought he had spied Daisy trying to catch his eye a few times, but he was in no mood to look at her. He knew that he was unfairly heaping the anger at himself onto Daisy, but the agony of Emma’s rejection was still so raw that he simply didn’t care if he was being distant. In any case, Daisy herself seemed to be grappling with her own issues and regrets, and had been mostly keeping to herself as well. Both of them knew that they shared the blame.

A few hours later, Jim was pulling up to the old house. Daniel blinked at it a few times; he was surprised by the intensity of the memories that were flooding back now. A blue tarp covered the living room roof, but aside from that, everything looked as it had before. Daniel’s mind jumped back to weeks and weeks before — it seemed an eternity ago — when he had driven Emma away after the fire department had cut the hole in the roof to let her out. A crowd had gathered, loud and scared and unruly…it was all so muddled in Daniel’s head, and yet, at the same time, so clear. He had been dead-set on getting Emma out of there. She had just woken up from a nap, and had been upset by all the people gathered, looking at her. She had tried to step out of the hole in the roof carefully, but had accidentally bashed her leg up against the front wall, taking a good chunk of brick and drywall with it.

‘And there it is, still,’ Daniel thought to himself, looking out at the bricks scattered on the lawn.

He could see her desperate face looking at him as he pulled his truck around, with the trailer behind it for her to crawl into. He had felt so bad…so terrible for her…she had looked like a poor, cornered animal, desperate to get away from all those prying eyes. How big had she been at that point? Just over 12 feet…12 feet!? She had seemed so impossibly huge then…but she was over twice that tall now.

“I thought they said they were almost done fixing it up,” muttered Jim, pulling the car into the driveway. “Looks like they’ve got a ways to go.”

Daniel had to agree — it certainly didn’t seem like the government had done too much, but he couldn’t focus too hard on being irritated because he had gotten out of the car and was staring hard at the grass. He hadn’t realized it before, since he had been in such a rush to drive away, but Emma had left noticeable footprints in the grass as she ran to him after stepping out of the house. It had been weeks since then, but he could still see the large indentations, where her huge feet had crushed the grass, grinding it into the dirt. He counted one, two, three of them, not quite foot-shaped, but clear enough to show that they were indeed her footprints.

‘She only needed three steps,’ thought Daniel as he stared down at the tracks, ‘Three steps to cross the yard…’ He put his foot in one of the dirt indentations and blinked down at the comparison…the print was over twice the length and width of his own foot, with his shoe on.

“So Daniel,” Maisy was saying. He looked up and saw the whole family standing there with their bags, staring at him expectantly. “You think we should go in through the front or the back?”

“I, uhh…” he answered, stumbling over himself a little. How long had he been looking around the yard at Emma’s footprints? “Let’s…uhm, let’s try the side door, I think.” As they walked toward the door, Daniel looked up at the big oak tree by the driveway. His mind shot back again to a time weeks…or months…before, and he saw Emma crouching down, wrapping her huge arms all the way around the tree’s trunk. She had been so happy, so thrilled, that she had been able to go all the way around it. He could see her beautiful eyes dancing down at him. God, that had been the day she had been wearing those huge black platform heels…he had forgotten about those! The way she had been playing around with him, pushing him down in the grass and then putting that enormous heel on his chest. Was that the day that he had really started to worry she was losing it!? Her eyes, far, far above, just looking down on him curiously, studying him…

“It’s locked, honey.” Maisy’s voice again cut through Daniel’s flashback.

“Oh! Uhhh, heheh, sorry,” he chuckled sheepishly, fumbling for the keys in his pocket. “I just…uhmm…yeah…”

“A lot of memories coming back, huh?” Maisy asked, smiling gently at him, her voice understanding.

Daniel had not been prepared for the smell that hit him as he walked into the house. It didn’t matter that there had been a hole in the living room roof for weeks — the fire department had apparently covered it with the tarp fairly quickly, keeping out the elements, and preserving the integrity of the house’s interior. It smelled like Emma…it smelled like their old life. Daniel exhaled out a labored breath, and he had to pause and put his hand on the kitchen counter, leaning into it as he tried not to cry. Her slightly sweet, heavy scent still permeated the house as he looked around. Everything seemed like it had been before, and it all came flooding back to him as he looked around. The sofa, the coffee table, the entertainment station, and the love seat were all bunched into the far corner of the living room.

‘Of course!’ Daniel remembered to himself. ‘Emma had moved all that stuff…in like…a minute…so I could measure her.’

“God, so they just…sliced right through the roof, then?” Jim was saying, staring up at the large hole in the ceiling, covered by the tight blue tarp. “And Emma…she was small enough to fit through it then, I guess?”

“What?” asked Daniel blankly, turning to Jim. “Oh…oh, yeah. Yeah she was only like…uh…12 feet then…maybe a little taller…so she, uhm…yeah, fit right through the hole there.”

Daniel was now looking up at the hole in the roof, and it was truly unnerving how different it looked now. When the fire department had made the hole, it had seemed too big, like they were making sure that Emma had more than enough room to navigate. But now, looking up at the hole, it looked tiny. Just thinking of Emma trying to fit through that hole now was ridiculous. Maybe she could fit her leg through…but that was about it. The terrifying image suddenly came bashing into his mind, of Emma’s angry, devastated face staring down at him, lit up by the lurid light below, with blackness all around her as she clenched her teeth and ripped the farmhouse roof in half with her bare hands. He shook his head, trying to clear it of that awful memory.

“Looks like we need to make a grocery store run,” announced Daisy, who stood by the open fridge, indicating to everyone that it was completely empty.

“Oh…ahaha, yeah,” said Daniel moving over to the kitchen as he started opening cabinets. “Emma had eaten up everything before we left…like, everything…heheh, yeah, there’s nothing here.”

“Well Maise, let’s you and me take a trip out and get some food for the house,” Jim said. He seemed a little uncomfortable in the house. “Just, before we go — where’s your trash can, Daniel?” He brandished the wrapper of a granola bar he had eaten in the car on the way.

“Oh, uh, right here,” answered Daniel, sliding out the large trash can drawer next to the dishwasher. A slightly acrid smell met his nostrils, and he glanced down. The trash can was piled to the brim with crushed, empty boxes of Chinese food. Daniel froze, and his mouth opened slightly as he stared down at the discarded boxes. That night…that night he had gone out and brought back the huge order…the order he thought would be more than adequate for her appetite. And she had been waiting for him, sitting in the corner with her knees up to her chest with that deer-in-the-headlights look on her face, her new specially-made clothes all in tatters around her after a sudden growth spurt.

‘Babe,’ he could hear her say, in a voice that had shocked him with its deep, quiet power at the time, even though she had been speaking softly, ‘I don’t think that’s gonna be enough.’ He could hear her saying those words like she was in the room with him now.

“Aw, honey, that’s ok,” Maisy was saying next to him, putting a kind hand on his shoulder. It was the second time Maisy had used the sympathetic word “honey” to refer to him in a matter of minutes, and Daniel subconsciously understood that she was tacitly acknowledging that a lot was going on in his head. “You left in a rush…you weren’t thinking about things like taking out the trash.”

“Oh…oh, yeah,” Daniel replied, shaking himself out of yet another memory. “I, uhm…heheh, yeah, I guess I forgot about all that stuff.”

“Well of course you did,” Maisy said gently.

“Here, tie that off,” Jim said, pointing down at the trash can. “I’ll take it out for you.”

Daniel watched silently as Jim trudged out of the house, the bulging trash bag slung over his back, with Masiy following in tow. He didn’t know why it was so bizarre for him, just watching Emma’s dad strain a little under the weight of the garbage…he knew that he probably shouldn’t have let Jim volunteer for the chore, but before he realized, it was only him and Daisy left in the kitchen. Daniel put his head in his hands and shut his eyes tightly, trying to get control of himself. Just seeing those empty boxes of Chinese food had thrust him disorientingly back in time…a time when Emma was still there with him, still herself.

‘She’s still herself…she still is…’ he repeated to himself over and over. ‘She’s having trouble…so much trouble, just like anyone would…’

He saw her eyes flashing down at him in the low, threatening lamp light in the barn, and he felt her huge fingers increasing the pressure on his midsection as she brought him up towards her grinning mouth. She had lost it, totally lost it…she was gone…no…no, she was still in there somewhere…if he could only get to her…if he could only sit with her, speak with her…

“So…” came Daisy’s voice through the darkness of his closed eyelids. Daniel’s eyes shot open, and for a second he thought that Emma was standing right there in front of him, staring down at him from the ceiling, wrapped in that white sheet she used after her growing body shredded all of her clothes. He breathed out in a kind of gasp, but his vision quickly faded, dwindling down to Daisy’s much smaller form, standing there awkwardly, with her hands folded in front of her white dress. Daniel felt another intense flash of antipathy towards Daisy — why had she decided to wear that white dress today, anyway? What, did she think they were coming here to celebrate something?

“Are you…are you ok?” Daisy ventured with cautious anxiety. She had caught the aggressive glint in Daniel’s eyes, but she also could tell that his mind really was somewhere else.

“This is just…uhhh…I mean…really tripping me out,” Daniel mumbled, blinking rapidly as he put his hand on the counter and leaned a little into it. There didn’t seem to be anything he could do to stave off the deluge of feelings…the unwelcome procession of memories that was inundating his brain. He looked at the cabinets and he remembered how Emma had walked around in her underwear, her big ass bulging out from underneath the tight fabric as she easily reached up to the top shelf…she had been around 6’8 then. His eyes travelled down to the sink and he suddenly heard the “rrrrrip” sound of Emma tearing her khaki pants as she bent down, putting her cereal bowl in the sink before work…before work…that had been a lifetime ago! Back when Emma had still been going to her job! They had fought that morning — it had been the breaking point for them both, and he had stormed out of the house and flown off on a business trip…that had been the worst time spent in an airport in his life…but they had made up, and she had cried and apologized and…and it had all been ok. Daniel shook his head and looked somewhere, anywhere, for a little relief, but as he glanced down the hallway, towards their bedroom, he could hear her laughter echoing off the walls…and he could almost see her red hair bobbing up and down as it peeked out at him from around the corner of their bedroom.

“Maybe you should just…uhm…sit down and…relax, hmmm?” suggested Daisy, trying to keep her voice light and casual. “You’re still limping, I’ve noticed…and…uhh…maybe take it easy?”

Daniel turned away from the hallway to look at Daisy, and for a moment he gave himself away. He simply didn’t have the will or inclination left to keep up any facade with her anymore. His stare didn’t carry the weight of the animosity that he felt, but its blankness nonetheless made Daisy feel like, in trying to comfort him, she was crossing a line. But she didn’t know where the line was anymore, at this point…and not knowing was beginning to annoy her.

“Ok, so…obviously you’re not happy with me,” Daisy began, her voice shaking a little. “So let’s just have it out.”

“It’s not…Daisy, it’s…” sighed Daniel, looking up at the ceiling for a few moments before adjusting back to her. “Whatever you think it is, I…I can promise that it’s just a lot more complicated, ok?”

Daniel thought he had done a pretty good job keeping a measured voice just then, while also making it clear that he really wasn’t in the mood to talk about things. As far as he was concerned, there wasn’t really anything to talk about. They had both suffered a mutual moment of weakness that could not have come at a worse time. Daniel was upset with himself…upset with Daisy…but most of all, he was upset at the inexorable thought that the universe had conspired against him, to deprive him of Emma in the cruelest and most painful way. He wasn’t even thinking about the anxious, creeping horror of living with her on the farm for the past few weeks…what she had done to the farmhouse…to those police officers…to him. He just wanted her back so badly.

“So let’s just…” replied Daisy, shaking her head, “Let’s just talk about it, ok? I can listen. I wanna hear what’s going on.”

“Well…” said Daniel quickly, sighing more impatiently this time, “You can’t, Daisy. Ok? I…look, this isn’t anything against you. I’m just working through a lot right now, and…and I don’t know how I feel or what’s really going on at all.”

Daisy breathed out in a frustrated huff and shook her head again. She didn’t think he was being fair at all — it had been four days since everything had happened…four days of both of them awkwardly avoiding each other…and he literally had nothing to say about it all, still!? She was starting to feel like Daniel was somehow blaming her for everything that had gone wrong…and, of course, the hard thing was that she knew it was definitely all partially her fault. But she hadn’t made him do anything! There had been a real connection there between them…something organic and tender…and what — now he was trying to pretend that it had never even existed!?

“So we’re never gonna talk about what happened?” she asked, challenging him as she stuck out her chin a little. She knew she was being a hard-nosed bitch right now, but she wasn’t going to let him just float around the issue, ignoring reality.

“There’s nothing to talk about!” Daniel shouted suddenly, slamming his hand down on the counter and jerking his head up at Daisy, who looked stunned. “I made a mistake, you made a mistake, we both made a huge, terrible mistake, ok!?” He took several deep breaths and kept going, maintaining the same intensity, though without the raised voice. “We’ve all been…uhh, uhh, emotionally fragile recently, right? And, and…the…you and me…we just…just took refuge in each other and then it got out of hand, and I’m sorry that it did, ok, Daisy? I’m so, so sorry it did. It should never have happened.”

“I know,” Daisy answered in a small voice, her lower lip quivering as the big tears gathered in her eyes. “You’re right, it should never, ever have happened.” She broke down and started sobbing, and Daniel felt something wash over him. She had never been conniving, or mean-spirited. Daisy was no schemer. She had just felt sorry for him, then wanted to take care of him, wanted to protect him…and it had all gotten away from them. But behind it all was Emma, and everyone having to deal with her in their own complex way.

Daniel went over and hugged Daisy, apologizing to her for shouting. She gladly received his embrace, even as her tears continued to flow. The truth was that Daniel still harbored a strong degree of irritation toward Daisy, but he didn’t want to act on it, much less let her know where it came from. He knew that she had her own problems and anxieties around everything that had happened, but he was mainly trying to assuage her so that she could stop distracting him from thinking about Emma. Her rejection of him, and his being back in their old house, had set loose something in his mind, and he desperately sought the psychic space to ruminate on her.

“Ok, Daisy…alright, uhhh…” he said distractedly after a few long seconds of hugging. “I’m gonna go…uh take a shower.”

He just needed some time and space to himself, and a shower seemed the best way to try and clear his head. But going back into the master suite did nothing to settle his thoughts. The first thing he saw, coming into the bedroom, was the gigantic Alaskan-sized bed frame that he had ordered long ago, split down the middle. He stood there staring at the bed, almost unbelieving. Had it really only been a few days after Emma broke the bed that they had gone to the farm!? All the time blended together crazily in his head. He’d have to somehow clear the frame out and have Jim and Maisy sleep on the mattress, which was still intact. His mind tried to jump to these ordinary, real-life concerns, but he wasn’t able to keep it there for long. Daniel was looking around the bedroom, and he felt the strangest sense of unease. Something unseen was hanging in the air. Daniel looked over at the wall and saw little tic marks going up towards the ceiling. He walked over to them.

6’1…6’3…6’4.5 

‘God,’ Daniel breathed to himself, ‘That’s right…she was so unhappy about getting bigger back then…she even drew a little frowny face…Jesus…’

He felt his head starting to crane upward as he continued looking at the progression of Emma’s self-measurements. Once they got past 7’4 he couldn’t even really read them anymore. They were farther away from his eyes, and it seemed like Emma had become more haphazard with her handwriting. Daniel wondered about this for a moment, before remembering:

‘Oh yeah…after she got past the mid-7-foot range she started having trouble holding stuff. Forks, knives, pencils…it was all really getting to her.’

He could see her pouting face as she pulled her huge legs up to her chest on the sofa, right after it became clear that her fingers had become too big for her laptop. Her laptop…her laptop!!

Daniel quickly began rummaging around in the bedroom, looking for Emma’s laptop. He was sure she had left it there, especially considering that she wasn’t even able to use it the last few days they had stayed there. Sure enough, after looking in a few of the obvious places first, he pulled open a drawer and found it sitting there, closed and forgotten.

Daniel felt his heart quicken. He knew that Emma had never used a password for her laptop, and had always kept her password for her email and social media saved. The thought of snooping on her had never occurred to him before, but now things were completely different. Maybe she had new resources at whatever government center she was at now…maybe they had given her a giant computer, and she had sent emails to some people! He thought of those “giantess forums” she had been fond of before — maybe she was posting things on them now!

His skin pricked with nervous excitement as he pulled the laptop out, set it on the dresser, and opened it up. So far so good…no password, and the screen came back to life. Daniel didn’t have time to be surprised at how heavily he was breathing, or how fast his heart was beating, as he got on the internet and went straight to Emma’s email. He didn’t have the time or will to feel guilty about snooping, either — he was on a completely different plane, now…desperate to read anything new from her.

But his heart sank a little as he looked through her “Sent” tab — there had been nothing for a month-and-a-half. Had it seriously only been that long since Emma’s fingers were small enough to use a keyboard!? Daniel felt the past turning inward, like a vortex on the present; it was impossible to appropriately gauge time anymore. Just out of sheer curiosity, he clicked on the last email she had sent, to Miss Bisset…that sweet older French lady who had hand-tailored Emma’s clothes for her:

“so this is geting ridiculous. i have spent ten min trying to type thss list for you and i can barely use key pad. no caps or apostrophes. fingers too big. will call instead -, love Emma”

Daniel felt his heart go out to her all over again. She really had a tough time of it. And this was so many weeks ago, before her really huge spurts, even! Before she had started to lose her mind…but Daniel wasn’t going to dwell on that now. There were other places he could go to look for signs of activity. Maybe she had been posting on those weird forums — those horny size-fetish guys had been a source of comfort to her before…maybe they were now.

Feeling more than a little uneasy now, he logged onto the “giantesscity” forum, and found, to his relief, that Emma had saved her password for this site as well. It only took him a few seconds of acclimating to the site’s appearance before he realized, with wide eyes, that Emma had 487 unread messages in her inbox. Daniel gulped, blinking at the screen for a few seconds. So many…but all of them unread?! He quickly clicked on the “Sent” tab, and his heart sank as he saw, yet again, that Emma hadn’t sent anything in almost two months. A similar search of her social media accounts turned up no new activity, and Daniel found himself forcing himself to look away from old pictures of the two of them smiling together, back when Emma was “only” 5’8…5 inches shorter than him. They had been so happy, so normal…but it was impossible to look at their faces in those pictures now without a sense of tragedy. Their joy in those photos was about to come crashing down around them, and they had no idea.

Daniel found himself clicking back to the “giantess” forum. He had some experience with this site, since he had scrolled through it a few times, at Emma’s insistence, after her fingers got too big. But he had never really paid attention to her interactions with the other people on the forum itself. He found himself drawn in, wanting to read through her posts, but just then, he heard Jim and Maisy pull back up to the house, so he closed the laptop and escaped off to the sanctuary of the shower to be alone. But he couldn’t even really relax during his shower. He had to adjust the shower head, which had been aimed straight downward, rather than pointing out…and Daniel remembered how, during her last days at the house, Emma had to actually take showers sitting down. The image of her sitting there, with the water flowing over hear head as she bowed it forward sadly, suddenly bubbled up to the top of his mind, and looking down, he even saw some of her long red hairs still on the shower floor. Emma had been about 12 feet tall at this point, and her hair had only reached a little past her shoulders. Daniel picked one of her hairs up, staring at it with barely-contained emotion as he held it up to his face. It was about half as long as his entire body.

Absent any current correspondence from Emma, Daniel was eager to immerse himself in all the things Emma had posted on the giantess forums in the past. In a strange way, they were the only way he felt he could connect with her…but before that, he had to deal with making sure the family was settled comfortably. Jim and Maisy had picked up a fair amount of food at the grocery store, but Daisy had the idea that they should just order in for the night, since no one really felt like cooking.

“Ooooh, you guys will love El Camino!” Daniel had exclaimed, taking a strange, surreal enjoyment in behaving normally. The truth was that he was counting the minutes before he could be alone with Emma’s laptop. The rest of the family agreed that Mexican sounded good, and Daniel got their order and made the call.

“Hello, El Camino,” said the familiar voice of the employee who always answered the phone.

“Uh, hi!” said Daniel, remembering that, as far as this guy was concerned, life had just been going on normally. “Uhm, order for delivery, please.”

The man verified Daniel’s number, and then started chuckling.

“Haven’t heard from you in a bit!” the man laughed. “We were all starting to think something had happened!”

“Oh! Uh, ahaha, well, um…nope! Nothing’s happened!” replied Daniel, returning the man’s laughter. “Just…uh, you know…life gets busy and all.”

“Don’t I know it,” chuckled the man. “Ok so you’ll be having what you ordered last time?”

“Uh…what was the, uhm…the last order?” asked Daniel, having no clue. He knew that the order this time would be different, but his responses to the man were reflexive — he was realizing now that, aside from the government people, he hadn’t spoken to anyone outside of Emma’s family for weeks. Normal conversation didn’t really come naturally anymore.

“Three verde burritos, twelve chicken tacos, twelve beans and rice, two large chimichangas, supreme, twelve beef tostitos, three large cheese quesadillas.” The man rattled off the order, and Daniel’s mouth opened a little. Aside from the verde burrito for himself, the rest of that had been for Emma alone…and that was back when she was, what? 8-and-a-half feet? Or something like that…? It had been right after he had brought her back from the Institute. They had been feeling in such a light, happy mood, after being away from each other for weeks. Even then, though, Daniel remembered how he was starting to feel nervous with Emma in the house. But they had been happy times, happy times…

“Sir?” inquired the man after a long pause. “Did you get all that? Haha, or maybe you’re not having a party this time?”

“Uh eheheh, yes…um…things are a little different,” was all Daniel could say, sinking down in place.

Later on that night, after Jim and Maisy had settled into the master suite as best they could, and Daisy had cloistered herself away in the guest bedroom, Daniel stretched himself out of the sofa bed and opened Emma’s laptop. He glanced upward briefly, at the tight blue tarp, looking black now in the low light, covering the huge hole in the roof above him. It was so odd, just looking at it…remembering how Emma had just stepped through it…and how she couldn’t even begin to fit through it now.

Daniel began scrolling through Emma’s posts on giantesscity. They had started months before, and she had given herself the username “GrowingEmma.” Daniel quickly found, even without opening up a single one of her unread messages, that Emma was a dominant presence on the forum. There were at least a dozen separate threads devoted to her, with titles like “Emma is a Goddess” and “Our Dreams Have Come True” and “Can This Be Real!?!?” Daniel saw that some of the more recent topic posts, however, were a little different. “Has Anyone Heard From Emma?” one of them read…“She’s Gone, Guys, Get Over It” read another one. Daniel felt his heart fluttering oddly; it was surreal to remind himself how obsessed this whole subset of the internet was about Emma. Even as early as a couple hours ago, people had posted comments on thread after thread having to do with her. At the moment, though, he was only interested in looking at what Emma had posted. He knew that she hadn’t been active for a while, but he just wanted to read something that she had written.

He clicked on her username and quickly read her profile.

“Hi! My name’s Emma and I’m 10’7!” chirped her bio. Daniel could actually hear her saying these words, in that bright, chipper voice of hers when she had been happy.

‘Geez,’ he thought, shaking his head as he sat with these thoughts, ‘She stopped updating her bio a while ago.’ She had grown more than two-and-a-half times bigger since her last update.

“That might sound huge to all of you guys,” her bio continued, “But I’m just getting started, haha! I’m still getting taller and bigger all around, so don’t get too comfortable with me, or I’m gonna outgrow you!”

Daniel felt a wrenching in his chest. She had certainly outgrown him.

“I don’t want him,” her words repeated in his head, as he saw her staring straight into his face, all wrapped up in that horrible net, with the government lights shining painfully through the night. “He can’t come with me. He doesn’t deserve me.”

Daniel blinked and swallowed the lump in his throat down. He very nearly closed Emma’s laptop right then and there. Why was he insisting on torturing himself in this way? But as he moved to close it, he reminded himself that he didn’t really have any other options right now. What else was he going to do!? Sleep?? And have Emma’s flat, dead voice of rejection soaking into his brain? No, no he had to…had to distract himself somehow…had to remind himself of happier times…or at least, just different times. Maybe encouraging these memories would give him hope that things at present could somehow turn around. But seeing the last sentence of Emma’s bio didn’t do much to help him feel better:

“And just so all you guys know, I’ve got a boyfriend and he’s WONDERFUL and all I will ever need. So don’t get any funny ideas!”

Daniel knew that his stomach would drop out of his body if he focused on that last bit, so he clicked on the “Most Active Topic” tab on Emma’s profile, which was titled “Growing Girl Compares with Her Boyfriend.” He didn’t have much of a reaction to the title itself, since he had helped Emma post images on the thread towards the end, when her fingers had gotten too big. But as soon as he saw the first pictures Emma had posted, months before, he felt an emotional exhale get pushed from his diaphragm as his jaw went slightly slack.

This single picture had elicited an enormous number of responses from people, most of them positive. “OMG UNREAL” said one…“This is the greatest day of my life — an actual tall woman…a REAL LIFE TALL WOMAN, posting on THIS forum!?!?!” yelled another. Daniel couldn’t help but smile a little; he had enough experience with online forums to know when something noteworthy was happening, and this thread was such an example. The responses from all these men were overwhelming. Dozens and dozens of them, most of them singing Emma’s praises, flooded the screen. Every once in a while, someone posted something negative, like “Yeahhh, I don’t buy it. Photoshop all the way,” or “She’s got a boyfriend ya’ll, she’s jst teasing us to mke us feel like Sh*t so why don’t we just all quit giving her the attention she wants,” and a few others like it, but these people were quickly shot down by the others. Daniel felt an odd kind of warmth, reading through these laudatory comments; in a strange way, he was actually enjoying himself, pretending like Emma didn’t know him, and that he was just admiring her from afar. This mindset served to assuage his awful guilt, and to paradoxically reassure himself that, in fact, he was far closer to Emma than any of these other men could hope to be.

And this was only the beginning of the thread. After all these responses, he came upon another batch of pictures that he had never seen. Apparently, Emma had taken her phone and snapped a few pictures of him from her perspective. Daniel hadn’t remembered any of this, but there they were, posted up there on the forum:

“Here’s what I look down at, now that I’m 7’2,” read one caption. “Top of his head barely reaches my shoulders. Oh, and the boyfriend is 6’1, by the way, so….yeah ”

Daniel had to smile as he read the responses to this series of pictures. The men on the forum were really losing it: “oh my god i am literally shaking right now i’m only 5’5 i’d be looking at your STOMACH” said one user. “Pls show us a picture of your hand next to his!” begged another. “Impressive, but fake,” declared another user confidently. “You can see the photoshop shadows on his head there.”

“No you can’t, idiot,” muttered Daniel out loud. “That’s literally the shadow of her hand on my head.” Suddenly, there was a loud rustling above him, and Daniel’s eyes shot up, aimed directly in the hole in the ceiling above his head. The bright light of the laptop made it so that his eyes needed to adjust to the dark, and right then, Daniel was seized with fear. He saw Emma’s huge body standing up over him, over the hole, over the entire house, with the stars in the night sky behind her. She was hovering her huge foot up over the hole, wavering it back and forth a little, as if she was trying to decide where to insert her foot so that her leg wouldn’t get stuck. Far above, Daniel could see the burning coals of her eyes, shining brighter than Venus on the eastern edge of the horizon. Was she angry!? Or was that just how she looked now!? Daniel opened his mouth as his whole body shook, and he tried to cry out, but he was paralyzed with fear. The government had done something to her — she was different — her eyes were different — she was at least 50 feet tall now — and she was something other than human. Her foot came down lower, lower…and then, suddenly, everything stopped. Daniel breathed in and out, in and out, in violent inhales and exhales of breath, as he realized that it had all been a hallucination. Some wind had disturbed the tight blue tarp over his head, and it had tricked his brain into thinking that he had seen…that he had seen her.

“Oh my god,” he breathed, shaking his head at himself, at how terrible that vision had been, “This is…this is ridiculous.” He shut the laptop, resolving to put it all out of his mind, at least for tonight. He covered himself up and eventually managed to fall into an uneasy, disturbed sleep. Emma’s burning eyes were fixed in his mind.

But Daniel could not stay away from the forum for too long. Try as he might to resist thinking about it all, he kept coming back to it again and again, simply because it remained the only way he could somehow access Emma, even though the posts he was reading had been from months before, when things had been so different. At first, he looked forward to reading through her posts at the end of the day, but eventually, he found himself taking the trouble to steal away during the day to look at them. There were so many that he was able to lose himself in them, fixating on Emma as he found himself strangely drawn into the story of her growth on the forum.

“You asked for it!” Emma had posted gleefully. “Here they are! Hand comparisons, height comparisons, and I even got creative with some of them, hahaha!”

What followed were a whole series of pictures of Emma comparing her body with his in all manner of ways. Daniel remembered that day — Emma had been acting weird for a while at this point, but it was when she had bought those gigantic black platform heels that he had really started to…to…

Daniel looked up from his laptop. Those heels! They were still somewhere in the house, weren’t they!? He found himself starting to get up to look for them excitedly, but he was able to keep himself from moving. He had no idea why he had gotten so excited about the prospect of finding those heels — what was the big deal, anyway? So they were still here…so what? He couldn’t really explain his excitement, but was able to shrug it off as he kept scrolling through Emma’s post. The pictures were incredible. Emma had been just a little over 10 feet tall at this point, totally dwarfing him in every conceivable way. Daniel had never really studied these pictures before, since they had made him uncomfortable back then. But now he was looking at them in a new way. A picture of Emma’s hand swallowing up his own, making him look like a kid…Daniel wearing her shoes, making him look like a ridiculous clown…Daniel wearing one of those long-sleeve shirts Miss Bisset had custom-made for her, with Emma kneeling next to him with the same shirt on, towering over a foot above him despite being on her knees. The shirt looked like a huge blanket on Daniel, covering him in its ocean of folds…but Emma’s body filled the shirt completely, stretching it tight along the contours of her curves.

“Same shirt,” read the simple caption. Daniel felt a little prick in his groin. What was going on?! Was he actually getting…turned on by the thought of Emma being bigger than him?? He had never been like this before. He kept scrolling. More comparisons…and this time it was again pictures that Daniel hadn’t realized Emma had taken. One was her huge bare foot pushed up against his chest as she lounged on the sofa; another was her gigantic hand petting his face as he slept…god she was huge compared to him…it was truly a sight to behold.

‘And that’s nothing,’ thought Daniel, with a kind of sweet, pained helplessness. ‘She’s over 26 feet tall now…and probably more, since she’s still growing…could she be 30 feet now?! No, no way…it’s only been…how long has it been…a week since we came back here…there’s no way she’d have another huge spurt that soon…or could she!?

He was tormented by his inability to know. Day after day, he waited for the government to call with an update, a report…anything. But no call came. Maisy and Jim were doing their best to keep up the house, with Maisy busying herself with a deep clean of the entire house, and Jim taking on a variety of projects in the yard to spruce everything up. Daisy had gotten a job at the local drugstore, just to occupy herself, since she endeavored not to be alone with Daniel in the house as much as possible. Daniel was the only one not doing anything; he wasn’t working…wasn’t looking for work, wasn’t cooking, wasn’t cleaning. Daisy had offered him the guest bedroom for some privacy, just so he could be alone with himself for a bit, and at Jim and Maisy’s urging, he had agreed. This arrangement ended with him spending most of his time alone in this room with the door shut, looking at pictures of him and Emma, and reading through all the messages she had sent to her admirers.

At first, she had responded to the effusively praising procession of emails with only a sentence or two, and he could feel the insecurity and bashfulness behind her words:

“Haha yes I like being a tall woman, even if I feel like a giant freak sometimes. My boyfriend is doing a nice job bearing with me!”

“Heh, I don’t know what I’d do if I saw you in the real world. Probably just wave and say hi, haha, I don’t know what you want me to say <3”

“No, I’m sorry I don’t do videochat sessions, especially not saying that kind of stuff! I’m a nice girl, I don’t think you’re worse than me, even if I’m two feet taller than you!”

“Wow, that’s really nice of you to say, haha. Yes, I like being very tall, but I’m still getting used to it. Clothes are hard to find! Thanks for your kind words!”

Daniel was shaking his head to himself, even as he found himself grinning a little ruefully. She really had been so awkward and unhappy about her growth spurt, hadn’t she? At the time she had sent these messages, she was around, what, like 7 feet? 8 feet maybe? Tiny compared to what she would become. And her anxiety, her latent fears, and her discomfort with her situation all came through in these early messages.

He looked up briefly from the laptop screen, blinking his eyes blearily at the closed blinds of the guest bedroom. A dull orange glowed from behind them. But wait, it couldn’t be evening already! He had only just woken up…or had he!? Daniel didn’t really know any more. The days had started blending together seamlessly; he was losing track of everything as he sunk deeper and deeper into his desperate obsession with somehow holding onto these “ghost” aspects of Emma in her online messages, and in things he found around the house. One day the previous week, Daisy had uttered a startled cry and jumped back from a storage closet she had just opened. Daniel had staggered out of the bedroom, only to see Daisy standing next to the pair of Emma’s gigantic platform heels, which went all the way up to the underside of her breasts.

“Daniel! A-are…are these the heels that she…” stammered Daisy.

“Yeah, that she had, uhm…custom-made,” completed Daniel, marveling at how huge the heels looked. Daisy seemed to be going through a kind of surreal crisis, and she waved her hand in front of her face, which was reddening. Daniel didn’t really understand what was going on, but it was clear that all of this was a little too much for her to handle.

“I just…I just need to…to go somewhere else for a bit,” Daisy muttered, and promptly left the house. Daniel had watched her go, and then, without thinking too much, had taken the heels back with him into the guest bedroom and closed the door. A few minutes later, he was stepping into the boots, amazing himself how each one could have accommodated two or more of his legs and still had extra room. And knowing that Emma’s calves had easily filled these out, when she had been “only” around 12 feet tall…just fixating on that fact alone gave him an erection. He really had no idea why, but his mind had become a little too feverish to dwell on it too much. He looked up towards the window…nighttime was falling…again!?

The days wove in and out of each other, and still Daniel hardly ventured out of the bedroom. A few times, Maisy and Daisy knocked to check on him, but Daniel wasn’t really in the mood to socialize much with anyone. They gave him his space, and he sank deeper and deeper into his obsessed depression. He thought he heard Emma…the old Emma…walking through the house at night, and more than a few times he stalked through the silent rooms, looking for her. He thought he heard her laugh through the hallways; he thought he smelled her sweet scent at random times, but it always dissipated before he could latch onto the source, and he was forced to admit to himself, over and over, that he was just hallucinating again. Still no one called from the government, and Daniel honed in more intensely to Emma’s more recent messages online

As he read on to the last messages Emma had sent, only a few days before they left for the farm, he detected a change in her demeanor. For one thing, in her public comments, she no longer referred to the community of men as “guys.” She had started saying “my little ones” or “little guys” or even “little boys” a couple times. And in her private messages, she had become more forceful and intense, to the point where Daniel no longer believed that she was simply “roleplaying” anymore:

“Oh you’d like me to tower over you, huh? Well you say that, but I honestly don’t even think you could handle it. My boyfriend’s 6’1 and his head doesn’t even come close to my hips. I think you’re just a little man in front of a keyboard who thinks he could take it. I bet you couldn’t even stay on your feet if I was looming over you.”

“I told you before, I already have a boyfriend. I just reported you to the mods for harassment. And I dare you to come to my house. I fucking dare you. It’s not going to end well for you, but I’ll enjoy it. And it’ll be self-defense.”

“Hahaha, I’ve hear that a million times before. You could “show me” a good time. What doe that even mean, little pipsqueak? I’m literally tping this message with a pencil because my fingers are too big for the keys. What could you “show me,” exactly, hmmm?”

“I know my boyfrind is lucky but im lucky too bc hes so patient with me and i know i can be a handful sometimes but your praise is accepted tonite i want you to look at the picture of me leaning on the car and make yourself cum imagining that ur inside. don disappoint me”

“its nice off u to invite me to the caribean but i cant come toomuch hapening righ now grew a whole bunch lass nigh an dont know wha ot do”

Daniel didn’t know why, but he had reread that last message from Emma, which she had sent the night before the fire department came, over and over and over again. He read through it, fixated on it, and obsessed over it endlessly. It was like he was reliving her losing her mind, even as he wasn’t quite sure if he could properly remember how Emma spent that final night in the house. He knew that she had been profoundly unhappy, but he had thought that she had just gone to sleep there in the living room. Apparently she had taken out her laptop while he had slept and responded to a message.

‘Poor Emma,’ thought Daniel despairingly, hearing her loud, doleful roars in his ears as he covered his face with his hands. ‘Poor, poor sweetheart…she didn’t mean it…she didn’t mean any of it…she just…she just wanted me…she didn’t know how dangerous she was…she meant me no harm…she couldn’t understand…couldn’t understand why I was so scared…she wasn’t right in the head…and I betrayed her…I betrayed her…and now she never wants to see me, ever again!’

Daniel spent many nights quietly crying to himself, dwelling on these horrible thoughts, made all the more terrible by the reality that he could do nothing to set things right. He was stuck in a hellish limbo, a terrain where he could do nothing but sink further and further into what held him fast. He cried, he masturbated, he smelled her old clothes that he kept stashed with him in the guest bedroom. He wasn’t even trying anything of hers on anymore, to take masochistic enjoyment in how much bigger she had been than him. He was hardly doing anything anymore. The days, or weeks — either way, it didn’t matter to him — stacked on top of each other, and still, no word from the government.

Daniel had taken to reading the new posts that users posted on giantesscity every day. Even though it had been many weeks since Daniel and the family had moved back into the house, and months since Emma had posted anything, the forum users were still all chattering about Emma, and what could have become of her. They had a lot to say:

“Where are you, Goddess?? Eagerly waiting day and night for your return…”

“She wasn’t doing too well before — her growth got out of control and I heard she went to live in the country. No idea where, though. She hasn’t logged in since last month, so things might be serious.”

“I’m worried about you Emma! We all are! This isn’t even a fetish thing anymore! Please, if you can read this, let us all know you’re ok!”

“She’s abandoned us. Got tired of all the mewling, I guess. Oh well, that’s the way it goes…time for us to go back to your regular lives, gents. The dream is gone.”

“Just read this news article — eyewitnesses in the rural area close to where she lives reported a severe disturbance. Lots of police cars and ambulances. Dozens of officers injured. But they aren’t saying why. They’re keeping it all under wraps. Has to be her.”

“OMG, look! Another article, like, a week later! More eyewitness accounts of some kind of black-ops operation. Lots of helicopters in the night, carrying something huge away. Lots of loud booming, yelling, and crashing, eyewitness said it sounded like an angry giantess screaming and punching things!”

“But look, it’s just a screenshot of the article — can’t find it anymore if you go to the website. Google search turns up nothing. She went off the rails and the government’s got her! It’s all being hushed up!”

“Geez...aren’t we EVER going to hear about WHY she’s growing in the FIRST place!? I mean, come ON!”

“How disappointing…haven’t we all heard this story before? Girl grows into a giantess and then gets angry…what a shame…thought she was actually going somewhere with her persona, but oh well…next please”

‘What the fuck!?’ thought Daniel after reading this most recent post. This was an actual person he was talking about, yet all he was worried about was her stupid “character arc!?” It made him furious, but he kept reading the comments.

“Yes! Bloodstone! Guns! Flesh! Cannons! Perhaps a hint of a tincture of sarin as well, to soothe the nerves? Yes, the fall enthralls us…back to the whetstone with this one. Water parasites, blood, and the gore will suffice.”

‘Ok seriously,’ thought Daniel, shaking his head at the last comment, ‘That just makes no fucking sense. What is it about Emma that attracts people like this!?’

He only briefly dwelled on this strange and nonsensical comment, though, because it was lost in the midst of so many more, all of them energetically talking about the government’s apparent kidnapping of Emma, and what was to be done about it. A lot of them had outlandish, hopeful ideas, but none of them were realistic. A few of them even talked openly about getting in touch with Daniel personally…and at this point, Daniel himself wondered why he hadn’t been found. Didn’t these people know where this house was? Why hadn’t they shown up?

‘The government’s probably watching the house,’ he thought immediately, ‘And they’re somehow discouraging people from finding me.’

Daniel didn’t even have the strength or the energy to be angry. He was just so tired, so terribly exhausted, in mind and spirit. He had no idea how long he had been in this bedroom. Maisy had been leaving his food for him by the door, and at this point it had been days…or had it been weeks…since he had even bothered to go outside. He was floating in the ether, aimless, hopeless…a devastated soul who had lost its true companion. The sweetest, most innocent girl in the world, who had been struck by a terrible disease, and who was off somewhere, how far away he had no idea, being subjected to god only knows what kind of tests or treatment or whatever. And he wasn’t there with her, and it was all his fault.

Daniel fell into a kind of long, slow doze that was typical of his daily or nightly patterns now. He came to hours later, and there was light poking through the blinds. He saw that he had left Emma’s laptop open, and it had run out of battery. Sighing, and not even paying attention to the unrequited hunger pains that now gnawed at his stomach daily, he leaned over in the bed and plugged the laptop into the wall. Before he could refresh the forum page, he happened to check the date. It had been almost two months since they had moved back into the house…two months…

He heard voices coming from the living room. Atypically, he pulled himself out of bed and crept across the floor to eavesdrop at the door. Maisy and Jim…Daisy must have been at work.

“It’s been so long, Jim…too long. He’s got to get out of there.”

“Well I agree Maise, but what are we gonna do? The poor guy had his heart broken.”

“We need to think of something — I can’t live another day in this house letting him waste away like that. Have you seen him recently?! He’s lost weight, got bags under his eyes, pale skin…he doesn’t look well, Jim. Either we think of something or I’m calling that doctor again.”

Daniel slunk back to bed. He knew he had to snap himself out of this somehow. It hurt him to know he was causing so much worry, but he was stuck at a dead end. He didn’t know what to do. Acting out of habit, he refreshed the forum and looked for new user posts on Emma. And then, he saw it:

“SHE’S BACK!!! SHE’S BACK!!!! OUR QUEEN IS BACKK!!!”

His heart stopped. A posted link. He clicked it. A new thread on the forum. “I’m Back.” From a new user named “QueenEmma.” And there she was. An HD picture...a new picture...of Emma wearing a tight black leather dress, showing off her oozing curves, standing next to a telephone pole, somewhere with a desert backdrop, leaning on it with her hand touching the very top of it. Her head was even with the top of the pole, and she was barefoot. Her face looked fresher and brighter than ever…her figure was even bigger, curvier, and more powerful than Daniel could have ever imagined…her hair was somehow brighter, redder…her lips plusher…everything seemed accentuated. She was wearing alluring make-up, like she had prepared for the photoshoot. And she was winking at the camera, sticking her tongue sexily into the inside of her cheek. Daniel was instantly hard.

“35 feet, bitches!” was the only thing she had written under the single posted photograph, and then Daniel saw the link that she had posted under the photo. His entire body went numb with pure arousal, and his heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.

An Onlyfans link…

Chapter 27

Emma had never before experienced the sensation of lightness, almost weightlessness, that was encompassing her body now. The closest thing it felt like was one of those tall roller coasters, just as she was beginning to go down over the edge of the highest hump. But her stomach never dropped, and the descent never came. It was an odd and paradoxical sensation to feel so airy when her huge body was hanging down low in the nets that were all around her. She could feel her immense weight straining the confines of her bonds, and yet at the same time, she perceived a strange sense of liberation, like she was escaping something.

One reason why, of course, was because she was literally being ferried up into the sky by a fleet of helicopters. The anesthetic had infiltrated her brain, and had apparently gone to work on her auditory nerves first — the persistent roar of the helicopter blades echoed like fuzzy background noise in her head. Her eyesight was still quite good, and turning her head to the side, Emma could see how high up they already were. A profound soup of blackness stretched out below, and for an instant Emma felt something like fear stab into her brain.

‘They’re going to fly out to sea,’ came the terrible thought, ‘And they’re going to weigh me down and drop me into the ocean…they’re going to kill me.’

But almost as soon as this awful thought ran like a lava train through her brain, its molten edges cooled, and her inner demeanor seemed to hiss in relief as she dismissed her terror, forging new ground in the process.

‘They’re not gonna kill me!’ she thought, immediately certain that she was right. ‘They didn’t just take all this time to capture me like this…to…just to kill me. They…they want me…they want to…study me.’

Her thoughts were becoming slower and more labored as the drug from the injection seeped further into her brain. A kind of laxity, a spiritual levity, was coming over Emma, and she felt herself relax her body into her bonds, causing the helicopters carrying her to all sink together a bit in unison as she sighed out. She wasn’t giving up, or admitting defeat, or doing anything, really; she was just recognizing the situation, and realizing that she didn’t really have anything to be afraid of. So this was some new adventure, some new chapter in the incredible and ridiculous story her life had become…whatever it was, it certainly beat living on that…that farm…with…with…

Emma had the emotional wherewithal to push down the pain and agony of what had happened, of what she had witnessed. She didn’t understand any of it, and the mere act of acknowledging what she had seen (let alone processing it) was proving impossible right now. So she repressed it; she pushed it down deep inside of her. Emma knew she was running away from it, but for right now, that seemed like a good thing to do. She didn’t have to think about it, so she wouldn’t.

Far down below, Emma began to notice that the utter blackness was punctuated here and there with little lights…friendly little collections of lights…they came together in cute little clumps and clusters, and they seemed to twinkle and wink up at her through the night. Emma’s thoughts were becoming undone now as she felt herself beginning to drift off, but she was able to understand that these little clumps of lights were little houses or farms, and sometimes even illuminated street corners or intersections, that shone through the rural darkness. The lights made her feel nice; somewhere far down below, a bunch of little people were sound asleep. And turning her head a little more to the East, Emma noticed that the gentle curve of the horizon was lit up by something much more luminous…was it the moon rising? It was really bright…A spaceship, maybe? Emma was aware of her thoughts becoming disordered and sluggish, but before she allowed her heavy lids to droop down over her eyes, she understood that the lights were coming from the city, far to the East. The city…where she had lived…where there were so many more people. She found herself badly wanting to see the lit-up skyscrapers from above, to see their tall, curved, vigorous towers straining high up into the night sky, setting it aglow with their arrays of colorful, flashy lights.

Whether because of the drugs or not, Emma actually felt herself smiling as she tried hard to keep her eyes open for a little while longer, so she could stare at the city glow far on the horizon. Yes, surely it was the drugs…she was feeling a little silly now, imagining those skyscrapers flashing their lights at her, rising up tall, jostling next to each other, trying to impress her with how big they were, how fancy, how flashy. Didn’t they all realize that from up here, they all looked tiny?

Emma would’ve laughed to herself, but she only managed to retain that same smile on her face as her head dropped down heavily into her bonds, and she passed out completely. The fleet of helicopters roared on, thousands of feet in the air, bearing her unconscious body towards the undisclosed location that the government had been preparing for her for some time.

When Emma started coming to, the first sensation she experienced was the feeling of soft warmth around her torso, like she was wrapped in something heated and fluffy and pleasant. She moaned out without meaning to, and her own sound made her realize that she was awake, and that she could open her eyes if she wanted to. But a voice was echoing in her ear now, a little voice, like it was from a little man inside her ear.

“Emma…Emma…can you hear me, Emma?”

She opened her eyes. She was lying on something, with her head propped up; the room was grey, with bright lights shining on her face, and the ceiling was low, so low that it felt oppressive. Emma closed her eyes again, feeling groggy, and not really wanting to deal with her external reality for the moment. It all felt too harsh.

“Hello? Emma?” came the voice again. A soft, friendly voice…a male. “You opened your eyes just then. Can you hear my voice?”

The man’s voice was pleasant, yes, but it carried an air of insistence and authority. Emma got the sense that he had been there next to her for quite some time, and would remain there for however long it took for her to communicate with him. She tried to move her arms and legs, but realized that she couldn’t so much as budge. She opened her eyes again and looked down at her body. She was clothed in what looked like a big, fluffy white bathrobe that went down past her knees, halfway down her calves; she was lying on some kind of a stretcher or elevated bed, to which her arms, legs, and torso were all securely strapped. Feeling a bit nauseous, Emma set her jaw and tried once again to move, but she couldn’t move her body an inch.

“There you are, you’re awake!” said the man, who was somewhere slightly behind her. Emma couldn’t see him. “Don’t be afraid Emma — you’re still on a nerve block, so you won’t be able to move for a bit. It’s for your own safety…haha, well, and ours too…but mostly just yours, Emma. So please try and relax, alright?”

“Wh-where…where am I?” Emma managed to ask. Her voice seemed to shake the room, and the sound of something shattering on the floor behind her cut the air.

“Heheh…you see?” chuckled the man, apparently to someone other than Emma. “I told you, didn’t I? I knew it…alright, well come in here and clean it up! You’re the one who lost the bet.”

Emma closed her eyes and opened them again, still adjusting to the harsh white light. She didn’t at all like the fact that she was paralyzed, and that she was strapped to a stretcher in this tiny little grey room that looked like a prison cell. She could move her neck at least, and was able to turn her head around enough to see that there was a large computer monitor on a desk slightly behind her. A man in a white lab coat was sitting behind the desk, and as Emma looked at him, his face brightened and he stood up, coming around to the side of her bed. The entire wall behind him was a huge mirror, which only added to Emma’s sense of disorientation.

“Good, good, you can move your head...your neck,” continued the man, stopping about eight feet away from the bed as he pulled a rolling stool up and sat in it, “You can obviously talk just fine. Excellent!”

Emma opened her mouth to repeat her question, but then stopped, furrowing her brow as she studied the man, who just continued to sit there smiling pleasantly at her. He certainly didn’t seem old…he was probably in his mid-thirties or so, Emma thought…and not bad-looking either, with his youthful face, short brown hair, and glasses that completed the erudite, slightly-nerdy presentation. The way he was looking at her was friendly and curious…eager, even. But even though he was smiling, Emma did not in any way feel reassured. She glanced down the side of her body, looking down her left arm, which, aside from her hand peeking out, was completely covered by the fluffy white robe. All she needed to see for reference was her hand, though, and after a few seconds of staring, she got her spatial bearings back. This “man” was absolutely tiny compared to her…a tiny blip of a person…and Emma felt in her bones the reality of the situation. If she had been able to stand up before him, his head would have only come up to the middle of her calf muscle. He was sitting too close to her…far too close…to be leaning back in his stool, smiling casually like that, like the two of them were already friends. Emma felt another wave of nausea sweep through her and she closed her eyes briefly until it passed over. She retched a little, an odd sound that echoed unpleasantly off the walls.

“Hmmmm, yeah, that spinal cocktail we gave you was pretty strong,” chuckled the man, looking at her steadily as his eyes crinkled up amiably. “Course you can’t really blame us…especially after what you did to those police officers last week. Heheh, you got lucky Emma, real lucky…that none of them died.”

Emma opened her eyes again and stared at the man. This was all too weird…she fought through the nausea that was beginning to taper off anyway, as she once again blinked and made an effort to focus her eyes on this person. Part of her wondered if he was miniature-sized, and if this was all some kind of sick joke, but then she remembered how everyone looked this small to her…he was probably 6 feet tall. And still he just sat there, with that pleasant smile on his face, which, when Emma was able to consider what it meant, produced a chilling effect inside her. She tried to swallow, but her throat was very dry, and it took a few times to get any lubrication. Was he fucking with her!? He had to be fucking with her, smiling like that while he said all that stuff about the police officers. Emma had managed to push that ugly episode out of the forefront of her mind, but now sudden images came back. Something red streaking the barn wall, a crunching sound, dark bodies lying strewn around, stretched out across the ground…still, unmoving. The flashing lights of that ridiculous little ambulance…all those strange high-pitched yells…the burning rash on her face from those bullets…those bullets…those fuckers had shot at her…nearly taken out her eye. And for what?! Now she was being interrogated — that’s what this was, surely!

Emma set her jaw as she glared stonily at the smiling man on the stool. Obviously he was trying to provoke her, but she wasn’t going to let him. She wanted to defend herself, to angrily counter that she was the one who had been attacked, but she figured that’s what this guy was expecting to hear. Her throat contracted and she swallowed again, this time successfully. She was thirsty, but didn’t want to ask this person for anything…not yet. She would be calm; she would be steady…take it easy…and match this little piss-ant in pleasantries, until she figured out where she was and what was going on…and until the nerve block wore off. Emma was already pleased with herself for concocting a plan to make it seem like she was still paralyzed when she really wasn’t anymore. She’d take him by surprise.

“So you’re, like…with the police, huh?” she asked mildly, staring up at the ceiling, and then back down at him. The man shook his head, his smile unmoving.

“Oh no…no I’m not a police officer,” he replied with a kind of self-effacing, awkward humor. “No, I, uh…I wouldn’t have made it through the police academy…too many push-ups, hahaha!”

Emma blinked at the man, totally thrown for a loop. Was he actually expecting her to laugh at that? He was certainly still laughing, though it gradually died down as he became a little more outwardly serious. She began feeling very uneasy.

“Heheh…no, no, anyway, haha, sorry, lame jokes, I know…hahah, anyway, no, I’m not a police officer, Emma. My name is Dr. Clinebell, and I work for the government.”

Emma’s unease deepened. She remembered all the drones that had been buzzing around the farm in the days leading up to…well, leading up to that night when…when they had shown up to take her away. Emma felt nausea of another kind rising up through her, but she set her teeth and shut her eyes tightly, refusing to give in to those awful memories. She had already resolved that she simply was not going to think about it…any of it. It suddenly occurred to her that her tightly-shut eyes could possibly be misconstrued as guilty anxiety, and her eyes shot open. She made a point to blink softly, almost lazily, at Dr. Clinebell.

“The government?” she asked with the same mildness as she had her first question. “So, uhh…it was you guys with all the drones and everything?”

“Oh what, you noticed?” joked Dr. Clinebell, snapping his fingers. “Damn! We were trying to be so discreet with them, especially there towards the end, haha!”

Emma was definitely not appreciating this little twerp’s humor. There was something dark behind it, an unspoken implication of a threat. What did he want from her?! A confession? Or did he just want to see her suffer? How many other people were behind that mirror, peering in? Was he going to torture her!? Emma blinked slowly and made a point to take several long, deep breaths.

“That’s it, take it easy, in and out, in and out,” nodded Dr. Clinebell, glancing up at something past her. “Your heart rate’s a little elevated, and your adrenaline is spiking a bit…I know you’re anxious, Emma, but don’t worry, you’ll understand everything perfectly well in time. Just know that we’re here to help you.”

“Here to…to wait…wait, are…is there…do you have an IV in me!?” Emma asked suddenly. For the first time she had noticed a clear plastic tube winding out of the white bathrobe of her left arm, back to somewhere she couldn’t see. She made an extra effort to turn her head the other way, and she saw that there was a gigantic clear bag of fluids elevated on an IV pole just behind her. A tiny figure started back and retreated, holding a little stick…Emma was a little too focused on the IV to pay too much attention, but she was able to lock onto the stumbling little figure, and she realized it was another doctor in a white coat, clutching a broom. The shiny, jagged edges of a broken glass beaker winked up at her from the floor. But Emma wasn’t interested in any of that. She turned back to Dr. Clinebell, whose eyebrows had gone up.

“Mmhmm,” he nodded casually. “Just some…uh, you know…vitamins and minerals…you were deficient in magnesium and folic acid upon your, uhm…admittance, so we thought it would be a nice idea to stabilize those levels. Get us all off on the right foot, you know?” He blinked and made a point of looking past Emma to the other doctor in the room. “I see you’ve spooked Dr. Tanner, by pulling the dreaded “looking at him” move, hahaha…come on, Tanner, are you being serious right now?”

“Just…just cleaning up, is all!” Dr. Tanner squeaked. Emma heard the frantic sounds of broken glass being swept up into a dustbin. She didn’t really care to look back at that other guy — clearly he wasn’t the one in charge here. Besides, his fearful reaction was more understandable; it was Dr. Clinebell’s cool, quirky ease that was really starting to get to her.

“Jesus Christ man,” Dr. Clinebell laughed, shaking his head in amazement, “She had 50 milligrams…FIFTY…of a single erector spinae plane nerve block like five hours ago…AND she’s got a steady drip of dexamethasone, dexmedetomidine, and lidocaine straight into her bloodstream. AND she’s tied to the bed. I'm pretty sure we’re gonna be ok.”

“Yeah, and she weighs over 3,600 pounds,” blurted out Dr. Tanner, who quickly gathered up the broom and dustbin and exited the room. Emma tried to arch her head to get a look at the room outside, but it was totally dark and she couldn’t see anything.

“Wait a minute,” she said suddenly, turning back to Dr. Clinebell, bemused. “I weigh over 3,600 pounds!?”

“Great job Tanner…just…well done,” said Dr. Clinebell sarcastically, clapping his hands towards the monitor in the far corner of the room behind Emma. “You’ve got the lady all stressed about her weight now.” He closed his eyes for a moment and then looked back at Emma. “Yes…that’s what you weigh Emma…but you’re also about 27 feet tall, so…your body-mass-index is actually right in the “normal” range, so…yeah, aside from that little mineral imbalance, you’re perfectly healthy!”

“Mineral imbalance…” said Emma slowly, looking back down at the IV tube snaking out of her fluffy white robe. The doctor’s words were slowly dawning on her, and she had to make another big effort not to lose her composure. “But you said…wait…were you lying to me before? You’re not actually giving me…minerals, are you? Y-You’re just…you’re just keeping me…paralyzed.”

“No, no, we’re giving you minerals and nutrients,” corrected Dr Clinebell matter-of-factly. “Aaaand…you know, those few other things I mentioned…heheh…of course you understand, Emma. It’s just for everyone’s ease and protection, until we all reach…well, a mutual understanding. A certain benchmark of trust, let’s say. I want to trust you Emma. And I know you want to trust us. But we don’t even really know each other yet.”

Emma’s eyes widened slightly and focused on the doctor. She wasn’t really sure what she looked like, and at the moment she didn’t really care. She was already sick of this messed-up act that these people were putting on for her. She felt like screaming, but she knew that this would be counterproductive. No…no, she had to remember her plan. She had to keep playing their little game, whatever it was, until she could move again.

“Ok, so…so fine,” Emma said finally, laying her head back on her elevated bed, making it a point to keep her eyes fixed on Dr. Clinebell. “That…that sounds good. What do you know, uhm…about me?”

Dr. Clinebell leaned forward in his stool, and Emma felt another chill go through her.

“Well we know quite a bit about you, Emma,” he said softly. “We’ve had our eye on you for quite some time…months, in fact. Ever since you took that little jaunt out of your house down the street and had that little run-in with a police officer...well, technically a bit before that, but never mind, haha. Remember that little episode?”

Emma stared at him blankly. The truth was she didn’t remember it at all. She wanted to believe that the doctor was lying to her, but yet, despite her inability to remember, she acknowledged deep down that it was probably best for her to just accept the reality of the incident for the time being. The last months had been so strange, so frantically hazy and grotesquely disordered, that it made her feel considerable stress and anxiety just trying to recall specific things, especially anything that happened before they…she…went to the farm.

“Easy, Emma…steady,” said Dr. Clinebell, looking up at the monitors as they chirped a little at him. “It’s ok if you don’t remember. I didn’t expect you to, actually. I only mentioned that because that’s when we were first…alerted to your presence.”

“Ok…uuhhh…alright, well, so…so what did you do…after that?” asked Emma. She felt like her question was lame, but she was just trying to get a grip on everything here.

“Well we just kept an eye on you,” said Dr. Clinebell simply, spinning a little back and forth in his stool as he looked at her. “And when you and your boyfriend moved to —”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” interrupted Emma hollowly. “Not anymore.”

“Well…ok…maybe we can just put a pin in that and save it for Dr. Bolton,” replied Dr. Clinebell genially.

“Who’s that?” blurted Emma. She really disliked Dr. Clinebell’s cheery disposition, especially right now.

“Dr. Bolton is a psychiatrist,” answered Dr. Clinebell simply. “Your psychiatrist, to be exact. She’ll be speaking with you a little later on today if we…well, if everything goes well up until then.”

Emma opened her mouth to speak and then stopped, pausing there with her mouth open as she creased her brow at the doctor. He seemed to enjoy her confusion and bit his lower lip, apparently to prevent himself from grinning too obviously. Emma exhaled, shut her mouth, and laid back on the bed again. For a full minute, neither of them said anything. Emma didn’t feel like allowing this little creep to indulge whatever medical fantasies he was engaged in right now, but after a minute, her desire to know what was going on trumped her stubbornness.

“So, like…you guys know…know the whole story then?” she asked. “You were…you were watching me the whole time I was on the farm?”

“Prrrrrretty much, yeah,” said Dr. Clinebell. “But we don’t know everything…like we weren’t eavesdropping on every conversation you were having with…well, with your family.”

Emma knew that she should be mad, or that she should at least feel violated, but now she was suddenly more curious than anything else.

“Do you know why I’m growing?” she asked bluntly, staring straight at the doctor. There wasn’t any hope or emotion in her voice — at this point, Emma didn’t even want to change anything about herself. But if they did know, she wanted to know too.

“Well, to be perfectly honest Emma…we don’t,” said the doctor, shrugging. “We’ve been in contact with the Institute you were at way back….you know…all those months ago?”

“Yeah…” said Emma, not really caring to remember. She suddenly remembered Igor…the first time she had thought about him in months…he had been sweet to her for a time…but in the end he just hadn’t really understood, had he? And how could he have? He was only 8 feet tall.

“Yes well, heheh, glossing over that one,” chuckled Dr. Clinebell awkwardly, waving his hand, “We’ve pooled resources and done our own research and…well, yeah, we still have no idea what’s causing your growth. But of course, that’s the main reason why you’re here, Emma — for us to try and figure out what’s going on with you.”

Emma felt her jaw slacken a little as she swallowed again.

“S-so…so I’m not here for you to…to punish me?” she asked. In this moment, she really did let her guard down, and her voice, even though it still rattled and vibrated everything in the room, was trembling with emotion that had suddenly welled up inside her chest. Emma had no idea where it had come from, and the shaking timbre of her voice surprised her most of all.

“Oh but why Emma?” asked Dr. Clinebell mildly, tilting his head toward her. “Why would we want to punish you? Have you done anything that deserves punishment?”

His voice was soft and careful…but it was tinged with something that really freaked Emma out. She knew that she had been repressing a lot of anguish and heartache and god-knows-what else for so long. The surreal situation she was in now, while literally lying there paralyzed, was forcing her to confront the fact that she had no idea how to answer the doctor’s question.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. Her throat burned with sudden emotion, and she felt a tear roll down her cheek. Normally her chest would have been heaving right now, but she couldn’t move anything below her neck. Her throat strangely seemed to be taking the place of her chest, and she swallowed again and again, feeling her muscles stiffen and sting as her lips started twitching. “I don’t know…”

“No?” asked Dr. Clinebell, arching his eyebrow. Emma had been expecting him to immediately offer her reassurances, especially now that the monitors were chirping at him again. But he just sat there, his head inclined, like he was expecting more of an answer. Emma looked away from him. She couldn’t take his slow, steady stare. His eyes made her feel sick…they made her feel like she had good reason to worry that this was all a grotesque theater of punishment, designed to torture her and drive her mad. The seconds passed by, and the tension hung heavier every moment nothing was said. The only sound in the room were the monitors, which were steadily beeping increasingly urgent sounds. The fact that Dr. Clinebell was ignoring them only made Emma feel sicker.

The crackle of an intercom suddenly peppered the air.

“We’ve got a Code R00.0 now, Clinebell,” came the voice through the intercom in the ceiling.

“Ignore it,” the doctor replied, not taking his eyes off Emma’s face. “We’re making headway.”

“Wh-what’s…what’s going on?” Emma asked, glancing at the monitors and back at Dr. Clinebell. “Is there something…something wrong with me?”

“I’d like for you to focus,” said Dr. Clinebell smoothly, “On what we were just talking about, Emma. You leave everything else to me, alright?”

Emma opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again. Her eyes rose from the floor back to the doctor’s face, and she flexed her throat, attempting to swallow down the nausea that kept making her feel like she was about to throw up. Why was she suddenly feeling so terrible!? Was it all to do with what the doctor was implying? That she had done something horrible? Emma dragged her mind back to that night when the police had come, when they had interrupted the sweet, tender moment she had been having with Daniel…she felt another throb of tragic emotion well up inside her, and she she set her teeth and pushed it back down savagely, hating herself in the process. She had promised herself…she had promised that she wasn’t going to torture herself like this, thinking about him. He had been clear enough in his behavior — he had moved on from her, and so she was going to move on from him and not think about it anymore.

She turned her head back to Dr. Clinebell, and her eyes were glittering with a strange mixture of caustic, apologetic pride.

“I…I don’t know what you want me to say,” she began. She was making an extra effort to sound sane and controlled. If she hadn't made it a point to do this, she would have been shaken by sobs as she tried to speak. “Y-you’re…you’re acting like I’ve done something wrong…like…like I’m under some kind of…interrogation or something. But I’ve got…got nothing to apologize for.”

Dr. Clinebell continued staring at her silently. Emma couldn’t take much more of this. It was clear that her answer meant more to him than she understood, and the fact that she couldn’t wrap her mind around what he was getting at was driving her crazy.

“Did you get all that, Dr. Bolton?” Dr. Clinebell said mildly, addressing the intercom on the ceiling.

“Loud and clear,” crackled a voice in the intercom in response. A female voice.

“L-Look…” said Emma, now increasingly flustered by the reminder that, on the other side of that huge mirror wall behind her, there were other people watching…scientists…and god knows who else, “If this…all this…is about th-that…that stuff with the cops…with all the cops the other week…? It wasn’t my fault! They…they just…just came at me, you know!? They tried to arrest me…for like, like no reason.”

The whole situation felt totally ridiculous, and if Emma hadn’t felt so claustrophobic, and so confused, and so emotional, she would have felt like bursting out in mocking laughter. What on earth were these little doctors doing with her? It was like they were playing make-believe or something…some kind of bizarre roleplaying game. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Emma wondered when the little guy was going to just laugh, throw up his hands, and say that it was all a big joke.

“Is that true, Emma?” asked Dr. Clinebell in a low voice. “Was it really for no reason at all?”

Emma lay there, staring at him incredulously. What could he be getting at!? She tried to think back to that night, ignoring the nice parts with Daniel right before the cops showed up, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember why they had come to arrest her. She had totally forgotten her earlier encounter with the man in the field, and, of course, what she had actually been doing to Daniel before. Her brain had repressed the memory that it was, in fact, her family who had called the police on her.

She stared back at Dr. Clinebell and set her jaw straight. Her right finger twitched, and Emma felt a surge of energy go through her. The nerve block was starting to wear off. She quickly reminded herself to hide her newfound movement, and so she didn’t try testing her other fingers or limbs…she was biding her time.

“They just showed up with their little guns and…and tried to arrest me,” declared Emma defiantly, “And then they just…they shot me a whole bunch of times…do you see this little rash on my face? That’s from their…their bullets. One of them almost shot my eye out. They were the ones who attacked me — I just…I just defended myself.”

Dr. Clinebell nodded at her for a few moments, saying nothing more. Emma could feel the feeling coming back into her toes and fingers, and, ever so surely, her feet and hands. The warmth of sensation was spreading. She looked down to check her bonds. Even though they were definitely tight, Emma had no doubt that she could easily rip them apart when her strength came back. Then she would bust out of wherever she was being held and run away…far away…maybe she’d go out into the ocean somewhere, or far up into the mountains…somewhere she could be alone and away from all these little people who wanted to play stupid games with her.

The doctor was now so close to her that Emma marveled at his bravery. She could have probably reached out and grabbed him right then and there, if she had wanted to…and she wondered, as he leaned over her, looking into her eyes, whether Dr. Clinebell was somehow baiting her. He had glanced at the monitors as he approached her — did he know she was getting her feeling back?

But now, the doctor had opened his mouth to speak. He kept it open for a few long seconds without making any sound, with his eyebrows raised, as a silent way of emphasizing what he was about to say.

“Just so we’re clear on a few things, Emma,” he said through a soft smile, “Before we move along…”

Emma blinked and nodded. She had become nervous again. The doctor licked his teeth and continued, almost in a whisper.

“You are a strong and powerful woman…the tallest, the biggest, and the strongest we have ever seen or heard of. That much is certain, Emma. And it has become clear to us, as we’ve been watching you, that you aren’t always in control of yourself. We don’t blame you Emma…really, we don’t…we can only imagine what it must have been like for you this whole time. A regular mind-fuck, I’d imagine, hahaha! Anyway…not sure how I’m doing with the whole bedside manner here, heheh…they didn’t really teach us about this part in med school, as I’m sure you could guess…”

Emma just blinked at him, confused and irritated. She had been held by his serious words, but then all of a sudden he had “broken the spell” and started cracking jokes again. Dr. Clinebell seemed to notice and held up his hand, smiling apologetically.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…heheh, ok, moving on…aaaanyway…like I was saying, we have good reason to believe that, in our research facility, you may behave…unpredictably. And that’s fine, Emma! That’s aaaaall fine — we WANT you to be yourself here…to explore what you want to explore…to do what you want to do. But, see, here’s the thing…”

He got even closer to her, so that his face was now only inches away from hers. Emma was taken aback by his boldness — it impressed her, to the point where she almost forgot about how much she was going to wreck the place when she got free.

“We just CAN’T have you threatening or hurting anyone here,” he breathed down into her face. Emma caught the smell of peppermint, not altogether unpleasing. “Your psychiatrist, Dr. Bolton…your nutritionist, Dr. Farley…orthopedist, Dr. Ossford…hahaha, I could go on, but I think you get the picture…for this all to work, we all need to know, EVERYONE, you included, how things are going to work here. And there are two rules, Emma, and only two. But you MUST follow them both. They’re quite simple. The first is…well, haha, I’ve already told you, haven’t I? You are NOT to hurt or threaten ANYONE who works here. That is the first rule. Simple enough, right?”

Emma nodded silently. She thought she may as well go ahead and play their little game, until she was certain of making a break for it.

“And the second rule,” continued Dr. Clinebell, “Is that you are NOT to try and escape. It’s a pointless endeavor, really, but Emma, we don’t even want to deal with you trying. We don’t have time for that. Are we clear?”

Emma didn’t nod this time. This was getting ridiculous. Who were they kidding — of course she was going to try and escape! She was their prisoner! They had drugged her and forcibly carried her off to some godforsaken laboratory somewhere. Did they really think she wasn’t going to try and get out!?

“Emma?” came Dr. Clinebell’s voice, which now carried an edge to it. “We can’t proceed unless you agree to the rules.”

“Uh, fine, sure…whatever,” said Emma, nodding halfheartedly as she shrugged. Dr. Clinebell looked at her hard, and that same slow, unsettling smile came to his face. His eyes had a gleam to them now. Somehow, the fact that he was a nerdy little dweeb made his expression even more sinister.

“Mmhmm,” he said. “I thought we might have a little issue.”

“No…no I said yes,” Emma replied, now feeling anxious.

“Oh I know what you said,” Dr. Clinebell answered, chuckling, “But come on Emma, you can’t fool me. You’re plotting your escape as we speak. Two minutes ago you just started getting sensation back in your hands and feet, and it’s been spreading to your arms and legs. You’re waiting for your chance, Emma. I can see it in your eyes.”

Emma was too stunned to move for a couple seconds, and when she finally managed to collect herself, what she saw in front of her was beyond confusing. Dr. Clinebell had put something over his face…some kind of weird-looking mask. A moment later, with cold realization, she understood that it was a gas mask.

Without speaking, the masked doctor raised his hand and pointed up towards the mirror wall. A sudden hiss seethed out of the ceiling. Emma looked up fearfully, and saw that a thick pink mist was being pumped into the room through grates in all four corners of the room. She struggled in her bonds, and even though she was able to move her hands and feet now, she found that she did not have the strength to extricate herself. A terrible feeling of helplessness took hold of her, and she yelled out into the room.

“Hey!! Hey s-stop!! STOP!! What’s…what’s going on!?!”

Her voice was deafeningly loud, but everything in the room seemed designed to be able to withstand the powerful sound waves that were pulsating through the air. Ordinary glass would have been shattered by her yelling, but Dr. Clinebell and his colleagues had been prepared; even the gas mask he was wearing contained added protection for his ears.

“I knew we would need to do this, Emma,” he replied calmly, the microphone in his mask making his voice resonant so that Emma could hear him loud and clear. She stopped her struggles, scared by the doctor’s suddenly-amplified voice, and by the pink mist that was now enveloping them both. She held her breath, determined not to breathe it in.

“We’re not doing this to torture you, Emma,” Dr. Clinebell continued, as he stepped towards her again. “We’re doing this just so you understand that you must play by our rules while we have you here. They’re very simple rules, Emma, but it’s essential that you understand how important it is that you follow them.”

Emma glared at him, still holding her breath. The mist had settled around them, hanging in the air like a fog. Whatever mechanism that had pumped it out had already stopped; apparently the amount that had been pumped in was sufficient.

“What…is…that?” Emma asked in a halted, forced voice as she continued to hold her breath.

Dr. Clinebell didn’t answer. He simply stood there in place, staring at Emma silently, before slowly lowering himself back down into the rolling stool by the bed. He started gently swiveling himself back and forth, back and forth, as he fidgeted with his hands. Emma felt a surge of anger tear through her, and she thrashed and strained against the restraints. And then, without meaning to, she fell prey to the involuntary functions of her body, and she inhaled a little pocket of air up her nose, and a portion of the pink mist with it.

Instantly, a wave of crippling nausea crashed over her body. Emma opened her mouth and gagged, feeling horribly sick. She felt the color draining out of her face and neck, and her skin became cold and clammy almost immediately. Her vision swam before her eyes, such was the intensity of the nausea. It felt like her stomach itself was about to come up through her esophagus. Emma gagged some more, trying to vomit, but there was nothing to throw up.

“We pumped your stomach while you were unconscious,” Dr. Clinebell explained lightly, as if he was describing the time of day. “We didn’t want you making too much of a mess during our little…demonstration.”

“Please…” croaked Emma, trying desperately not to breathe in anymore of the mist, “Please…I…I w-won’t…I’ll…I’ll…”

“You’ll agree to the rules?” Dr. Clinebell finished. Emma nodded her head vigorously.

“Well….it’s nice to see that you’re coming around,” remarked Dr. Clinebell mildly through his mask, “But I think you need to just…take another couple minutes…you know, to consider. To make sure you reeeeally understand what you’re saying.”

Emma panicked and took another involuntary breath in. This one was deeper, and a lot more of the mist went up her nose and permeated directly into her bloodstream.

“Aaaaauuuuuughh!!” Emma cried out in agony, thrashing her head from side to side. Gguuuuuuaaaahhhaaahaaaa!!!”

She didn’t even have the energy to spare to scream. Her body was being wrecked by a barrage of unbearable sensations, each of them uniquely painful. Her stomach seemed to twist even tighter up inside her, and she gagged again and again, unable to expel anything in relief. But now it wasn’t just her stomach — her skin was being tormented by what felt like hundreds of little needles, pricking and stabbing her over and over. In a matter of seconds, these painful pricking sensations seemed to rapidly coalesce into one uniform perception that gained and gained in intensity until, within ten seconds, it felt like all of her skin was on fire.

“Make it stop!!” begged Emma, turning desperate and pleading eyes on the doctor. “Please!! Auuughhh pleeeeeaase!”

Dr. Clinebell did nothing except tilt his head lightly to the side, like he was curiously examining the effects of the awful pink mist on her body. Emma could feel her heart pounding now; her chest was tightening up, and she felt like she was about to have a heart attack. In her panic, she had completely forgotten about trying to hold her breath, and each terrified gasp resulted in more of the pink mist getting sucked up her nose and mouth, permeating into her bloodstream within seconds. In less than half a minute it felt like every part of her body was on fire now. Emma wanted to scream and cry, to bellow out in pain, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t make a sound anymore. She was in such unimaginable pain that the world seemed to be centered on her screaming nerves, on the tormented synapses that were firing away in uncontrolled desperation. Her mind was willing her to escape from the nightmare, but there was nothing she could do. She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, desperately hoping to black out. But the agony continued.

“Emma…” breathed the voice of Dr. Clinebell to her through the darkness. She kept her eyes shut, wondering if it was a hallucination. Perhaps she was dying.

“Emma,” his voice repeated, and after a few moments she remembered that she was still conscious and could maybe control her body. She opened her eyes, and saw Dr. Clinebell’s masked face, mere inches away from her own. This was a nightmare…this man was going to torture her to death.

“Emma,” he said again, and this time she heard him clearer. It didn’t sound like he was enjoying himself — instead, it sounded like he was in earnest.

“This is the LAST time you will ever feel like this!” Dr. Clinebell cried, and he put his hand on Emma’s shoulder and pushed into her, in an attempt to convey his sincerity. “If you agree to those two rules, Emma! If you follow them…then you will never, EVER have to experience this again, Emma! Do you understand?”

“YESSSS!” sobbed Emma. Dr. Clinebell’s touch had somehow allowed her to break through the wall holding her reactions back, and she bawled out shamelessly, the tears flowing from her eyes as she stared up at him in frenzied hysteria.

“You will NOT hurt or even THREATEN ANYONE who interacts with you, Emma,” declared the doctor firmly. He had stood up out of his stool, and now had both of his arms extended, pressing into her shoulder. His pressing wasn’t making the pain any worse; it couldn’t get any worse.

“I WON’T!!” bawled Emma, shaking her head crazily back and forth. “I WON’T!! I WON’T!!”

“And you will NOT even TRY to escape,” continued Dr. Clinebell with steady intensity, the hideous shape of his masked head shaking back and forth like a demonic phantasm.

“NOOhOHOHOOO!!” cried Emma, now positively mewing out in agony. “I’ll stay heheheheeeeeere!!”

“And you understand that if you break the rules,” persisted Dr. Clinebell, “Then you’ll get the gas again? And it’ll be worse next time, Emma…WORSE.”

“Y-YES!!” she panted, her eyes going even wider in desperation. Dr. Clinebell remained braced against her shoulder for a few more seconds, which seemed like an eternity to Emma, and then he stepped a couple paces back, nodding that grotesque head.

“Alright,” he said pensively. “Alright…ok.” Raising his hand up again, he pointed once more towards the mirror wall, and with a sudden whooshing sound, the pink gas was sucked out of the room, vanishing completely in a matter of seconds. Emma lay there, still sobbing, even as the immediate pain had disappeared as quickly as it had come on. Dr Clinebell immediately took off his gas mask, tossed it onto the floor, and was beside Emma’s bed within seconds, fiddling with her IV.

“Ok Emma, alright, aaaaalright,” he murmured. “It’s all over…aaaaaall over…I’m so, so sorry we had to do that. It’s totally not your fault. Heh! I’d have behaved the same way if I was you! But it was important…VERY important, Emma, to have you see how things stand here. Just relax…yeah, that’s it…breathe…in and out, in and out…”

“Wh-what…what was that stuff!?” moaned Emma weakly. She wasn’t in pain anymore, but she felt like she had just run a marathon, and sweated her soul out through her skin.

“Eh, I’d rather not talk about it,” Dr. Clinebell answered, shaking his head as he pumped something into her IV. “Some pretty nasty stuff, right? We’ve all had to experience it once, so trust me, I know how bad it is.”

“You’re giving 818 milligrams, Clinebell?” cracked a voice from the intercom.

“Psssh, listen to them, Emma,” Dr. Clinebell chuckled, shaking his head at her. “They’re forgetting how big you are.” He raised his voice as he put his hands on his hips, addressing the TV monitor in the corner of the room. “She came in at just about 1645 kilograms!” he declared. “Do you want her to feel it or not?”

“It’s…it’s c-cold,” Emma murmured, taking deep breaths as she looked down at her arm. Dr. Clinebell nodded and came over, pulling the white sleeve of her robe up and exposing her bare arm with the IV in it. Emma blinked and marveled for a second at how much smaller Dr. Clinebell suddenly seemed, standing next to her bare arm. Her forearm alone was as thick around as his entire body. But right now, Emma was feeling anything but big…anything but powerful. In a surreal moment, she suddenly got the impression of herself as an overgrown child being tended to by a loving adult. At this point she suddenly realized that she was starting to feel better. Much better.

Dr. Clinebell was rubbing her forearm with his hands, like he was encouraging the IV fluid to flow freer through her vein. He grinned up at her a little sheepishly.

“Heheh, yeah, it can feel cold going in,” he chuckled. “I don’t know…maybe this is helping? Haha, is it?”

“I…I’m feeling better,” sighed Emma. She felt herself smile as she exhaled in relief. Her behavior confused her, since it contrasted so harshly with how things had been a couple minutes before. But the reality was simple: that horrible, awful pain was gone. And it had been replaced by a sense of floating ease, which had started cold in the IV, but which was now spreading out into the rest of her body as a kind of calm, warm infusion.

“Good,” nodded Dr. Clinebell as he continued to rub Emma’s forearm. It was almost silly, looking at him doing that…he looked like a little kid playing with a gigantic sculpture, or an oversized action figure, or…what were those monuments in ancient Egypt? Of the pharaohs? Emma felt her mind wandering around strangely, even as she settled deeper into her relaxation.

“What…did you give me this time?” she asked, sounding almost lazy as she smiled down at the doctor.

“That was ketamine,” he answered, returning her smile. “And I can see it’s already hit you. Heheh, good…now just lie there for a few minutes and let it dissipate into you. After a bit you’ll feel a little more normal. You can even close your eyes if you want to, Emma. Here…I’ll…I’ll leave you alone to rest.”

“N-no…” she murmured, turning her head toward him. “No, I…could you…could you stay with me? Please?”

“You…want me to stay?” Dr. Clinebell asked uncertainly.

“Yes,” Emma nodded, blinking slowly as she looked up at the ceiling. She knew that her feelings of relaxation (and even a strange kind of slow giddiness) was the result of the ketamine, but she also knew that something had changed in her. She tried analyzing it, but she knew that it wasn’t complicated. She didn’t even entertain the idea that Dr. Clinebell had “won” this round. Instead, she simply accepted that, for the moment, at least, all she really had to do was follow those two rules. Being spared the horror of that torment was more than enough reason.

“I…I’m sorry,” she muttered, turning her eyes back down to Dr. Clinebell, “I…”

“Hey,” he said gently, patting her arm. “Just relax, ok? Anything you wanna say, just give it like ten minutes, alright? I want to give the ketamine time to do its thing. Here, just…here.”

Even though Emma was feeling high, what happened next surprised her. Dr. Clinebell went alongside her bed and, as he pressed a series of buttons underneath her bed, she felt her restraints loosen, until, one by one, they fell away from her, coming undone and crumpling in little heaps on either side of her bed. She lay there for a few moments, staring at him, not knowing what to do or say. The slow warming waves of the ketamine didn’t smooth out her surprise; in that moment, she was more impressed by Dr. Clinebell than she could have believed possible minutes before.

“Yeah, just…just stretch your arms and legs out a little,” said the doctor, coming back around and smiling at her as he plopped himself back down in his stool. His eyes flitted upward as he watched in awe as the giantess extended her arms up over her head, and lifted her legs a little up off her bed, flexing and stretching. Emma noticed him watching her and gave a little huff of a chuckle. She was used to people looking at her like that, but it meant something more when it came from Dr. Clinebell, especially when he was in a room alone with her. She could have snatched him up and popped him right then and there…she could have ended his life…but she didn’t want to. It wasn’t just about the threat of that horrible pink gas. The brief trauma of that experience had reset something important in her mind. Emma didn’t WANT to cause trouble anymore.

“I’m so sorry we had to do that, Emma,” the doctor repeated quietly, returning to his back-and-forth spin on the stool.

“No, no I understand why,” Emma murmured, settling back down on the bed as she looked up at the ceiling. “Really, I do…I get it. No hard feelings.”

Another silent minute passed with the two of them just there in the room, him sitting, and her reclining.

“Well Emma,” Dr. Clinebell said, sighing out pleasantly, “You’re a pretty cool young woman, I have to say.”

“Huh?” she asked, glancing down at him. “How’s that?”

“After all that we just put you through,” Dr. Clinebell chuckled, spreading his hands out, “And you just…take it in stride. I’ve seen hardened men, military types, Emma, totally laid up for days after being exposed to…um…to that stuff. We were expecting something similar with you, to be honest.”

Emma felt a touch of pride, even as she knew that she should probably be feeling more affronted than she actually was right now. The feeling just was not there, though, and after weeks…months…of confused mental anguish, she welcomed the stony simplicity of her current situation. She was going to be nice and gentle…and she wasn’t going to try and escape. Somehow, she knew that they were going to treat her well as long as she followed their rules.

“Yeah, well,” she sighed, smirking down a little at the doctor, “Those military guys…heheh, they probably weren’t as big and tough as I am, huh?”

“Ha! Definitely not!” laughed Dr. Clinebell.

The next half-hour proceeded along gently, without too much going on. Emma relaxed and recuperated, and Dr. Clinebell kept her company. Very little was said until, at long last, a few minutes after he had removed her IV, the doctor stood up and went over to the corner of the room, next to the long, high mirror wall. Emma’s eyes followed him curiously.

“Alrighty, Emma!” he exclaimed, and Emma felt a surge of excitement go through her. She could tell from his voice that something momentous was about to happen. “You ready?”

“Uh-huh,” Emma nodded, sitting up on her bed. “But…ready…for what?”

Dr. Clinebell smiled as he looked up to the TV monitor in the corner. “Ok, go ahead and open it!” he called. With a loud, sudden creak, the entire mirror wall began to bend inward, with the bottom rising straight up towards the ceiling. A brilliant sliver of light immediately emanated from the bottom, and Emma could tell that it was daylight. For a second, it hurt her eyes, but gradually they adjusted, right along with the opening door…for that’s exactly what it was. The entire mirror wall had been one huge door, and a few moments later, Emma was amazed to be staring out into an enormous space…a gigantic sunlit room that spanned out before her like a landscape. She had never seen a room so big. It was shaped like a long, high oval, and at the very end, hundreds of yards away, it opened up out into sunlight.

But beyond the room itself, Emma was amazed by what it contained. All about, there was gigantic furniture — a huge armchair, a massive oak table, complete with colossal wooden chairs…an immense bed in the corner…what looked like some sort of “gym corner,” with huge dumbbells and weight bars…it went on and on, and Emma couldn’t really take it all in at once. She couldn’t believe how big everything looked. Even still sitting up on her bed, she could tell that everything in this room was oversized, even for her.

“How about it, huh?” laughed Dr. Clinebell, gesturing at the room. “Repurposed airplane hanger, haha! We can be pretty resourceful when we want to be.”

“It’s…it’s incredible!” Emma exclaimed, getting up off her bed and crouching down. She still couldn’t stand up in the room they were in, but she unconsciously started crawling forward toward the huge room. At this point, she realized that the entrance to it was lined with other people in white coats…doctors, all of them…the people who had been watching the whole time behind the mirror. Some of them looked a bit uneasy, but all of them were smiling up at her. Emma blinked and smiled back. She noticed that she didn’t even feel resentful towards them. Instead, she realized that she was associating them with the inviting warmth of the room she was crawling towards.

“Welcome, Emma!”

“Glad to have you here, Emma!”

“Come on in!”

“Pleased to meet you!”

The doctors’ greetings crowded into her ears. Emma gently crawled between them, nodding and smiling. She noticed a younger-looking woman with short, jet-black hair, an older, balding man, a couple of middle-aged, nervous-looking men…kind of nerdy like Dr. Clinebell…a handsome older man with sandy brown hair, and a shy-looking man who looked quite young…perhaps her age, who, unlike the others, wasn’t wearing a white coat. There were more, but Emma couldn’t take them all in. It all felt so odd, and so surreal. These people had just kidnapped her…gassed her…made her feel the worst pain she had ever experienced in her life. But something had clicked in her mind. That was all part of the past, a past that, for all kinds of reasons, she wanted to forget. For the first time in a long time, Emma was feeling like she actually might be where she belonged. The ketamine had already worn off — she knew this was a genuine feeling she was experiencing. She almost felt emotional — all this work, all this setup, all these people…just for her!?

“Uh, hiiii,” she said, a little sheepishly, crawling between them all. A couple moments later, she was free of the small room she had been in, and she stood up. The doctors all watched in silent awe as she rose up above them, towering up beyond what any of them could have imagined before. She sighed out and stretched her arms up above her head, and was delighted to see that her hands didn’t get anywhere close to the ceiling.

“Well look at that!” laughed Dr. Clinebell. “Seems you’ve grown a bit, even just this morning.”

“Huh?” asked Emma, looking down at him. She had to search around close to her feet to find him, but she realized with a smile that he was the only one who hadn’t backed up a little when she had looked back down.

“Seems you’re just over 27 feet now,” Dr. Clinebell announced, glancing at his smartphone. “According to the sensor, at least.”

Emma didn’t even bother asking “what sensor” or where it was in or on her body. She wanted to explore the room. With an unconscious “little” hop, she bounded straight over to the nearest bit of furniture, a bright red easy chair. Once she got to it, she wasn’t able to mask her delighted surprise — the chair was WAY too big for her. It towered up above her, to the point where she needed to actually jump a few times to get up and sit on it. Once she was in the seat, she kicked her bare legs back and forth, enchanted, captivated by the fact that she was sitting in such a gigantic chair. She felt like a little child again.

“So…haha, so…what IS this place?” she asked, staring around. Once her eyes got used to the light at the end of the hanger, she could see, far out in the distance, the sharp, jagged peaks of mountains.

Dr. Clinebell laughed along with the other doctors, leading them up to her, all of them taking evident joy in her reaction. He spread his arms out towards the gigantic room.

“It’s your new home, Emma!”

Chapter 29

Just for fun, Emma was scrolling through images of platform boots on her makeshift tablet as she lounged comfortably on her bed. She loved how she could lay back and spread both of her legs completely out against the plush mattress without even having to worry about her feet or toes hanging awkwardly off the edge of the bed. She sighed out pleasantly as she turned to glance at the afternoon sunlight, which was creeping up the snow-capped mountains through the open-air hanger close to her bed. Dr. Jeltzin had even hinted that an outdoor hike up the mountains was in the cards. Emma chuckled to herself; she had been so excited about the prospect that she had “whooped” out, causing a giant glass pitcher of orange juice to shatter on the food cart that was being wheeled in by four assistants. Her excitement had drenched all four of them in an orange juice shower. 

“Hey!” Dr. Jeltzin had yelled in mock-indignation, “Where’s my girl gonna get her folate and potassium!? She just totally crushed that workout, and then you guys wheel in here and start breaking stuff??” 

Emma had giggled in response, putting her hands over her mouth, partially in humor, partially in embarrassment at having caused the mess. But her trainer had a way of diffusing tension. She liked Dr. Jeltzin; he was funny and intense, and didn’t seem to take himself, or anything other than her workouts, too seriously.

She turned back to her tablet, continuing to scroll through pictures of all manner of tall platform heels. Dr. Bolton (Alison, as Emma knew her now) had extracted from Emma that she had once had special boots made for her, and special clothes as well, and that these things had made Emma feel, at least temporarily, at home in herself. Of course, that was then, and this was now, and Emma knew that she didn’t need tailor-made clothes or special boots to make her feel comfortable in her own skin. She was feeling better than ever about herself, either before or after her growth spurt had started. But her mentioning the special clothes had led to Alison proposing that they bring in Miss Bissett again, to fashion Emma some special garments, just for fun. Emma had loved the idea, and was eagerly, almost nervously excited to reunite with the sweet friendly French lady. Alison had wondered whether or not bringing in someone from Emma’s “past life” would set her off, or make her feel a certain negative way, but Emma had brushed these concerns aside. 

“Miss Bissett was just…kinda off to the side, anyway,” she had told Alison. “She wasn’t like…family or anything.” 

Periodically, Emma had flashes of her parents go through her mind, and maybe, just maybe, she was starting to feel a little bit like she missed them. Or at least, that she might like to talk to them. She had even asked Alison, two days before, if her parents were ok. 

“Oh yes they’re fine,” Alison had replied, matter-of-factly, “They’re back living in your old house, with…well, with the other two.” That had put an end to that conversation. 

‘Huh, I wonder…’ thought Emma, back in the present, scrolling through the platform heels, ‘These gladiator-strap ones…mmmmm yeahhh…those look sexy. I wonder if they could make those for me?’

There wasn’t any single moment that Emma recalled hearing the sound for the first time — the little squeaking had apparently been going on for a bit, and it was only after a couple minutes that she became gradually aware of the noise and looked up from her tablet, staring left in the direction of the sound. That same tiny boy, whoever he was, was still standing there, except now he was only 10 yards away from her bed. Emma narrowed her eyes and peered down at him to get a better look, and she could see that his little mouth was moving up at her. 

“Are you…are you trying to talk to me?” Emma asked after a few seconds. She saw that the little guy was nodding his head vigorously, even as he took a few quick steps backward, apparently because he was overwhelmed at having been directly addressed. 

“Hey, well…come closer, ok?” Emma said, making a beckoning motion with her hand towards him. “I can barely even hear you way over there.” 

She watched curiously as the little man appeared to stutter-step a bit, before finally working up the courage to set forth, closing the gap between them. Emma’s eyes followed him steadily as he approached, and as he neared the bed she could see that his face was blushing a bright red. 

‘Oh man,’ she thought to herself, ‘This little guy’s really scared of me…or something.’ 

“Are you lost?” she asked out loud, once the man was standing right next to the bed. Emma had rearranged herself on the mattress so that she was sitting cross-legged and arching her back forward so that she was looking straight down on top of him. 

The man shook his head, blinking up at her rapidly. Emma turned her head sideways as she kept staring at him. She was trying to get a read on him, but it was difficult. He definitely looked nervous…or was it excited? Both? Or was he just afraid? She really couldn’t tell. In any case, she still assumed that he was one of the scientist’s sons, maybe a teenager or something, and that he had gone through the wrong door by mistake. 

“Here, let’s get you up here,” Emma said suddenly, reaching down and wrapping her hand easily all the way around the little guy’s waist. She wasn’t even thinking that this might freak him out even more — all she wanted to do was have a normal conversation, and the only way to do that was to get him up on the bed, where she could see and hear him clearly. Emma saw his eyes go wide as she whooshed him up onto the bed, and she reminded herself that she needed to be careful when picking people up, so as not to give them whiplash. As an unspoken rule, she didn’t really pick up any of the scientists who worked with her, but she had gotten to a point of comfort with Dr. Jeltzin where she sometimes put him on her shoulder after a workout, as she looked out at the mountains. Alison had sat in her hand a few times, during some of the more poignant moments of her talk therapy. But for the most part, Emma maintained a respectful distance between herself and the others. 

This little guy, though, whoever he was, seemed different, and it was the most natural thing in the world for Emma to just pick him up and deposit him down on her bedsheets, right in front of her cross-legged pose. Even with Emma sitting like this, the top of his head barely even came up to her nipples, which were exposed to the open air. She was wearing one of her fuzzy white robes, which had gotten a little tighter and smaller on her in recent weeks, but it still fit her quite well. She usually kept it open, exposing her entire naked front to the air. Emma didn’t think anything of it at all — at this point, the idea of public nudity didn’t even figure in her mind anymore. 

“So,” Emma said, resting her elbows on her knees and making a triangular tower with her forearms, leaning her chin forward on her hands, “What’s up, little guy? Where are you from? You said you’re not lost?” 

“N-no…no I-I’m…I’m not l-lost!” squeaked the little man, again shaking his head vigorously. Emma felt her eyebrows crease a little together as a little spasm of a pitying chuckle went through her. This tiny man certainly seemed nervous. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it must be because he had never seen anything like her before, but still…there was something unexplained about his reaction. If he had been so nervous, why had he approached her in the first place? 

“Heheh, uhh…it’s ok,” Emma breathed down on him, her head rising and falling a little as she talked with her chin in her hands. She made a point to smile at him. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I just wanna help you, umm…you know…help you out.” 

She blinked patiently down at him for a few moments, and she saw that he was trying to answer. He had opened his mouth a few times, but each time, it closed again. Emma suddenly realized that she hadn’t even asked the basic question:

“Hey! Uh, what’s your name?” 

“A-Aiden!” the man answered, his eyes seeming to brighten up even more than they had been before. 

“Aiiii-den…” repeated Emma. “Well alright Aiden — my name’s Emma.”

“I…I know,” Aiden said quickly. 

“You know?” Emma asked, tilting her head curiously down at him. “How do you know? Ohhhhh…haha, ok, I knew it — you’re the son of someone who works here, right? Huh? No?” 

She could see that Aiden was shaking his head. 

“N-no…no I…I kind of…you know, work here, uh…too,” Aiden stammered, getting even redder in the face. 

“Oh you do?” asked Emma. “Huh, well I’ve never seen you before. You work in the kitchen or something?” 

“N-no…” stuttered Aiden. Emma could tell that he seemed to be working his way up to something, so she just stopped talking and waited patiently for him to speak. Her eyes scanned his little body up and down. He looked even smaller than most of the other ones, even though it was hard for her to tell, being so much bigger than all of them. Dr. Clinebell was the tallest, and Dr. Jeltzin was the biggest, but this guy…Emma wondered whether he was actually even smaller than Alison.

“Y-you’re so beautiful!” Aiden suddenly sputtered, his little chest heaving with the effort of the exaltation. 

Emma blinked, taken aback. Sitting there cross-legged, with her chin in her hands as she looked down on this odd, awkwardly little fellow, she suddenly got the uncanny sense that she wasn’t speaking to a person at all. Her brow furrowed slightly as she stretched herself up higher in her pose, again turning her head slightly sideways to look down on him. Was he for real!? His halting speech…and the way he barely seemed to be able to hold himself together…Emma contended with this strange thought in herself that Aiden, whoever (or whatever) he was, had been sent with some ulterior purpose in mind. Some kind of tiny robot to give her compliments!? She couldn’t really be sure. In any case, he didn’t have on one of those white coats, and he certainly didn’t command anything close to the same authority that the others did, so what happened next seemed only natural to Emma, and she didn’t even really think twice about it. 

She adjusted her chin, propping it up entirely on her left hand, as she extended her right hand out toward Aiden. A moment later she was, for lack of a better term, “feeling him up,” probing her fingers up and down his little body, testing his little arms and legs, gently squeezing his tiny hands in between her thumb and forefinger, rubbing the pad of her pinkie across his cheeks, over and over, and even snaking a couple fingers behind him to lightly pinch his little butt. Emma barely even noticed Aiden’s clothes; as she felt him up, they ripped and tore easily with her slight movements, particularly his shirt. After a few moments, Aiden’s shirt was in tatters, and it looked for a second like Emma might insert her pinkie finger down his pants. But she pursed her lips, choosing instead to simply squeeze and prod Aiden’s butt and thighs without ripping off his pants. To Emma, it didn’t really matter much either way, whether or not this little guy had clothes on or not. At first, she still wasn’t sure that he wasn’t fishy, but after a solid minute or so of curiously probing his body, she became satisfied that he was, indeed, a real person. 

“Huh, thought you might have been some kind of a…heh, well I don’t know,” murmured Emma, withdrawing her hand back, again propping her elbow up on her knee and settling her chin back down on her two hands. She was still blinking in puzzled wonder at Aiden, though, because he was continuing to act strangely. While she had been probing his body with her fingers, she hadn’t been paying much attention to his face, any more so than any other part of his body, but now that she was taking him all in at once, her eyes started studying his expression. Aiden’s eyes were closed, and his mouth was open; his little palms were also open at his sides, and although his body looked totally still at first, upon closer inspection, Emma saw that it was trembling. He looked almost like he was in pain, but Emma knew that he couldn’t have been — she had been quite careful not to damage him, even if she had accidentally ripped his shirt off. 

“Ohmygod,” whispered Aiden, opening his eyes slowly to look up at her. “Ohmygod…ohmygod…”

“What’s wrong?” asked Emma, puzzled. The care that she had taken not to hurt this little guy reminded her that she had been meaning to file her nails. She leaned back on the bed, and shimmied her butt back and forth, stretching 10 yards behind her to get to the night stand, where her two-foot nail file was lying. A moment later she had whipped herself back up into a sitting position to file her nails, and she blinked curiously when she saw that Aiden was struggling to stand back up. Emma hadn’t meant for it to happen, but when she had leaned back, the force of her body on the mattress had sent Aiden crumpling down. 

“N-nothing…nothing’s wrong!” he cried, finally righting himself back up on his two feet. “It’s just s-such…such a…a thrill to be speaking to you!!” 

“Huh,” muttered Emma, cross-legged again as she filed her nails, still staring down at this little novelty with puzzled curiosity. “Ok.” 

A few more seconds passed by without anyone saying anything. To the scientists who were eavesdropping on the interaction, the silence seemed tense and awkward, but in reality, it was anything but. Aiden was far too enamored to feel awkward, and the fact that he was tongue-tied did nothing to prevent him from feeling that, of all places on earth, he was right where he wanted to be. Emma, for her part, didn’t feel the least bit awkward either. Why would she? This curious little thing was speaking to her, or at least trying to, and she was at least mildly interested. She still had no idea where he came from or what he was doing there. And anyway, it was a lazy Sunday — it wasn’t like she had anything to do or anywhere to be. She had been meaning to file her nails into sharp points anyway…she had been feeling pretty fierce recently, in the positive girl-power way that was wonderfully fueled by Dr. Jeltzin’s increasingly intense workouts. She felt strong, and she wanted to have claws. 

“H-How…how’s your growth been?” asked Aiden after a few more seconds of silence. Emma glanced up from her nails at him, and he backed away just a little. Even though he was in heaven right now, that didn’t mean that his instincts weren’t functioning. Looking up from her sharpened nails, she did indeed look fierce, completely unintentionally. 

“My growth?” asked Emma, her eyebrows going up. Suddenly she felt even bigger next to him. The fact that he had just brought up her size underscored the enormity of the difference between them. She blinked down at him, and felt something twitch inside her mind…and then she felt herself smiling. What was this little thing getting at!? He seemed to have some kind of an agenda, even though she couldn’t quite figure out what it was yet. But in the meantime, she had to admit that he was pretty cute, just standing there, staring up at her all starry-eyed. 

“Y-yeah!” Aiden exclaimed, his face now completely scarlet. “Y-you’ve…you’ve been getting bigger recently, h-haven’t you!?” 

“Well I don’t know,” Emma remarked wryly, casually blowing off her nails and suddenly lowering her huge hand down, until it was splayed out directly next to Aiden on the bed. She tilted her head to the side in mild amusement as she regarded the comparison. Her pinkie finger was almost touching the little guy’s foot, and the rest of her hand was spread out gigantically against the sheets — Emma had made it a point to spread her fingers out wide, just to have a little fun with the comparison, and she couldn’t help but smile when she saw that each of her fingers were thicker than his arms, and nearly as thick as his little legs. And her wrist and forearm…together they may as well have been a medium-sized tree trunk compared to him. The little man’s eyes went wide, and he stared up the expanse of Emma’s bare arm, his mouth open in wonder.

“You tell me,” she added meaningfully, arching her eyebrow down at him impressively. “How much bigger do I look now, compared to when I got here, huh?” 

Aiden was completely transfixed; he couldn’t even make a peep of a response. All he could do was stand there, trembling in unabashed awe, gawking at the giant arm next to him. Emma felt a bubble of something like humor welling up inside her. This little thing may have been lost or confused or…whatever it was that was going on with him…but she had to admit that he was kind of precious. The way he was responding to her had puzzled her at first, and maybe even put her off a little bit. But now that she had figured out that he really was starstruck by her, Emma didn’t have much trouble enjoying herself with him. She wiggled her fingers a little, gently drumming them on the bedspread, even deigning to brush his tiny feet with her pinkie, out of a curious playfulness. Aiden was inhaling and exhaling sharply, and Emma knew now that it wasn’t because he was afraid — it was because he was excited. 

“Heheh, you’re a funny little thing,” murmured Emma, still teasing Aiden’s bare feet with her pinkie. It was amazing for her to experience the tiny man up close, comparing her body to his. All of the other interactions she had been having were strictly pragmatic, and therefore didn’t leave much time for these kinds of relaxed, casual comparisons. Dr. Jeltzin was “all gas, no brakes,” as he was fond of saying, and Emma spent most of her time with him pushing herself to the physical brink with her workouts. She and Alison passed their time engaged in deep, personal conversations about her own mental health, and how she was coping with her condition and her alienation from everyone she had been close to before — these were intense meetings, and even though Emma would sometimes notice this or that about the size disparity between herself and Alison, at this point she barely noticed it at all. Dr. Ossford and the others were friendly enough, but they were still all business…until now, Emma hadn’t really realized how much she had missed light, casual interactions. And now that she was having one, she felt amused, and even a little giddy. 

“What are you, anyway?” she chuckled.

“I…I’m Aiden,” the ogling young man choked out. His cock was rock-hard, tenting his pants, but Emma was so high up, even sitting down on her bed like this, that she hadn’t even noticed. She was too busy playing around with his feet, nipping at his heels with the crooked pad of her pinkie. His little bare chest had gone red, so red that it was making Emma blush a little herself.

“Heh, silly,” she muttered, smiling down at his little body, “I know that…” She had started to play a little rougher with her pinkie, to the point where she was making him stumble in place. Again operating on pure instinct despite his awe, Aiden backed up, but Emma immediately latched her pinkie around his ankle.

“Gotcha,” she murmured, and then, to amuse herself further, she pivoted the rest of her hand up, extending her forefinger gently but firmly out, catching him harmlessly in the bare chest. She was careful not to hurt him, but the inexorable force of her fingers was too much for the little man to bear, and he toppled over backwards onto the bedspread.

“Heheh, whoooops!” laughed Emma softly, almost to herself. She raised her hand up over the tiny man and spread her fingers out wide, making her hand look as big as she could. She didn’t really know what she was doing…she was just fooling around…having some fun. Subconsciously she reminded herself not to be too rough, and not to be too playful. Maybe this was Dr. Clinebell’s son or something…but somehow, she doubted it. 

“Ooooo, can’t get away!” teased Emma, lowering her huge hand down slowly towards Aiden’s prone body. He made a motion to raise himself up, but Emma was too fast for him. Her gigantic hand came down on him, easily covering over half his body, gently pressing him down into the soft comforter. She shook her hand back and forth playfully, smiling at the sight of Aiden’s bright red face staring up at her with wide eyes; the only other part of him she could see was his lower legs, which stuck out like cute little twigs under her palm. 

“Awww, you’re just adorable,” Emma smiled. “Heh, did someone send you to me, Aiden? I feel like you’re a sweet, cute little present, sent to me by…I don’t know who. Is that what you are, Aiden? Are you a little present for me?” 

She was only joking, but as she peered down at the little man, she could see that he was nodding vigorously.

“Y-yes!” he cried. “That’s…that’s exactly what I am!” 

“Oh…” Emma murmured, inclining her head as she stopped shaking her hand on him for a moment. Was that really what was going on? Had the government sent her this tiny boy as…as a gift? For good behavior? Or just because? She didn’t know. And right about then, she felt the little prick of his cock poking into her fleshy palm. Emma felt a flurry of feelings go through her: confusion, surprise, embarrassment…and something like pleasure too. But she quickly withdrew her hand, partially out of her instinct of embarrassment, and she saw that there was a wet spot in the middle of Aiden’s crotch. She stared down at it, taking in Aiden’s red panting face and his heaving bare chest. 

“S-sorry!” he panted desperately. “I-I’m…I’m s-so sorry! I…I c-couldn’t help it! You were just…you’re just so…”

“It’s ok,” breathed Emma gently. Something warm was flooding her insides now, and she felt her lips twitch upward in a smile. This little thing was so…easy…so much fun! And if it was really true, that he was just there for her…

“So you’re like…like my pet, or something,” she said softly, absently stroking his heaving chest with her finger. 

“Y-yes!” breathed Aiden. “Whatever…whatever you want me to be, goddess!”

“Heh, well, no need to call me that,” Emma chuckled. “I mean, well…I guess I do seem pretty huge to you, don’t I? Ha, of course I do…look how small you are compared to me.”

She paused, looking up and staring around the hanger. No one was there; she had half-expected to see Dr. Clinebell in the corner, spying on the encounter. But the two of them were alone. There was a distinct air of unreality to this whole thing with the new boy, or toy or pet or whatever he was. It reminded Emma of something else…something distant…and it dredged up some unpleasant things in her consciousness. She didn’t have to think hard to know what it was: this tiny man reminded her of Daniel. She suddenly felt a little sick, and looked back down at him. His cute little face…his panting, adoring face…

‘Psshh, he’s nothing like Daniel,’ Emma thought immediately. ‘Look at how he sees me…the little thing worships me…he’s mesmerized by me…he can’t get enough of me.’

She resumed stroking his little body, in a casual, curious way. Aiden just lay there, accepting her touch with his eyes closed. The initial sick feeling quickly vanished. Emma knew this situation wasn’t like anything she had experienced before. And this little gift, wherever he had come from, suddenly felt like exactly what she had needed. 

“Well you’re just precious,” murmured Emma, smiling down softly on him. “And you’re mine, huh?”

“Yes!” breathed Aiden, staring up at her adoringly. 

“I can just…play with you whenever I want?” Emma asked. He nodded, too overcome for words now. 

“Huh,” she mused, brushing her thumb up over his forehead and pushing his sandy-brown hair back. She was getting to know him…getting to know his hair and his body. She could feel herself getting excited and giddy again; she remembered years before, when she had gotten a little puppy for Christmas. This felt kind of like that. 

“Well this is gonna be fun,” Emma laughed, again almost to herself. With her lips closed, she unconsciously stuck her tongue in between her teeth as she extended out a probing finger to the exposed sole of Aiden’s foot. She paused, her finger poised right there, and she appeared to be considering something. The strangeness, the unreality of the situation again felt very strong to her. But his little body wiggled a bit, and the strangeness seemed to pass away, almost as soon as it had arrived. She lightly scratched the sole of his foot with her sharpened fingernail, and he let out a whoop and tried to get away. Emma grinned, feeling almost like a little girl, as she held him down in place. 

So began a new phase in Emma’s stay at the government facility. Everything else proceeded along more or less as it had before: she got up early, worked out with Dr. Jeltzin, ate a gargantuan breakfast carted in by the dutiful and friendly kitchen staff; she had a series of sessions with Alison, Dr. Ossford, and a few others who were on her schedule; she went and played on her trampoline, or had fun piano or guitar lessons with one of the tutors who were always available. Then she would eat a massive lunch and meet with Miss Bisset, the lovely old French lady who had been brought in to help design some new clothes for her growing body. Miss Bisset was a perfect temperamental fit for Emma, and even though she came from her previous life (which had worried a few of the doctors), the kind and canny designer seemed to know exactly how to navigate Emma’s growth, and everything that came with it. Even if Emma had been having a frustrating day, or had been feeling particularly moody, Miss Bisset always seemed to know what to say to make her feel better. Emma saw her as a bit of a “grandmother” figure, or even something of a “fairy godmother,” in a way. The skill and creativity that the old woman employed in her work with fabrics and leather to craft comfortable clothes and footwear for Emma seemed nothing short of magical. But it was Miss Bisset’s sweet, calm, and empathetic attitude towards Emma’s condition that truly made her an almost-mystical figure in Emma’s mind. 

Even including the return of her dear old clothing designer, though, by far the most dramatic change in Emma’s life and routine had been the introduction of Aiden. No matter where she was or what she was doing, Aiden was close by. When she was going through her tough workouts with Dr. Jeltzin, Aiden would be watching, spellbound, from a safe distance. Sometimes Emma would be exhausted from her morning workouts and feel like keeping to herself, which resulted in her essentially ignoring him at breakfast. More often than not, though, she appreciated his company, and even started playing little “food games” with him after a while. 

“Hahaha look at this!” Emma laughed one morning, holding up a giant sausage (specially prepared just for her, of course) to Aiden’s body. “I’m eating sausages bigger than you!” 

“Ooooooh godddd!” Aiden moaned, getting weak at the knees from the erotic intensity of the comparison. Emma studied his reaction steadily, staring down at him with big eyes as she saw him start to tremble in pleasure. 

“Mmmmm, you like that, huh?” she murmured. “You like how you’re smaller than my food, Aiden?”

“Oh my god, Emma,” he replied, nearly panting as he shook his head, “I love it.”

“Hmmmmm,” she hummed, considering everything, “You’re a funny little boy. Most people would be freaked out by that.” 

“Well most people obviously don’t…uh, don’t realize how lucky they are,” Aiden countered, “To be around someone like you.”

Emma sat there, turning around his words in her head — they made perfect sense, and yet, somehow they didn’t make sense. She couldn’t quite figure him out. But she didn’t feel any compelling, hurried need to figure him out, in any case. She enjoyed the odd little curiosities of his personality, and she was delighted to see that he was seeming to become more comfortable around her. He still stuttered quite often, but it wasn’t nearly as severe as it had been when she had first met him. The poor little thing had been so overcome that he had barely even been able to speak. 

Emma suddenly brandished the sausage and shoved it into Aiden’s chest, knocking him down onto the soft bed where he had been standing. 

“Hahaha, you’re silly!” she laughed, and then, on a whim, as she looked down at Aiden, she brought the sausage up to her mouth and suggestively inserted it inside, bit by bit at first, and then suddenly took the whole thing easily all the way inside. Aiden’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he watched Emma chewing it up and swallowing it down, all while she stared down at him dispassionately, gauging his reaction. 

“You enjoy that?” she asked after she had swallowed it all down. 

Aiden nodded. His face was blushing, and he had an erection…but Emma couldn’t tell. 

“You like watching me just…swallow big stuff like that…bigger than you…no problem?” she persisted, arching her eyebrow. Again, Aiden nodded. 

“Heheh, you like a lot of weird stuff, you know that?” Emma chuckled, shaking her head down at him, her big eyes sparkling with curiosity. And then, almost to herself, she added: “I wonder what else you like…?”

“I…Il-like how you’re…you’re younger than me!” blurted out Aiden suddenly. The truth was, of course, that there were a million other things he could have said. But this was the first one that had popped into his head in that moment, and he had been so turned-on that he had simply spoken it. 

“Oh whaaaat?” laughed Emma, straightening up and shaking her head. “That’s…hahaha, what!? That’s not even possible.”

“I-It is!” Aiden replied, standing back up. “Y-You’re 28 and I’m…I’m 36!” 

Emma stared down at him blankly, her mouth open in the midst of her laughter. Somewhere in her mind, she knew that he was right. But to even say something like that…to compare the two of them that way, merely in terms of how old they were…it just seemed so absurd to her — laughably absurd.

“Heyyyyy!” came her playful, jaunty response, after eying him for several searching moments. She downed the remaining five gallons of orange juice left in her glass, set it down on the breakfast cart, and amusedly sat herself down on top of her bed, bearing down on Aiden’s supine body as she talked. “How do you know how old I am!?” 

On his back, gaping up at the towering giantess arched over him in teasing interrogation, Aiden temporarily regressed back to speechlessness. Emma was wearing an enormous jet-black tank top, newly designed and created by Miss Bisset, and the sheer size of her torso, combined with the incredible, weighty duo of her titanic breasts, made her incredibly intimidating. Somehow, the fact that her beautiful face (framed by her long red hair) was scrunched up in a frisky, non-threatening expression made her seem even more daunting. The added bonus that she actually was cross-examining him enhanced Aiden’s awe, and he wasn’t able to avoid getting hard. This time, because she was peering down at him so closely, Emma noticed. She blinked down at the obvious, protruding bulge in his pants, and for a moment she simply stared at it with blatant curiosity. The urge to swipe his pants off and play with it passed through her mind, but Emma reminded herself that she had asked the little man a question, and that he hadn’t answered. 

“Hrmmm?” she persisted, extending a playfully threatening index finger, with its sharpened, claw fingernail that she had painted a brilliant blood-red a couple days before. Miss Bisset, in a fun gesture that had almost brought Emma to tears with gratitude, had managed to commission a vat of Deborah Lippman nail polish, a color humorously dubbed “It’s Raining Men.” Emma’s huge fingers had already looked imposing enough, but now that she was sporting red claws, they looked positively fearsome. Aiden tried to squirm backward, but Emma easily pinned him down in place, with the pad of her massive finger coming down directly on top of his crotch. Aiden exhaled in barely-controlled arousal as Emma continued looking down on him, that droll smile never leaving her lips. Very gently, she began kneading the pad of her finger into Aiden’s crotch.

“You can’t squirm your way out of this one,” she breathed down at him gently, tracing circles in between his legs with her finger. “C’mon Aiden, tell me how you know how old I am. Heheh, and now that I’m looking closer at you…you actually do look like you’re 36.” 

Her voice trailed off, as it often did these days, as she continued talking out loud, though now mostly to herself. “A 36-year-old pet…a cute little 36-year-old play-man for me…god…it’s amazing…he’s actually older than me…a lot older…”

Elsewhere in the facility, inside the control room, a couple scientists had turned away from the screens and were looking anxiously over to Dr. Clinebell, who was nonchalantly stroking his chin.

“Is he going to actually tell her!?” asked one of the scientists. “We hadn’t planned on this — is this all within protocol?”

“Oh relax, will you?” chuckled Dr. Clinebell, casually brushing away his colleague’s concern with a wave of his hand. “This is wonderful stuff — the truth was going to come out sooner or later. May as well happen organically like this. Haha plus don’t you just love the way she’s been playing with him? Her power really has been evolving, hasn’t it?”

The other scientist looked uneasily at Dr. Clinebell and then turned back toward the screens. 

“H-Hey!” Aiden retorted, mustering up an impressive amount of courage as his flushed face beamed with a faux-hurt smile, “I—I don’t look that old! I…barely have any wrinkles!!”

“Oh you expect me to be able to see those from way up here?” countered Emma, the pad of her finger gently unrelenting in Aiden’s crotch. “Hahaha I can barely even tell what expressions you’re making most of the time.”

“Y-you…you can’t?” asked Aiden. He sounded momentarily hurt. 

“No!” laughed Emma, “You’re so small to me that I just look at your body language to tell what you’re thinking.”

“But…you can hear me…can’t you?” Aiden really did sound a little stung now. 

“Barely,” Emma chuckled. “I’ve gotta make sure I’m not moving around, and if I’m standing up, hahaha forget it!” She paused, and then decided to peer closer at the little man under her finger. She had caught something in his voice that made her look closer, and upon further inspection, she saw that she had accidentally made him feel bad. Her heart jumped a little in contrition. 

“Aww Aiiiiden,” she cooed, bending down even closer now, so that her huge head was only about three feet away from his, “Did I just make you feel reeeeeeally small? Smaller than you wanted to feel?”

“A…A little,” he admitted, nodding, even as his face brightened up under her close attention. 

“Hmmm,” mused Emma, as she examined his face closely, “You really have cute cheeks.” She blew a soft gust of wind on him, watering his eyes and making him blink rapidly, and causing his short brown hair to blow back. She felt herself melt a little inside. This little life under her finger was hers…hers to play with and cuddle and be sweet to. 

“I’m sorry I made you feel so small, Aiden,” she continued, “But it’s just true, isn’t it? I’ve gotta get this close, just to actually really see your face. Could you really handle me being THIS close, all the time?” 

“I…I could try!” Aiden forced out.

“Uh-uh, I don’t know,” Emma whispered doubtfully, as she cast her eyes slightly downward to his groin. She lifted her finger up for just a moment, allowing his erection to freely tent up in his pants. Aiden had a more-than-respectable 8-inch cock, larger than average, especially for his size. But to Emma it looked like a peanut in his pants.

“When I get in your face and just…touch you down there,” she continued in a whisper, conscious of how close she was to his vulnerable little ears, “You look like your whole body is about to just…pop!” 

When she said the word “pop,” Emma made her eyes go wide for an instant, returning them back to normal just a moment later. Even this simple little gesture pushed Aiden to the brink, and he very nearly came right then and there. 

“Come on Aiden,” repeated Emma, resuming her merciless massage of his nether-regions with her finger, “Tell me how you know all this about me. Did they tell you? The government people?”

“N-no,” Aiden replied, shaking his head.

“Then how do you know?” demanded Emma quietly. She was still teasing, but some of the humor had bled out of her voice, and Aiden actually felt a stab of fear. When Emma was this close to him, even being mock-serious was enough to send Aiden almost into a fight-or-flight response. 

“I…I f-followed you on the forums!” he squeaked out desperately.

“The…forums?” Emma asked, frowning, puzzled. “What forums?” But before Aiden could answer, her face brightened up in recognition. “Ooooohhhh! Ohhhhhhhh THOSE forums! The giantess forums!?” 

“Yes!” Aiden nodded. The worry in his face vanished, and his face was kindled up in a smile. 

Emma felt a strange and disorienting cacophony of emotions rush through her. Her mind shot back to the old house…their old house…with Daniel…the lights were low in the bedroom, and she was laughing at the laptop she was holding up as she facetimed Daniel while he was away on his business trip…she was showing him how the top of her head was grazing the doorway, and how she actually could touch the top of her head to it if she stood on her tiptoes. And in a flash, her mind rushed to the next memory: scrolling through the pale blue forum topics, reading all the comments on her comparison pictures with Daniel…she remembered those platform boots she had been wearing…her foot in Daniel’s chest as she stared down at him curiously as he lay on his back in the grass in the front yard…she blinked and her mind cut again to something else: this time she was hunched and crunched up uncomfortably in her chair in the living room, totally miserable, as she used a pencil to type out messages, letter by letter, because her fingers had become too big for the keys…Daniel’s shocked look as he had come in with all those bags of food to see her in the corner there, her clothes laying around her shredded, as she stared at him with a kind of helpless humor. 

All of this happened in no more than a few seconds, and Emma knew that she could have let her mind go even farther, but with a firm and decisive will, she stopped the memories. That was all in the past. She was right HERE, in THIS moment, and nothing could change that. She didn’t realize that she was breathing hard in and out until she heard Aiden start coughing. She blinked again and her eyes refocused on him. His little body was twisted under her finger; he had been trying to escape the intense wind of her heavy breathing, which had been hitting him straight in the face. 

“Oh…sorry,” murmured Emma. She blinked again and she felt her face brightening…she had this little treat of a thing under her finger! What a delight! And he was all hers to play with.

“Awww just look at those little cheeks,” she purred, almost in a baby-talk voice, and without warning she bent down, puckering her plush lips as she leaned in closer and closer. Aiden suddenly found his entire face smothered by hot, wet, slippery flesh, and what felt like a huge, squishy boulder pressing into his head. Emma was kissing him, and it took Aiden a few breathless seconds to realize that the giant, squishy pushing thing was her tongue. 

*MWAH* *MWAH* *MWAH*

The soft heavy sounds of Emma’s quick little kisses echoed in Aiden’s ears. Within seconds he was breathless, squirming to try and get free so he could have some air. But Emma’s finger was still on his crotch, holding him down, and the combination of the stimulation from her finger and the playful, effortless domination of her kisses was more than he could handle. Aiden groaned out helplessly as he came, and Emma wouldn’t have even noticed it unless he hadn’t started grinding his entire body up against her finger. 

Emma only recognized that Aiden’s body was doing something distinct and rhythmic after she let up in her kisses to grin at the effect she was having on him. Seeing him arch his body into an upside-down “C” against her finger in that rhythm…well, it told her all she needed to know. She almost took her finger away, just so she could tease him a little more, but then she realized the pad of her finger felt a little wet, and she understood that he had already cum. A fiery twinge went through her own loins, and she felt a surge of euphoric power. She had brushed aside those painful memories like they were nothing, and then the next moment she had made her little guy cum without even trying. She wanted to play it through, so she bared her teeth at his beet-red little face, made wide eyes at him, and growled, clamping her teeth around the bottom of his shorts as she ripped them off in one quick jolt of her head. His still-throbbing, cum-glazed cock was suddenly bouncing stiffly up and down, right in front of her face. 

“Hahaha you totally just busted!” she giggled, her big eyes having to go slightly cross-eyed to get a good look at his cock. After a beat, her eyes refocused on his face. His breathing was coming in labored gasps as he tried to regain his air; she was smirking at him. 

“It’s because you’ve got a giantess fetish, isn’t it?” she smiled confidently. “That’s why you were such a little deer in the headlights when we first met! Haha, and that’s why you’re constantly tagging along, trying to watch me do everything!” She ran her huge fingers over him, turning his body around and around casually in her grasp as she talked, getting his sticky cum on her fingers. 

“They recruited you from the forums, didn’t they!?” she went on, “Hahaha oh my GOD they totally did! You probably went through some kind of a selection process…vetting…like, the whole thing…and they chose YOU, because you’re just the…the perfect little cutie pet who can’t help but pop a little boner whenever you’re around me. You KNOW I’m bigger than you in, like, EVERY way, and you can’t get enough of it!”

Almost absentmindedly, like she was toying around with a little doll, she flipped Aiden over on his stomach in midair and massaged his buttocks with her thumb. She vaguely mused that she could push her pinkie into his ass, but she quickly dismissed the idea. That would have certainly hurt the poor little thing. So she tapped his ass a few more times with her thumb and then flipped him back over, threading her fingers around his arms and legs. 

“I’m right, aren’t I?” she asked him, an intense smile on her face. Utterly overcome, Aiden nodded. Emma looked to the side as her grin widened, and she blew out a pleased exhale, taking care to do it to the side so Aiden wouldn’t get caught in it again. Then Emma suddenly remembered that everything was probably being filmed anyway, so she looked up at the ceiling, making sure to hold Aiden down and away from the sound of her voice. She didn’t know where the cameras were, but she knew they were there. 

“Close your ears, little guy,” she said softly down to Aiden, and then she turned back towards the ceiling.

“Clinebell!” she shouted, her voice ricocheting off everything. “Hey Clinebell!! I figured it out! Good one!! No really, good one! I’m not even being sarcastic! I appreciate it!! All the effort you put into it — I LOVE him! He’s PERFECT!” 

Back in the control room, the formerly-anxious scientist turned around again to look at Dr. Clinebell, who had his arms folded across his chest, evidently pleased. But he was not gloating…he wasn’t even smiling; instead, he was staring up carefully into the screen, studying Emma’s face closely.

Chapter 30

“All right Emma!” called the Director of Photography through his megaphone, “That's a wrap!” 

“Awwww!” pouted Emma, leaning heavily on the telephone pole as she kicked up one of her bright red high heels behind her, striking one more pose, “It’s really overrrrr?” 

“Ehaha yes, afraid so!” laughed the DP. “We’ve got so much Emma, sooooo much! We can’t just keep asking you to cop new poses all day long!” 

“Heheh, do you know who you’re talking to!?” chuckled Dr. Jeltzin, who had come along on the field trip to see his gym girl strut her stuff. “She’d have us here for days, dude…daaaaaays…”

“As long as the meals were provided, of course,” teased Dr. Farley. As usual, he was trying his hardest to make light of a situation that had him totally enthralled. Watching Emma scarf down hundreds of pounds of food every day had become a bit more normalized over the past few weeks, but seeing her out in the open like this, in all her 35-foot glory, leaning sexily on a telephone pole in that tight black leather dress of hers!? And with those impossibly-sexy 24-inch heels, she was a full 37 feet…it was simply incredible.

“Oh sure, we could absolutely make that happen, Farley,” remarked Dr. Clinebell dryly. He was squinting through the desert sun, looking up at Emma posing. She certainly was voluptuous, majestic…goddess-like. But as ever, he was watching her closely, trying his best to examine the expressions on her face. Her plush lips were pursed now in a teasing model pose, but even as she leaned against the telephone pole, Clinebell could see Emma blinking in the sunlight, looking for something…or someone. He knew exactly who it was. “You know…if you were willing to front the bill to get all that food driven out here in a tractor trailer.”

“Huh?” asked Dr. Farley blankly, distracted by Emma’s makeshift pole dance that she was now performing. 

“A tractor trailer full of food for her?” Dr Clinebell continued. “Way out here? That’s a few thousand in transportation costs alone.” 

“I…I wasn’t…heh, I was just saying stuff,” Dr. Farley replied blankly, giving a faint little smile as he turned back toward Emma. 

“She’d better be careful,” muttered the DP, too nervous to tell her outright through the megaphone. “She’s gonna rip that telephone pole out of the ground if she keeps on.”

“Nah, it’s held fast,” Dr. Ossford said, still watching her, slightly mesmerized himself. “Poured concrete.” 

“Still though,” persisted the DP, “She could snap that thing like a twig if she —”

“I know you guys are all saying a bunch of stuff!” laughed Emma, turning around on the pole in one final pose, with her thick, strong thigh wrapping around it. She was intending on mocking the whole “strip club” routine, but the effect she was having on the gathered crowd of scientists was quite real. “I can see your little mouths moving, but I can’t heeeeear what you’re saying!” 

“It’s…we’re just jabbering, Emma…d-don’t mind us!” called the DP through his megaphone. Dr. Clinebell whispered something to him, and then he added, “It’ll be about half an hour before the helicopters come to pick us all up!” 

“Humph…half an hour,” moped Emma, pretending to languish against the telephone pole. “Soooo long…” Her vibrant red hair, longer and redder than ever, fell around her face, and everyone watching couldn’t help but stare up at her, transported by the enthralling and arresting combination of her size and beauty. 

Emma wasn’t really sulking — she was just coming down from the high that had been a day’s worth of shooting in the desert, close to the government facility. It had been her first time outside the actual facility since she had arrived there months before. She still had no idea where they were, but she didn’t care. It had been an amazingly enjoyable day; Emma had never felt so sexy, and so effortlessly powerful. 

“Hey where’s my little bear?” she asked suddenly. Her eyes were flitting across the desert sand now, searching. “I thought I left him over there by the pickup truck before the last shoot.”

“Where’s Aiden?!” hissed Dr. Ossford to the DP. A few moments of anxious whispering ensued, with everyone asking each other who had seen him last. Clinebell, of course, had the answer, and had whispered it to the DP.

“I think…I think he…he went to the bathroom, Emma,” called the DP awkwardly through the megaphone. 

“Huh? The bathroom!?” chuckled Emma, putting her hands on her hips. “Where?”

“I…uh…o-over there by those rocks, I think,” answered the DP through he megaphone, pointing. 

A few of the scientists had become nervous. 

“Uh-oh…” whispered Dr. Jelztin to Dr. Ossford. Neither of them seemed much concerned, though — they were winking and nudging each other in the ribs. 

“Thought he could just run away without even asking me,” muttered Emma, and a moment later she had taken off, walking in huge strides towards the rocks about 50 yards away. The scientists felt the ground shake as she went by. A few of them looked to Clinebell, who reassured them with a simple raise of his hand. They all watched as Emma reached the rocks in a couple seconds. She was standing up straight, but her head was bent down, looking around left and right, obviously searching for Aiden. Just moments later, her head movement stopped. She had honed in on him; the others couldn’t see Aiden, since he was hidden behind the rocks, but it was more than clear from the change in Emma’s demeanor that she had found him, even though her back was turned to them. They saw her straighten up even taller as her torso seemed to inflate…she was taking a deep breath, and very slowly, she put her hands on her hips, as she continued to stare down fixedly at what could have only been Aiden. 

“Oh man…” murmured Dr. Farley, “Is she…is she gonna let him have it?”

“Are we…sure this is a good idea?” asked Dr. Ossford, “I mean…it’s all well and good when she’s inside the facility, but out here in the desert? In the open air?”

“Why should that matter?” Alison piped up. She had been mostly enjoying Emma’s photoshoot, hanging back and not saying much, but the nervous uncertainty of some of the scientists was starting to annoy her. She realized that part of this might have been because she had realized that she herself was more on edge than she expected to be. Alison had gotten used to interacting with Emma in the facility, where everything was familiar, and she had reassured herself that there wasn’t anything wrong with taking Emma on a field trip out into the desert, to change things up, and to let the poor girl feel sexy. But Alison had not anticipated the effect of seeing Emma out of the familiar confines of the facility — the therapist had expected the expansive desert to dwarf Emma’s 35-foot frame, but the actual result had been disorientingly flipped around: Emma looked perfectly at home in the desert, with the huge, rolling peaks in the distance, and the burning sand stretching for miles in any direction. The sun had reflected off her fire-red hair, and the bronzed smoothness of her bare skin. The huge landscape looked like Emma’s natural habitat, and it was SHE, Alison, who felt like she was in an alien country. The other scientists privately shared her view, but no one spoke the truth they were all feeling: they all felt TINY standing there next to Emma, tinier than they had ever felt. Alison in particular was struggling with the uncanny sense that she had happened upon Emma in the desert by mistake, that she was encroaching on the giantess’s “habitat,” that she and the rest of the little people had found themselves in a place they didn’t belong, that was too big for them. 

But nearly all of this was subconscious, and although Alison had more self-awareness than most, she didn’t have the means or inclination to speak out her struggles. In any case, a conversation was going on.

“Alison’s right,” declared Dr. Clinebell quietly, still looking towards Emma. A low rumble emanated from her, and they could tell that she was saying something quietly down to Aiden, who remained hidden behind the rocks. It didn’t matter that she was 50 yards away — even her “quiet” voice was easily loud enough for them to hear at that distance, and outside in the desert, at that. Emma was slowly shaking her head back and forth as she spoke. 

“There’s nothing to worry about, despite the change in venues,” Dr. Clinebell continued, “Emma knows the rules. She’s been following them to a “t” ever since that first day.”

“Well…I mean, yeah,” replied Dr. Ossford, “But…surely you’ve noticed…I’ve noticed, at least, that she seems to be…how to put this…bending the rules a little, recently?”

“Bending them?” asked Dr. Clinebell, turning to his colleague. 

“Just, you know…how she’s been treating him,” Dr. Ossford continued, almost apologetically. “I know the whole point initially was to give her someone who could…well yeah, you know…but, like…hasn’t she been going kind of hard recently? He passed out a couple days ago and she…she just kind of kept playing with him.”

“Aiden knows what’s going on,” Dr. Clinebell countered calmly. “If he ever truly feels in danger, he knows what to do.” 

“But…he was unconscious…” muttered Dr. Ossford, shrugging his shoulders. Clearly, he and a few of the other scientists shared a certain level of discomfort with the dynamic between Emma and Aiden. Even Alison, who usually stuck up for Emma on Dr. Clinebell’s side, was silent right now, looking to the head doctor for his response. But Dr. Clinebell appeared unmoved by his colleague’s words, and simply sighed and gave a shrug of his own. 

“Like I said,” Dr. Clinebell repeated, “Aiden can extricate himself very quickly if he wants to, but he hasn’t. Now what do you make of that, Dr. Ossford? Or anyone else, for that matter?”

He looked around with steady, challenging eyes at the rest of the group. No one seemed to have anything to say in response…but even if they had, the ground was shaking beneath them again. Emma was striding back towards them, and at first it wasn’t obvious that she was holding anything in her hand. After another second, though, as she came 20 yards closer in one stride, they all saw that she had her fingers wrapped completely around Aiden’s midsection, dangling him upside down in her grasp, right around her breast level. 

“Look what I found hiding behind the rocks!” she giggled, holding out Aiden and dangling him above the assembled scientists, turning him right-ways-up and then upside-down again, over and over. “Little thing has a mind of its own, haha!”

She shook Aiden playfully in the air, gently, but with enough vigor that his partially-pulled-up pants shimmied down his legs and fell to the ground. A few of the scientists backed up, embarrassed, and tried looking around at anything other than what was going on above them. They couldn’t really see Aiden’s expression, since he was so high up, and also because Emma was obscuring his face with her big index finger. They all continued watching as Emma finished shaking him, turned him right-side-up, and brought him up close to her face. Almost absentmindedly, she sniffed him, while studying a patch of sand away from the assembled group, and then, again without any apparent thought, she inhaled his left arm in between her lips and started sucking on it gently. 

For the next several moments Emma pivoted her weight onto one hip, and appeared lost in thought, sucking on Aiden’s arm. She wasn’t even looking at him. A few of the scientists seemed to relax, apparently reassured that Emma was now retreating into more pensive and internal patterns of behavior. 

“Oh good,” whispered Dr. Farley to Alison, “That means that she’s…uhm…calming down, right?” 

“Yeah, she’s, ah…she’s just having a little time to herself,” Alison whispered back, with her eyes still on Emma. “It’s good that she’s got…Aiden there with her to help, you know…to help her relax.” 

It seemed like Dr. Farley was about to respond with something a little sarcastic, with something like ‘Oh, is that what he’s there for? To help her relax?’ but he didn’t get a chance, and Alison was happy for it. She had already grown tired of Dr. Farley’s inappropriate questions about Emma, many of which encouraged her to break her patient confidentiality oath. It was clear that the young man was a little smitten, a little confused, and more than a little jealous about Emma’s dynamic with Aiden, but Alison wished that he’d quit trying to nip and bite at her, attempting to get little tidbits of information. 

In any case, he didn’t get to keep nipping and biting at her this time, because everyone was suddenly backing up and rushing to get out of the way. Emma had turned and made a step toward the assembled group. She didn’t even really seem to be concerned with the enormous effect her body had on them at such close proximity, especially in those fearsome heels, which could easily have skewered someone who had been standing there hapless and unaware. But of course everyone was more than aware of Emma’s presence, and when she took a step toward the group everyone immediately backed up a few paces, with some of the scientists actually turning and running a good ten yards beyond where they had been before. Even Dr. Clinebell backed up a few paces. His eyes were still fixed up on Emma’s face, and without any ceremony he snatched the megaphone away from the DP. 

Emma was still staring off into the distance, back towards the rocks where she had retrieved Aiden, as she continued to suck on his left arm, holding up his body in her right hand as she absentmindedly pressed around gently on his face with her thumb. Aiden hung there in her hand, taking it all, with his eyes closed. Already she had trained him not to cum too quickly when she did things like this. A week ago he had accidentally shot it up her nose and given her a 30-second sneezing fit. She had thought it was funny, but she had made him practice after that. ‘Only I get to decide when you pop!’ she had chastised him, with a strange and serious grin on her face. 

And now Emma was feeling a little restless. She knew full well that she couldn’t do anything drastic, even out here…that she must keep to the same rules she observed in the facility. Dr. Clinebell had been quite clear about that. But the dry open air, the thrilling feeling of the hot dust and sand blowing against her exposed skin, the incredible sensation of the full heat and light of the sun touching her skin, baking it, infusing it, powering it up…Emma felt like running, like dashing off toward the horizon — not to “escape” or to do anything other than, well…blow off some steam…stretch her legs a bit. She had gotten all the way up to 62 miles an hour on the treadmill with Dr. Jeltzin, and she wanted to see the true landscape rush by her as she ran. 

But no, no, she knew that running was against the rules. No running. No shouting. No throwing. No stomping. No digging. No kicking. No jumping. No this…no that…no everything except posing. Except what they wanted her to do. These had been the conditions for her first “field trip” outside the facility. Emma had pouted a little at first; she had been looking forward to a climbing expedition in those huge, towering, majestic mountains that she got to look at every morning. But Dr. Clinebell had assured her that such a trip would happen, but that they needed to do this simpler one first, just to build up trust. 

‘Eh, they’re just doing what they need to do,’ she thought mildly, staring off at the rock as she sucked on Aiden’s arm, periodically biting it ever-so-softly as she ran her tongue along its length, occasionally tickling his armpit with her tongue’s tip. Aiden squealed a little and struggled, but she absentmindedly blocked his little sounds with her thumb. They were cute, but she was thinking about other stuff right now…just allowing her mind to wander away. 

‘They have all these plans for me,’ Emma continued to herself, musing in the desert. ‘All these plans…all this foresight. They really are so sweet to me. Mmmmm, I LOVE Alison so much, and Dr. Jeltzin is such a cute little peach. Farley is so awkward, haha…and Ossford can be so serious…but they’re all little cuties. I’m, like…their job! I’m ALL of their jobs. But they still don’t know, do they? They still don’t know why I’m…why it hasn’t stopped. Heh, I don’t want it to stop…I love my life now. And now they’re letting me actually post stuff on the forums!? Those little boys are going to freak out when they see me in these heels.’

At this point she had glanced down at the scientists far below; they were all still waiting for the helicopters, and there was a general lull. People were milling around, talking, whispering, or whatever it was they were doing way down there. Almost all of them were looking up at her…studying her. Even now!? Wasn’t this supposed to be a field trip?? Emma felt herself growing defensive and indignant. Farley was whispering something to Alison…and his tiny face was turned upwards toward her. She felt a sudden rush of annoyance, and decided in an instant to break up whatever it was that was going on. But of course, she wouldn’t break the rules. 

And so Emma had stepped towards the group, scattering them. She was still sucking on Aiden’s arm as her heeled foot came down in the sand, right in the middle of where everyone had been standing. Once she saw them all back up, she had retrained her gaze to the horizon, confident that she wasn’t going to be squishing anyone. 

“Emma…”

Dr. Clinebell’s voice echoed calmly out of the megaphone. It was a warning shot…the first one he had ever shot at her. Emma bristled, still staring off at the distant hills as they baked under the sun, and her heart got cold for a moment. She had touched a nerve with him…finally she had pushed him to assert himself like that. The cold she felt was fear, and she had to remind herself what was at stake. But a moment later, she quickly warmed up inside herself again. What was his problem!? 

“Huh?” she asked blankly, with Aiden’s arm still in her mouth. She looked down below and saw Dr. Clinebell standing alone, with everyone else a good ten yards away. He looked so tiny…so vulnerable…but Emma knew that he wasn’t vulnerable at all. In fact, now was as good a time as ever to remind herself why she admired him so much. Never in her life had she met someone with so much self-assurance and self-control. But she had just pushed him into warning her, and that knowledge made her feel a little giddy in the sun. 

“What?” she asked innocently, finally taking Aiden’s arm out of her mouth and blowing on it, so that it dried out quickly. Without even thinking, she began gently rubbing Aiden’s body up and down her left cheek while she stared down at Dr. Clinebell. Sometimes she did this absentmindedly while she surfed the web, or even while she read a book before bed. The sensation of his lithe little body against her huge cheek was somehow calming to her…and it always felt good to feel that little prick of his hard cock against the soft fleshiness of her face.

For a few seconds, Dr. Clinebell didn’t answer. He simply kept staring up at Emma, the megaphone poised in front of his mouth. As the seconds passed by, Emma felt herself becoming more and more uneasy. Why was he just staring up at her like that?? What was going on?! Had she somehow crossed a line? Deep down, she knew that she had…and more importantly, she knew that HE knew. She felt Aiden wriggle against her face a little, and she slipped his arm back into her mouth, sucking on it with slightly more fervor this time as she pushed her tongue up against it over and over. 

The other scientists seemed to be getting nervous too. Most of them were now watching Dr. Clinebell closely, with evident tenseness. Of course, Emma couldn’t see any of their expressions from her vantage point, but even she could recognize the strange suspense in the air. Down on the ground, Alison was starting to make a step towards Dr. Clinebell with her hand held up…behind her, Dr. Farley, Dr. Ossford, and a few others had their hands in their back pockets, like they were all about to whip something out at a moment’s notice. The next second, though, Dr. Clinebell broke the tension, speaking pleasantly out into the megaphone:

“The helicopters will be here in ten minutes, so…” — and here he looked off towards the rocks where Aiden had been relieving himself a short time before — “…plan accordingly.” 

Everyone on the ground let out a sigh of relief. Emma felt her brow crease as she too felt relief…and confusion…and a noticeable infusion of annoyance. Had he seriously just made her feel afraid like that just to…just to fuck with her!? She didn’t need any more demonstration of Dr. Clinebell’s power over her — she was perfectly well-informed about the tools he had at his disposal. She inwardly bristled at being treated that way, even though she acknowledged (begrudgingly) why she had essentially asked for it by crossing a line. And then she caught the implied humor of his comment and decided now would be as good a time as any to lighten the mood. 

“Wait…wait, did you just tell me to go…pee on the rocks!?” she burst out, taking Aiden’s arm out of her mouth again and gesturing toward the rocks with his body. A few of the scientists started laughing, and even Dr. Clinebell let out a few chuckles as he answered:

“Haha, well no I wasn’t telling you anything, Emma,” he corrected her, “Just…you know…suggesting that maybe after drinking three hundred gallons of water out here, you might feel the need.”

“Oh and you think I can’t hold it?” shot back Emma, mildly playful as she feigned indignation. She enjoyed bantering with Dr. Clinebell; subconsciously, it helped her feel like they were more or less on an even playing field, even if she knew that they weren’t. 

“I am a LADY, sir!” she continued, standing up to her full height as she arched herself majestically, throwing her shoulders back so that her fiery red hair blew back behind her in the hot afternoon sun. “You really think I am going to just…step over there and go while all of you are watching!? Haha, no thank you.” 

It wasn’t lost on any of them, and Aiden in particular, how she had casually said “step over there,” when, in fact, the rocks were a good 50 yards away. It had taken Aiden a couple minutes to walk over there himself. 

“Ha! Well of course you are a lady!” laughed Dr Clinebell, “And suit yourself, Emma. No argument from me either way.” 

Emma gave a slight smile and inclined her head, and the exchange was over. She had a vague sense that something nuanced in the dynamic between herself and Dr. Clinebell (and the rest of the scientists) had changed, but she didn’t really feel like thinking about it too much. As part of her humorous display of “being a lady,” she stepped back over to the telephone pole and broke out a few more poses, just for good measure, while she had Aiden safely lodged in between her breasts. Her red dress was tight enough in the top that it literally squished her breasts together, making for a safe haven she could stash him when she didn’t want to hold him. As she posed, another breeze kicked up, and she felt some sand sticking to the side of her cheek. After wiping it off, briefly puzzling over why it had stuck, Emma suddenly realized that it was because Aiden had cum on her cheek when she was rubbing him up against it…and the sand was now sticking to the cum when the wind blew it into her face. Emma smirked down at his little head in between her breasts and rubbed it with her pinkie finger…but a moment later she was thinking about how the pictures would turn out. She made him cum so often now, all over her body, that she hardly even gave it much thought anymore, unless she was in a particularly playful mood. 

Back at the Facility, Aiden seemed to be in an excited mood. He was so animated that he even worked up the courage to propose to Emma that she and him play one of their common games. 

“H-Hide and seek?!” he ventured, still lodged in between her breasts.

“Huh? Oh…no…not right now,” sighed Emma, sinking down into one of the dining room chairs. “I’m gonna look through all my pictures and decide which ones to use for the Onlyfans…and which ones to post on the forums for all the little guys to go crazy over.”

“Oh…ok,” nodded Aiden. He had been hoping to play hide and seek, since all the time out in the desert had made him feel like there was nowhere for him to hide; it was a particular kink of his to hide from Emma, and then to have her prowl around trying to find him, teasing him the whole time. It was a game they often played, at least a few times a week, and recently Aiden had been enjoying a bit more success. With Emma getting bigger and bigger, it was becoming more and more difficult for her to find him. Just the other week, he had managed to hide inside one of the long steel pipes alongside the walls, and even though Emma had found him after half an hour, she wasn’t able to reach him — she could only fit her arm down the pipe so far. She had finally given up, only to then seize Aiden by the ankle as soon as he triumphantly came out and dangle him upside down over her perturbed (but charmed) face, playfully batting his body with her nose in revenge. 

Now, back in the present, and in between her breasts, Aiden felt Emma’s enormous body sinking down into one of the dining room chairs as she let out a mighty sigh, raising his whole body up a few feet and then taking it back down as she let her air out. 

“Unstrap my heels,” she breathed down at him, plucking his body out from between her breasts and then setting him gently down on the floor by her feet. Her words weren’t imperious, but they weren’t playful, either — they didn’t really carry any particular emotion or feeling. Her feet were tired, and she wanted her little bear to unstrap her heels…it was as simple as that. Aiden understood and began setting himself to work obeying. While he labored, Emma started scrolling through the pictures that the DP had sent to her phone. 

“Hmmm, I’m thinking…yeah…maybe on the forums just post just one of me standing next to the pole…alone,” she murmured out loud to herself. “Let them have to pay to get to the good stuff when, surprise surprise — it turns out I’ve got a little bear all to myself.”

She wiggled her toes playfully against Aiden, who was temporarily interrupted in his work. It was a welcome interruption, though — he never got tired of Emma touching him like this. He closed his eyes and started lightly humping himself into the sole of her foot, which was almost as long as his entire body. 

“Nooooo, no…come on now,” Emma muttered, knocking him down with her toes. “Back to work, little guy.” She kept scrolling through the pictures, feeling her excitement grow. It had been a wonderful experience for her, staying at the Facility — it had been just what she needed, right when she had felt the most unstable and confused and, well…traumatized. Her talks with Alison had helped her rediscover how powerful and confident she felt. Alison would often have Emma recall that time she had told her about, when she was in the field naked, staring at the sun, and feeling its rays infuse her body. 

“You keep telling me how good you felt in that moment,” Alison would always say, “How “at one” with everything you felt. I love that, Emma…and I want us to get to a point where you can sit in that moment over and over, multiple times, throughout every day, reminding yourself how happy you really are.”

“How happy I am to be this huge,” Emma would say, closing her eyes and nodding. She didn’t have to convince herself anymore — she knew it was true that she was happy to be this way. In fact, Emma had reached a point, early on in her talks with Alison, when she stated, quite bluntly and truthfully, that if they ever actually managed to develop a pill for her to return to her normal size, she wouldn’t take it.

“Wow! Is that so?” Alison had asked, fascinated. And Emma had simply nodded; no further explanation had been required. With each passing day, she was growing more and more in tune with her body. Her workouts with Dr. Jeltzin were certainly helping. The way he pushed her, and treated her like his own budding 5-star athlete, made Emma want to dig deep and go even harder. As she scrolled through the pictures on her phone from the recent shoot, she felt herself smiling. The results were plain to see. She looked good…like, really good…better than she had ever looked before. She could see the muscles in her legs standing out defined, though in a way that didn’t take away from the femininity of the swerve and curve of her hips and ass. Her arms looked firm and solid too — anyone who saw her could tell that she had been working out for quite a while…and maybe even taking some supplements to go along with it. Of course, this was true — Dr. Jeltzin had her on creatine and arachidonic acid to help her push harder and lift more weight, but because of her curvy body type, and the sheer amount of food she was eating, she didn’t look too chiseled. 

“Perfect!” Aiden had chirped a few weeks before, after Emma had asked him how she looked on a whim, as he performed their weekly ritual of tracing her hand over a large sheet of transparent paper. Emma remembered that moment for some reason in her mind, and she couldn’t help chuckling as she recalled the starry look in his eyes as he had looked up from tracing her huge hand, a hand which, up until then, hadn’t been longer than three feet. Of course, as the weeks had passed, that had changed — her hand was nearly five feet long now. 

“Heh…does my little bear actually think so?” Emma had asked him, amused, pursing her lips as she drummed her fingers lightly on the paper, indicating that Aiden should continue tracing them. 

“Oh…oh YES!” Aiden had cried, almost too earnestly. “Y-you’re…you’re like a…l-like a…a…”

“It’s ok!” she had giggled, shaking her head down at him. “I get it — you really do think I look good. Mmmmm, I’m not gonna lie — it’s nice to have a tiny little not-so-secret admirer around all the time.” She had lifted up her finger to rub Aiden on his bare chest. “I could get used to this.” 

And Emma had gotten used to it. Almost too used to it. Wherever she was, Aiden wasn’t far away, and for the most part, he was quite close by…often actually on her or between her, in one way or another. The only time he really had to keep his distance was when Emma was working out with Dr. Jelztin, and even then, he was always watching, mesmerized. Emma had grown accustomed to having him around all the time. She never actually called him “Aiden,” instead adopting the affectionate pet name “little bear,” and for all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what Aiden was to her. He was a living, breathing stuffed animal who she could play with, who she could rub up against her, who could do cute little things for her (like unstrap her shoes, feed her little bits of food, trace her hand, measure her feet, and on and on), and who she could occasionally have spontaneous conversations with. She had even made him a little bed that went on her nightstand, so that she could reach over and pet his little body in the morning right after she woke up. Of course, it was too dangerous for him to actually sleep in the same bed with her. Aiden was in constant awe of her, and counted himself the luckiest man in the entire world. 

Gradually, though, as the weeks turned into months, Aiden couldn’t help but feel that Emma was growing a bit more distant towards him. She played with him more than ever, and often these games would end with her teasing him into an orgasm with her fingers after she had knocked him down over and over using just her index finger, or even her pinkie. She was definitely engaging with him, but the way she looked at him…well, Aiden felt like as she kept growing bigger, her gaze became…something different. “Colder” wasn’t the right word, but it captured something of the truth. More and more, Aiden felt the slow realization that Emma really didn’t see him as completely human. He had gotten that vibe as soon as he had met her, but the more time he spent with her, the more acute the feeling became. 

‘But how can she see me as an equal, anyway?’ Aiden would think to himself. And in any case, he was immensely turned-on by the curious, dehumanizing way she would stare at him, so he didn’t much mind. Still, though…it was something he noticed. He wanted to be close to her in every possible way, but he had to settle for more and more emotional distance the bigger she got. Not that he was complaining.

‘Luckiest man alive,’ he thought to himself over and over. 

“Ok, I think I’ve got the ones I’m gonna choose for my first Onlyfans post,” announced Emma, back in the present. Aiden knew that she wasn’t really speaking to him in the sense of expecting an answer, even though she was talking out loud and there was no one else there. She wasn’t speaking to him…she was speaking at him. It had already happened enough times when he would try to say something in response and Emma would glance down at him, puzzled, and maybe even a little irritated, and continue on with what she was saying, as if he hadn’t spoken at all. 

And so Aiden settled back into his work of removing her heels. It wasn’t easy work unstrapping them, but he was only too happy to do it. As he removed them, he noticed that there were deep, lined indentations in Emma’s feet and ankles that didn’t immediately go away after the heels were removed. Were her heels…fitting her even tighter, now? Miss Bissett had just had that pair made a week before! Were they already that tight on her!? 

“Hmmmm it’s so fun, looking at these,” Emma mused out loud, scrolling through the pictures on her phone. “Haha, especially the ones when you’re standing under me.” She paused, glancing down at Aiden and fixing him with a long, curious stare. “How tall are you, my little bear?” 

“M-me?” he stammered.

“No,” Emma cooed down at him, bending down and scooping him up off his feet, “I mean the other little bear taking off my heels. Yes you, silly bean!” 

“I…I’m 5’7,” Aiden replied, staring up at her huge face. Emma blinked for a few silent moments, pondering, looking off to the side. She seemed to be trying to remember something. Then, after a long pause, it apparently came to her, and her face brightened. 

“5’7!?” she laughed, startling Aiden. “Hahaha wow! You know something!? Even before I started growing…I was taller than you. You know that?” 

Aiden shook his head. He didn’t know what to say. Emma gently deposited him down on the floor; her eyes had narrowed, and she was studying his reaction. 

“Ooooo you like that, don’t you?” she burst out suddenly. The next moment she had vaunted herself out of her chair and collapsed down into a cross-legged sitting position on the floor. Aiden staggered back, dumbfounded. It had never ceased to amaze him how someone so huge, so tall and massive, could move so quickly and deftly as that…it was absolutely disconcerting. 

“I…y-yeah!” he managed to exhale, staggering back a few paces from the sheer and imposing size of Emma’s cross-legged figure. She had leaned forward onto her elbows, crossing her hands together to make a cushion for her chin. Aiden marveled at how flexible she had become. Her face was beaming at him, a full five feet above him despite the fact that she was leaning forward and sitting down. 

“Heheh, you’re such a funny little thing,” she chuckled, shaking her head slightly back and forth with her chin still in her hands. “Anyone can understand how it would be awesome being big and tall like me…but…haha, you actually like being short and small, don’t you?” 

Aiden nodded. He took another involuntary step back, straight into the measuring board on the wall. Emma smirked and shuffled forward on her big ass, not even bothering to get up. From Aiden’s perspective, it looked like a big building was lumbering up to crush him against the wall, but she stopped with about 15 feet to go, leaning her chin back on her hands as she smiled brightly at him. Aiden felt a shadow fall over his whole body as Emma reached her arm up over his head, extending a 24-inch-long index finger (not counting her sharp, manicured nail) to the wall. 

“Hmmm let’s see here,” Emma hummed to herself, “Is my little bear really…is he reeeally as small as he says he is? Heheh, because I can’t really tell. They all look the same to me.” 

Aiden felt the force of her nail impacting the wall above him, as Emma lightly traced it down, down, down, until he felt the U-shaped cup of her nail completely encompass the top of his head. His knees buckled slightly under the weight of her finger. 

“Heeyyyyy!” giggled Emma, playfully rubbing his groin with her thumb, “You’re cheating! I know you love it, but you’re not allowed to make yourself smaller!” 

“S-Sorry!” breathed Aiden. He was going to try and avoid explaining to her that it was the sheer weight on her finger on top of his head that had caused his knees to buckle, because he knew such an explanation would have been met with a blank and confused stare. He grimaced, trying to straighten his knees — thankfully, Emma’s finger had relented on top of his head, and he was able to stand up straight again. 

“So…sixtyyyy…seven,” Emma murmured to herself, blinking down at the measurement. She seemed perplexed for a few seconds, and Aiden saw a bulge in her top lip; her tongue was working against her top row of teeth as she pondered.

“Sixty…seven,” she repeated quietly to herself. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“I-It means…that I’m, uh…f-five-foot-seven,” Aiden piped up. Emma pouted her lip as she creased her brow, still staring down at the measurement. It was evident that she was quite confused. 

“But that’s…uh……huh,” Emma blinked and nodded slowly, “Oh-k…heh, ok. That…uhm, that makes sense.”

She shook her head a little to herself, as if she was still trying to grasp something, and plucked Aiden up off the floor, causally nestling him down in between her tits before she went back to her chair and sat down in it. She started going through her pictures again, this time with Aiden looking at them too…although it wasn’t clear that she was involving him in her activities at the moment. A few times she readjusted her dress in the seat. 

“Damn thing’s too tight,” she finally muttered to herself. “The least they can do is give me clothes that actually fit.” She knew she had already eaten a gigantic dinner about an hour before, which may have had something to do with her dress fitting a little tighter, but still…wasn’t she allowed to eat a normal meal without everything tightening up on her? 

‘Especially around here,’ she thought, feeling her hand around her stomach. Aiden felt the immense jiggle of her hand’s motion, but then he suddenly felt a wholly different vibration coming up from her stomach…except this time, it was coming from her stomach itself. Every atom in his body was quivering from the sound, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head.

*Brrrrrrrrrrauuuuuughhhhhhhh* 

Emma’s stomach was growling.

“God!” she whispered, a little exasperated, reaching for her phone to text the kitchen for an after-dinner snack, “I’m starving!” 

Over the next few days, Emma felt a little “on edge” — or more accurately, she didn’t feel like she was quite in control of her emotions. The reason why was simple: a lot was happening at once, all of a sudden. After consulting with Alison and getting the “all-clear” from Dr. Clinebell, Emma took the step to start her Onlyfans page, posting the first few pictures with Aiden, and posting others for free on a variety of online forums. It had been decided that, after all these months, Emma should have an outlet to interact with other people who weren’t associated with the Facility, and should be allowed to make something of a personal income in the process. A few of the scientists had voiced various concerns, but Alison, Dr. Clinebell, and Dr. Jeltzin were all strongly in favor of it. Dr. Jelztin especially wanted it for her. 

“My girl’s gonna take the world by storm!” he declared proudly. Alison had smiled and nodded, but a few of the other scientists had looked unsure and uneasy. 

“Oh,” smiled Dr. Clinebell, “I know she will.” 

The final decision had been made, and Emma had been ecstatic. As expected, the pictures from the desert photoshoot set the internet ablaze, and her Onlyfans quickly rose into the top .01%. Most of the images were simple size comparisons with everyday objects, but some of them were with Aiden: holding him by his ankles upside down, putting his head in her mouth, comparing the size of his hands with hers, lining him up next to her lower leg, making him try and stand in her cavernous underwear…and on and on. The only rule was that Emma wasn’t allowed to post anything blatantly sexual of the two of them together.

“Sexual!?” Emma had responded when informed of the rule. “Are you kidding?? Me and my little bear!?”

A few of the scientists pointed out (under their breath, of course), that Emma did sexual things to Aiden all the time. But they all knew by that point that she wouldn’t understand what they were talking about. 

Emma was getting endless messages from fans, of course, and she enjoyed scrolling through them at the end of every day, inevitably with Aiden nestled in between her breasts. Sometimes she would distractedly rub her thumb into his face, and sometimes she would stick out her tongue, enjoying the tiniest little hint of saltiness at the back of his neck. She had him in between her breasts so often these days that the back of Aiden’s hair was actually permanently parted, from being windblown due to Emma’s exhales. 

But amidst all the excitement of re-engaging with the outside world, Emma was feeling a bit more…well, she couldn’t quite place it. “Ornery” might have come the closest, if only because she was almost always hungry. Her colossal appetite was nothing new, but recently, it had grown to such a voracious and startling extent that the kitchen actually wasn’t able to fulfill a late-night request for several hundred pounds of cherries, bananas, almonds, and peanut butter. Emma had become so upset that she actually felt tears coming into her eyes, and only a swift and calming intervention from Alison (in addition to an express delivery to the Facility) prevented Emma from having an emotional meltdown.

“Like…I don’t know why I’m starving all the time!” she whined to Alison. She lifted up her nightshirt, grabbed her fleshy stomach, and jiggled it. “And I know I’ve been putting on weight recently, even though I’m only growing like a couple inches a week.”

“Hmmm, I know,” Alison nodded sympathetically, trying not to sound too perplexed herself, “Your height growth has slowed these past few weeks.”

“But not my weight! complained Emma. She was looking at herself in the mirror, and struck a sidelong pose, all with her stomach exposed. She had indeed developed something of a little “potbelly” that she hadn’t had before but it wasn’t too extreme.

“Huh, guess it doesn’t look so bad, actually,” mused Emma, trying out a variety of poses. “Actually pretty curvy…”

“Hey! That’s the spirit!” replied Alison encouragingly. 

“Yeah, and Jelztin can’t get on my case about slacking off or anything,” added Emma. “I deadlifted 33,000 pounds the other day…new personal best!” She struck an impressive double bicep pose in the mirror, and even though Alison was used to being around her, it was times like these that she could only gape in awe. 

Miss Bisset had been busy making new clothes for Emma to accommodate her recent weight gain, and one of Emma’s favorite new articles of clothing was a forest-green button-up sweater that she liked to wear around with no undershirt The fabric was so plush and soft, and she loved the feeling of it against her bare skin, especially after showering and drying off post-workout. She also enjoyed having Aiden button her up as she lay back in bed, starting from her lap all the way up to her collarbone. 

After less than a week of wearing this sweater, however, Emma started having some problems with the buttons. They were becoming more and more strained, to the point where Aiden was actually struggling to button them up. And to make matters worse, it wasn’t just the sweater she was starting to have problems with. Emma’s favorite shoes, a pair of 18-inch cork-heeled sandals that Miss Bisset had custom-made for her a week before, were already getting too tight. Emma was starting to feel confined and frustrated by her own clothes, and even though she adored Miss Bisset, she couldn’t help but feel discouraged, like they weren’t understanding her body. 

‘Like…just get my measurements right!’ she said in her head, ‘It’s not complicated.’

For his part, Aiden had started noticing deeper press-lines in Emma’s body from her shoes and clothes, whenever she took them off. He hadn’t said anything, because as likely as not she wouldn’t pay him any mind. She had seemed preoccupied recently, and wasn’t speaking to him much anymore. He worried that she was bored with him, but he cheered himself up by reminding himself how often she touched him, played around with him with her fingers, and even rubbed his groin with her finger until he came. He wasn’t able to avoid thinking, though, that in weeks past, Emma had usually laughed or giggled when he came, and had even eaten his cum a few times, just to be silly. But now, when she made him cum, she barely even seemed to notice, and when she did, she usually just left his cum there on her finger, carrying on with her day like it hadn’t even happened. 

A few days later, as he tried to button up Emma’s favorite green sweater as she lay there in bed, Aiden found that, try as he might, he couldn’t pull the buttons to where he needed them to go.

“I…I’m s-sorry!” he exclaimed helplessly as he toiled, “I just…I just can’t…seem to get…it over…far enough.”

Emma either hadn’t heard him or hadn’t paid attention to him; she was too busy scrolling through her Onlyfans messages, sometimes reading them, sometimes not. There were so many…thousands and thousands. After a few minutes she looked down at Aiden, who was standing there in her lap, looking up at her apologetically. 

“Hey, lil’ bear!” she exclaimed, “I’m not buttoned-up! You’ve done like the first two and that’s it!”

“Th-that’s because I can’t!” he replied quickly, showing how he couldn’t pull the button far enough. Emma narrowed her eyes down at him and bit her lower lip, clearly not understanding at first. But then the recognition swept across her face and her eyebrows came together.

“Wait, are you saying I’m fat!?” she demanded. 

“N-Noooo! No!!” cried Aiden, almost beside himself. “Y-You look amazing, Emma! Like the...the best ever, really!”

After a few seconds of eying him suspiciously, Emma simply reached down with one hand and started doing it herself. Even for her, it was a bit of a struggle to pull the button over, but Emma didn’t really pay it any mind. Aiden could see the skin of her belly flesh poking through the buttons as she did them. 

“I thought he liked buttoning me up,” she muttered to herself, turning her attention back to her scrolling. 

“But I do! I do!!” Aiden responded earnestly, standing up straight in her lap to try and get her attention. But Emma wasn’t paying any attention to him. She wasn’t paying attention to anything else, actually, except for something that had just flashed by on her screen. She had been scrolling so quickly, her eyes had hardly caught it. But she felt her stomach clenching up inside her, and this time it wasn’t from hunger. Her heart had started pounding, and she felt like she couldn't get enough breath. Her fingers stopped buttoning her sweater right at the bottom of her breasts, and she felt her lips part. 

She scrolled back. Her world froze. She sat up in her bed, and Aiden went tumbling down off her lap onto the comforter. There it was. A message…from Daniel Zielinski, complete with a $15,000 tip.