A woman sat alone in a metal room, with a metal floor, metal walls, and a metal ceiling. Fittingly, she sat at a metal desk, only this desk spanned the entire length of the wall opposite the door, roughly 10 feet. She sat at the far right corner of the desk, on a rather ordinary office chair. She had her hands neatly folded on the desk, near a collection of similarly ordinary office supplies- scissors, tape, and so on. This woman is Allison Starr, age 23, and as you could probably guess, she was busy at work.

She had just finished reading an important document, which was now resting inside of a cabinet under the desk, above her legs. Legs, by the way, that were healthy and supple, albeit hidden behind a rather plain office skirt. Allison was a plainly attractive young woman, with a fashion sense to match. Her medium-long auburn hair was usually kept in a neat ponytail, and her dark brown eyes carried a sense of polite professionalism, leaving little room for casual familiarity with her coworkers. She was a woman who tried to keep work and play separate, and right now she was in “work” mode.

What did she do for work? Well, she had a most unusual job, something she was hesitant to talk about outside of this strange metal room. Essentially, she worked in the criminal justice system, and she was about to have a very important meeting with a criminal. Now that the document was tucked away in the cabinet, her eyes were trained on a spot about five feet away, directly above the middle of the metal desk. Built into the wall was a strange door.

 

 

This door was rectangular, and covered in various religious symbols. Allison could make out a Cross, a Star of David, a Taijitu, and many others she did not recognize. Additionally, this door was lacking a doorknob, handle, or any other apparatus one might use to actually open it. Strangest of all, though, was the fact that this door was only 2 inches tall. Rather than marvelling at this door, though, Allison was simply sitting in modest anticipation of what was about to come through it.

Suddenly, a harsh buzzing sound rang out across the room, causing Allison to flinch. The door seemingly vanished into the wall, leaving a small hole in its stead. Then, pushed by an unseen force, a small figure came flying into the room, faceplanting on the desk below it. It was a man. He looked to be in his late twenties, and had a slim, muscular build. His complexion, currently masked by a metal desk, was that of a handsome gentleman, the kind that would make any young maiden’s heart flutter. Most notably, he was currently 1 inch tall, completely naked, and resting on a table that, to him, was the length of several football fields.

The strange door suddenly reappeared behind him, leaving him trapped in the metal room, still unaware of his giant roommate. Seemingly unimpressed by the appearance of this marvellous miniature, Allison silently watched as the tiny man stirred, slowly rising to his feet before rapidly shaking his head, as if he was clearing a mental fog. He turned so his back was facing Allison, and opened his eyes. He was instantly awed by the immense scale of this new environment, with the walls so far away, and the ceiling seemingly rising for miles. The cold metal under his feet caused him to shiver, and he started to scan his surroundings as he looked for a clue as to what he should do next.

Still silent, Allison waited for the big reveal. The man eventually noticed something strange in his peripheral, and quickly turned to face it. Sitting before him, from his perspective, was a living mountain. A woman of titanic proportions, far bigger than anything he had ever seen before. Although far away, he could tell that just one of her fingers was nearly double the length of his entire body, and could easily swat him like a fly. His senses assaulted by this giant creature, he let out a shriek and fell to his rear.

To Allison, his shriek came out as an adorable yelp, and she internally smiled at his reaction to her. Having waited long enough, she decided it was time to get on with the meeting. Introductions were in order.

“What’s your name?” She asked calmly.

“S-So big…” the man remarked after a brief hesitation.

“So big?” Allison asked with a raised eyebrow, slightly amused.

“N-no, my name is Joe. Nice to… meet you,” said Joe. After his initial shock, he quickly remembered the nature of this meeting, and his face became sullen.

“Joe. Likewise,” replied Allison, declining to provide her own name before asking “So, Joe, why were you sentenced to death?”

If you recall, Allison works in the criminal justice system, and she was meeting with a criminal. Not just any criminal, though, but one given the death penalty. Allison was the executioner, although the official term was Chevalier. Some odd years prior, a concept was introduced into the world of criminal sentencing known as the Shrink Penalty. Taking advantage of the highly secretive shrinking apparatus owned by the United States government, the worst-of-the-worst criminals would be shrunken down to 1 inch tall, and handed off to special individuals known as Chevaliers who would torture, humiliate, and ultimately kill them. Despite being highly controversial, it was eventually adopted on a limited basis. That all changed when those behind the Shrink Penalty got involved with the media, however. 

Suddenly, media networks owned by the richest and most influential politicians began a targeted media campaign in favor of the Shrink Penalty. The most twisted, disgusting, gut-wrenching criminals were suddenly broadcast across the country, appealing to people’s anger and desire for punishment. A man murdered his wife and two daughters? Death is too good for that scum, let him suffer first. Somebody kidnapped, mutilated, and killed twelve people over the course of a month? Let’s put them through hell, really make them regret it. Suddenly, initiatives popped up in multiple states proposing their state adopt the Shrink Penalty, with record signature numbers. Eventually, the federal government chose to adopt it nationally, so as to consolidate control from the states. Despite the ongoing outcry from various political and humanitarian groups, the knowledge that the absolute worst criminals faced truly awful deaths kept the approval ratings high, renewed each time the news covered a sensational crime. Chevaliers became a controversial, yet lucrative, career choice. Our Allison was one such person.

“Joe, what crime did you commit?” Allison asked again, slightly more forcefully this time. Joe had averted eye contact when she asked him the first time, but suddenly looked back to his gargantuan would-be-executioner with questioning eyes.

“You don’t already know?” Joe asked, to which Allison replied by shaking her head.

“Think about it. I’m basically a glorified electric chair, so the bosses say I have no reason to know the crime. I just like to ask,” she said.

Joe started, “so… does that mean I’m under no obligation to tell-”

“You WILL tell me, Joe” said Allison sternly, while leaning in so her face was right before the helpless criminal.

“I’m not giving you a choice” she said, her warm breath washing over him. The warmth was actually quite pleasant, but the enormous mouth it was coming from, far bigger than he, caused him to shiver as if he was naked in the Arctic. He turned away in fear, but after a moment his eyes slightly widened in realization, and he turned to face Allison with renewed vigor. The change in his expression and posture was far too subtle for most people to recognize, especially at his size, but Allison was not most people. 

“They say I killed a man!” Joe exclaimed, causing Allison to retreat back to her original posture.

“A man? As in… one singular person?” she questioned, to which Joe vigorously nodded his head yes.

“You know, the SP is reserved for the worst-of-the-worst criminals, we’re talking high body counts. There’s only ever been one case of a single murder getting the SP, and you’re definitely not him, so I don’t see how-”

“It’s true!” Joe interrupted, causing Allison to shoot him a stern glance.

“Sorry, ma’am. I-it’s just, I’m sure you know, you have to, it’s just they’re constantly moving the goalposts on what a worst-of-the-worst criminal is, you know?” Joe babbled, flustered. “At the beginning, it was serial killers, of course, but t-that wasn’t good enough! The SP wasn’t being used enough, see, so the public started to lose interest, a-and now they use it all the time, right? S-soon, just littering will get you the SP!” he continued, sensing that Allison was starting to lose interest.

“Yeah, I suppose. That doesn’t reduce the seriousness of what you did, though. A murder is still about as bad as it get- wait, you said ‘they say I killed a man,’ right?”

Joe vigorously nodded.

“I was framed.”

Allison leaned back in her chair, a raised eyebrow and smirk on her face.

“You were framed, were you? she said sarcastically. “Never heard that one before.”

“It’s true! I know you have no reason to believe me, but please, please, PLEASE give me a chance!” he cried, falling to his knees with tears in his eyes. Inspired by his passion, she dramatically gestured for him to continue, the smirk never leaving her face.

“I… I had some troubles. Like many people, I suppose, but I got involved with people I shouldn’t. I needed money to take care of the people I loved, and I borrowed some when I had no way of paying it back. I was so, so stupid.” Joe said, looking down at the metal beneath his knees. Allison’s smirk slowly left her face as he continued.

“Eventually, they grew tired of my excuses, and told me to meet them in a specific place or else they… or else they would kill me and my loved ones. So I did, I went to this place really far out of the way. I went inside, and… and, well, they killed somebody right in front of me” Joe said, small tears now running down his little face. “Before I could really comprehend it, they suddenly all left and a police officer was holding me at gunpoint. They must have called the cops right before I showed up. The person was apparently high-profile, and my trial was sped through due to the ‘overabundance of evidence.’ So… that’s how I ended up, well, here” he said, while gesturing to the whole room. Allison was now slightly leaning forward, with an intense look in her eyes. Joe simply stood there, wiping the tears from his eyes, waiting for a response.

“So… what exactly are you hoping I’m going to do for you?” said Allison, after a few long moments of silence. Joe was overjoyed, although he tried to keep his facial reaction muted. 

At least I’m still alive, this might work! he thought. Realizing he, an insect, was about to ask her, a goddess, for an unbelievable favor, he swallowed his fear and proceeded onward.

“Ma’am, I know this is so much to ask, and you would be risking so much, but… could you please smuggle me out of here? If you could get me to my brother, I can tell you where he is, I know that together we can prove my innocence. I swear I would never tell anybody about you, and… Please don’t let them get away with this!” Joe shouted his last statement, slamming his forehead on the desk and prostrating himself before Allison. An agonizing silence fell across the room, as Allison stared at his minute figure. Slowly, Joe raised his head to see what her reaction was, and found that her eyes were furrowed, seemingly lost in deliberation. He fully stood, fists clenched, entirely vulnerable to this massive woman, both physically and mentally. 

Eventually, Allison gave a nearly imperceptible nod to herself as she made a decision. To a tiny man like Joe, however, every movement from her was visible, and he stood with his fists closed so tight that his nails were digging into his palms, causing small drops of blood to streak down his hand and pool on the desk below him. Allison turned to Joe with a small smile, and began to reach for him. Joe cried in relief. 

Giant fingers slowly came towards him, eclipsing his field of view. Soon, her thumb came to rest on his stomach, while her index finger applied pressure at his back. It felt like his body was squished against two mattresses, and the wind was knocked out of him. Once she was satisfied her grip was tight enough, she whisked the one inch tall man between her fingers into the sky, rising, to him, hundreds of feet.

“Ah!” Joe cried, “please, ma’am, not so quick! Everything is so intense for me.”

Holding Joe to her modest but respectable bosom, she stood from her chair for the first time, and began to walk towards the plain, metal door opposite the wall with the desk. Joe couldn’t handle the intense movement, and got lightheaded. Suddenly, Allison stopped moving, halfway between the desk and the door. She waited a moment for Joe to get his bearings.

“Joe, I just have to ask one thing," she said.

Still slightly woozy, Joe said “yesh, of course, w-what ish it?”

Without warning, his stomach entered his throat as he was lowered to the ground, dropping at a steady but unbearable speed. After a few torturous moments, the gargantuan fingers released their pressure, and he dropped to the cold, metal floor. What to Allison was several inches to him was multiple feet, and he crashed into the floor with a cry of pain. Unbelievably dizzy from the sudden drop, and in pain from the crash, he rolled onto his back.

What entered his vision was the underside of Allison’s jet black heel, rising above his body as if it were a gargantuan rocketship leaving the earth’s atmosphere. Then, imperceptibly high in the sky, it stopped moving, and a cold voice assaulted Joe’s ears.

“Do you have any last words?”

The shoe started to come down on him at breakneck speed.

"I DIDN'T DO IT!” cried Joe before it made contact with his insignificant body. A small squish was drowned out by the loud echoing thump of Allison’s shoe stomping the floor, and silence soon filled the room once more.

“Liar,” Allison angrily whispered, before grinding her shoe into the mess that was once known as Joe. After taking a few calming breaths, she turned and hastily made her way back to her chair, refusing to look at the bloody stain she had left. Without looking at her shoe, she opened a drawer and pulled out paper towels and some cleaning solution. She cleaned and sanitized her dirtied shoe, then threw away the evidence in a nearby trash can. The deed was done, and Joe had been executed by a Chevalier.

Allison opened the cabinet below the desk, and pulled out the document she had examined prior to meeting Joe. The document was simple- it listed three things, and contained a picture. The picture, of course, was of Joe, and the three things were as follows:

NAME: Joseph Reynolds

CRIME: Triple homicide, two underage girls and one adult woman

METHOD OF EXECUTION: (blank)

Allison grabbed a nearby pen, and under “Method of Execution” wrote

“Crushed underfoot”

And then signed her name at the bottom. She let out a long sigh, and turned to look at the door, careful to avert her eyes from a specific spot on the floor. Above the door were two large lights, one red and one green, of which only the red one was lit. Above it was a timer that read “55:12” and continued to count downward.

“Damn, only five minutes?” Allison said to nobody in particular. “I should work at making it last longer. I just hate talking to them.”

 

She turned back towards the desk and reclined in her chair, taking out her phone. “Guess I have 55 minutes to kill” she grumbled, before opening up a news app.

 

The timer reached zero. Accompanied by the distinct sound of a door being unlocked, the red light above the door dimmed, and the green one lit up. The session was over, and Allison was free to leave the room. Wasting no time, Allison rose from her chair and made her way out, ever careful to avoid looking at, or stepping on, the bloody mess on the floor.

She opened the door, and found herself in a hallway. Roughly 5 feet away, a door marked “EXIT” was nestled in the wall. The wall behind her, which housed the metal door she just came from, stretched far away to Allison's right. What this hallway lacked in depth it more than made up for in length, and a number of identical metal doors were placed roughly 15 feet away from each other along the wall, stretching into the distance. Allison just so happened to occupy the room at the left-most corner of the hallway, conveniently located close to one of the two exits. Above her door was an ornate label reading “SPAR 1.” That’s “Shrink Penalty Adjudication Room” to you, the only room where a Chevalier was permitted to carry out their duties. Through no fault of her own, Allison occupied room number one, freshly stained with the blood of a tiny criminal. This was the “Silver Strip,” one of the few Chevalier facilities located in the United States- specifically in Los Angeles, mind you.

Allison looked to her right, as the other metal doors along the wall began to open, their occupants strutting out one by one. One of the perks of being a Chevalier is that there are surprisingly few rules. One foundational rule, however, is that SPAR sessions last precisely 60 minutes, and the Chevalier is not allowed to leave until the time is up. There are no cameras, witnesses, or rules inside the SPAR during those 60 minutes, but the convict must be dead or guaranteed to die soon when time is up. Why trap them for an hour? Well, frankly, because it encourages them to “play” with their convicts, if for nothing else than to stave off boredom. As Allison was well aware, doing the deed right away leaves them with nothing but time to sit in a strange metal room. Many Chevaliers made full use of their hour, but Allison had a rough time making it past ten minutes.

People of all races, creeds, looks, and genders came spilling out of their death chambers. A person looking at them would be hard pressed to find anything all of them had in common, except for one notable thing. As they all exited their SPAR, their faces were painted with pure satisfaction. If the phrase “job well done” could be translated into an expression, every last Chevalier in the hallway would be wearing it. Well, all except one.

Allison was different from most Chevaliers in one distinct aspect- she took no pleasure in the act of executing convicts. That’s not to say she felt sympathy for them, far from it. In some ways, she probably was the least sympathetic to their cries and pleas, but she simply saw it as a duty she must carry out, nothing more. Quite frankly, this distinction made it rather hard for her to make friends with her coworkers, even if she wanted to. Chevaliers tended to talk about one thing amongst each other- the details of their executions. This just so happened to be Allison’s least favorite subject, so if given a choice she would choose not to interact with her coworkers in any way of substance. There was one person who did not give Allison that choice, though, and that person was finally exiting her SPAR- the one right next to Allison’s, in fact.

“Allie!” rang out a cheerful, girlish voice. Before Allison could fully turn to face it, she found herself wrapped up in a giant hug, long arms squeezing her frame tightly.

“How was your SPAR session?” asked the voice, before finally releasing Allison from the surprise bear hug. Freed from the embrace, Allison fully turned towards the source, and found herself facing a gorgeous woman.

“It was okay, Cathy,” replied Allison politely.

Catherine Gates, age 28, was a woman who demanded familiarity with everyone she met. Extremely outgoing, unbelievably gorgeous, her bubbly flirtatious personality was enough to charm virtually anybody lucky enough to meet her. Her long, curly, blonde hair framed a stunning face with meticulously applied makeup that perfectly accentuated her sky blue eyes and vibrant red lips. She had a body to match, with an hourglass figure that was sure to turn heads wherever she went. At 5’10, she just stood above Allison’s respectable 5’9. 

Unlike Allison, who preferred to keep her “assets” well protected behind a layer of professional office attire, Cathy chose to utilise her charm like a weapon. Currently, she was wearing a low cut, sleeveless red dress, just short enough to emphasize her deliciously long legs without taking attention away from her sky-high red heels. Looking like she was heading to the club rather than executing criminals, this was all in service of torturing whichever “lucky” convict was sent her way. Cathy couldn’t have cared less about the lustful eyes or declarations of love that were often directed her way, for her only true love in this world was tormenting and squishing bug-sized criminals, and she used every tool at her disposal to make each session a good one. If her face at that moment was anything to go on, then it seemed like she had just had a very good session.

“Was it? What kind of bug did they send you?” asked Cathy, with burning curiosity in her eyes.

“A triple murderer. He murdered his wife and two daughters. He lied about how many people he killed, and made up a generic story about how the mob framed him. I let him think I was going to help him for a minute before...well…”

“Ooh, I just love pretending that we don’t already know what their crime is. Watching the little liars squirm is such a turn-on” replied Cathy with a wink. Allison internally cringed at the sexual insinuation.

“So, let me guess,” said Cathy with an exaggerated pout, “you squished the bug with your shoe again. Actually, I don’t need to guess,” said Cathy as she peered into the SPAR Allison came from, scanning the room before spying a tiny red spot on the floor. Rolling her eyes, Cathy groaned.

“Boring! You’ve been here over six months now darling, you’ve GOT to start experimenting! I’ve been here two years, and every session is an exciting new experience” she said, as if lecturing an unruly student.

“For example, the bug they just sent me was this fat, disgusting rapist, so I took his little body and shoved him-”

“Cathy!” cried Allison, “you know I hate to hear that kind of stuff. You promised!”

“Yes, yes, my bad, my bad. At the very least,” said Cathy, “try eating one alive next time. They say bugs are high in protein, and they’re very…” she purred while rubbing her stomach, “satisfying.”

Allison flinched in slight disgust, and sarcastically said “yeah, maybe next time,” before making her way towards the exit.

“Wait!” shouted Cathy, preventing her from leaving, “did you hear that they’re sending him here tomorrow?”

“Who?” asked Allison.

“Brian Bentley,” Cathy said seductively, each syllable dripping from her tongue like honey.

“You’re kidding.”

“Never. Turn on Channel 6 at 7 tonight, babe. Wear your best shoes tomorrow,” Cathy said with a wink.

“Will do. Have a nice night, Cathy,” Allison said as she walked out the door.

“Buh-Bye, Allie!” Cathy called out after her.

~

Allison returned home, closing the door behind her with a sigh. 

“I’m home…” she declared to the empty room, slightly sad that nobody was there to answer her. She lived in a modest but impressively sized apartment. Although she lived alone, the apartment was technically two bedroom. Her income from being a Chevalier was more than enough to cover her rent and then some. Her apartment was sparingly furnished, with little greenery aside from a small potted plant on a table directly next to the front door. Allison was a woman of simple taste, valuing effectiveness and comfort when it came to furniture. Although she was a capable cook, she decided to order some takeout for dinner that evening.

Later on, she was lounging on her humongous sectional when she noticed it was getting close to 7:00. Remembering Cathy’s advice, she quickly turned on her similarly humongous television and switched to channel 6. Just in time, she found herself watching a middle-aged newsman beginning the nightly program.

Good evening, welcome to the 7:00 news. Let’s begin with the largest story of the day- an update to the trial of Brian Bentley. Today marks the three year anniversary of the murder of Timmy Osment, and as promised his legal team had some exciting news to share with us today. As you all recall, three years ago Brian Bentley, 18 at the time, was found brutally strangling beloved child superstar Timmy Osment, nicknamed “America’s Little Brother.”

Suddenly, two pictures were broadcast on the screen while the newsman spoke. One was of an adorable child, who couldn’t have been more than 10. He was smiling brightly next to a dog, with figures who looked to be his parents in the background. This was Timmy Osment, a beloved child actor nicknamed “America’s Little Brother,” who was murdered three years prior to the day.

The other picture was of a mugshot. The face was that of a downtrodden young man, with messy black hair and striking green eyes- eyes that were showing an eerily neutral expression. Hidden behind these features was a surprisingly handsome figure, although nobody in their right minds would say that out loud. This was Brian Bentley, the man convicted for the murder of Timmy Osment, and one of the most hated people in the country. The newsman continued.

Although Bentley’s trial was not televised to protect the privacy of the families, the jury reportedly took less than two minutes to sentence Bentley to life in prison, citing “overwhelming evidence.” Despite public pressure for the Shrink Penalty, at the time of the murder Bentley was only 18, which is below the age threshold for who can be given the Shrink Penalty. Several months ago, however, new evidence was discovered which reopened Bentley’s case. Due to his now being 21, and thus of age to receive the Shrink Penalty, the new evidence potentially meant that he could now face death via shrinking. This was indeed what the judge ruled, and Brian Bentley was re-sentenced to death via Shrink Penalty. This marked the only time in history that a single murder warranted the use of the Shrink Penalty. Breaking news today is that his date of execution has been set to tomorrow, and he will be sent to the “Silver Strip” Chevalier facility. To the lucky Chev who gets him, make sure he gets what he deserves. Coming up, we have interviews with the families-”

Allison turned the television off.

She sat in silence.

Brian Bentley, huh? she thought.

I bet Cathy is dying to get her hands on him.

I better be the first one in tomorrow.

Maybe I can avoid her.

With this in mind, she decided to go to bed early.

Brian Bentley…

~

The next morning, unreasonably early, Allison parked in a supermarket lot two blocks away from the Silver Strip, and made the unpleasant walk to the facility. She breathed a sigh of relief, for she was indeed the only person in the building right then. She clocked in, letting the facility know that she was able to begin a SPAR session at any time. She rested against the metal door of her SPAR while she waited, praying that nobody else turned up.

Her prayers went unanswered, however, as a familiar voice called out “Allie!”

Allison inwardly cursed, giving a polite smile as she was subjected to another one of Cathy’s bear hugs.

“So, you just couldn’t wait to get your hands on him either, huh? I always knew you enjoyed this job more than you let on,” Cathy said with a knowing smile. 

Not wanting to admit she was actually trying to avoid her, Allison gave an awkward smile as she said “yeah… I guess you would find out sooner or later” along with a forced chuckle. Cathy squealed in delight, and at that exact moment two harsh buzzing sounds rang out across the hallway. Looking at the source of the noise, the two women noticed that both of their SPARs had unlocked, the green light shining brightly above them. This meant that a convict was soon to be delivered in both of their rooms, and the sessions were about to begin.

Cathy took a few deep breaths, before turning to Allison.

“50/50 chance, huh? I’m afraid I can’t wish you luck on this one, babe. Be sure to wish me luck though!” Cathy said with a wink, before she flew into her SPAR and slammed the door.

“Good luck…” Allison muttered before making her own way inside her SPAR.

Setting her bag down in a corner, she approached the familiar metal desk with modest trepidation. Without sitting, she opened the cabinet and pulled out a document. The document was simple- it listed three things, and contained a picture. Her eyes widened. The picture was of a downtrodden young man, with messy black hair and striking green eyes- eyes that were showing an eerily neutral expression. Hidden behind these features was a surprisingly handsome figure, although Allison would never in her right mind say that out loud. The three things were as follows:

NAME: Brian Bentley

CRIME: Murder of Timothy Osment

METHOD OF EXECUTION: (blank)

 

Shit.

 

 

 

~~~

“But Professor! What if I have to defend a client who, like, everybody says is guilty? How am I supposed to argue with the whole world?” Asked Allison Starr, a 19 year old political science major, fresh out of high school in her first year of college.

The professor smiled thoughtfully, her librarian glasses guarding eyes that seemingly held all the wisdom in the universe.

“Allie, it doesn’t matter what everybody says. That’s the court of public opinion, what we deal with is the court of law. The only one you need to argue with is yourself, and decide what you believe is right.”

 

Young Allie was having an after class meeting with her Law & Ethics professor, Elizabeth Dawson. Every young defense attorney worries what would happen if they had to defend somebody who is obviously guilty, but Allie was more concerned with how she would go about defending somebody who everyone thinks is guilty.

“Public opinion is like a river. It moves fast, it can feel overwhelming, and it always tries to drag you along with it. Sometimes, though, that river leads right into a colossal ocean of bullshit,” Professor Dawson said, causing Allie to giggle.

“It’s your job to plant your feet, stand against the current, and decide how things truly are. And sometimes, even if the entire world might hate you for it, you’ll have to look right in the soul of someone who needs help and say three terrifying words.”

“What words?” asked Allie.

 

“I believe you.”

~~~

 

 

NAME: Brian Bentley

CRIME: Murder of Timothy Osment

METHOD OF EXECUTION: (blank)

Shit, Allison thought.

Shit, shit, shit! Why did it have to be me? Why couldn’t he have gone to Cathy?!

She began to pace back and forth across the SPAR. She knew that the convict would be delivered five minutes after the light turned green, leaving her with about four minutes and thirty seconds before she would have to confront the most hated man in the country. The words of the newsman entered her mind.

“To the lucky Chev who gets him, make sure he gets what he deserves.”

The newsman would likely be disappointed to learn that Brian Bentley was being delivered to a slightly squeamish woman who could never make it past ten minutes with a convict before unceremoniously squishing them under her heel. Obviously, the world wanted Brian Bentley to be brutally tortured, thoroughly broken in penance of his disgusting murder of a child. In other words, the world wanted Brian Bentley to be sent to Cathy. Oops.

Allison was well aware that there were no cameras in the room, no bystanders shouting “You can do better!” but that didn’t stop her from feeling the invisible pressure of an angry country. The identities of Chevaliers were heavily protected, due to the danger of retaliation by Anti-SP extremist groups, but questions rang out through her mind regardless.

What if someone finds out I was the one who got Brian Bentley?

What if Cathy tells someone?

She knew that reporters would swarm her, and the revelation that Brian Bentley got squished like a bug within five minutes would probably doom her to a life of ostracism. This left her with one conclusion.

I’m going to have to torture Brian Bentley.

…

…

… 

“How am I supposed to torture Brian Bentley?!” she shouted to the empty room, holding her head in her hands.

“I should have listened when Cathy tried to tell me what she usually does…” she grumbled, any ounce of cruel creativity apparently having left the building under the immense pressure.

Should I… tickle him? she thought.

No, that isn’t torture… 

Realising that time was quickly running out, Allison rushed over to the chair and sat down, thinking she should at least look ready when Brian Bentley popped out of the strange two inch door five feet away from her.

What should I do?

What should I do?!

WHAT SH-

“BZZZZZZZZT”

A loud buzzing noise interrupted her frantic thinking, causing her to audibly yelp. Time, it seemed, had run out. Allison quickly smoothed out any traces of stress in her face and body language and neatly folded her hands on the metal table. 

Suddenly, the strange two inch door retreated into the wall, leaving a small hole in its stead. Propelled by an unseen force, a small figure came flying into the room, face planting onto the desk below it. It was a man, and for the first time ever, Allison was afraid of him. She silently watched as the one inch tall, naked man rolled onto his back, and raised himself into a sitting position. After rapidly shaking his head a few times, as if to clear a mental fog, his eyes opened- right in Allison’s direction. With seemingly no acknowledgement to the fact that she was thousands of times his size, Brian Bentley was looking directly into Allison Starr’s eyes, and she was looking directly into his.

She took in his features. As she had seen in the news countless times, he had messy black hair and striking green eyes. He was rather pale, but surprisingly fit. Allison would expect a child murderer to be skinny and greasy, but the young man she was met with was toned and muscular, with the slightest hint of a six-pack hidden behind his cross-legged position. Her eyes briefly drifted downwards to his groin, but quickly darted back up to his face, lest she admire the package of a child murderer. Most notable of all, however, was the expression on his face. Or rather, the lack of one. His face was eerily neutral, drawing into question if he was aware of his surroundings in any capacity, let alone the fact that he was the size of a bug in the presence of his would-be-executioner. Not sure how much time had passed during this surreal staring contest, Allison decided it was time to start the session. Her mind blanked, though, and she started with her standard opener.

“What’s your name?” she asked calmly, before immediately cursing her stupidity.

You idiot, as if you don’t know who he is. He’s gonna say “you don’t know who I am? Quit the bullshit.”

“Brian Bentley,” said the young man, his voice neither high nor low pitched. This caught Allison by surprise, did he really think she didn’t know who he was? Even more flustered now, she continued with her usual line of questioning- exactly what was recommended in the Chevalier handbook: What crime did he commit?

“W-What-”

“I murdered Timothy Osment, ‘America’s Little Brother,’” he said, as if reading from a script.

“W-Why did you think I was going to ask-”

“You’re trying to make me relive my guilt,” he said, his expression never changing.

Allison was flabbergasted. Is this bug seriously dominating the conversation right now? she thought, her temper rising. She decided to go on the offensive, deviating from the recommended questions.

“Well, are you?” she asked.

Brian Bentley did not respond. 

“Are you guilty?” she elaborated. Then, something strange happened. His expression changed. If you remember from Allison’s session with triple-murderer Joe, she is very good at picking up subtle changes in expressions and body language- even in one-inch criminals. Brian Bentley’s eyes slightly widened, and his mouth barely opened, as if an important thought was on the tippiest-tip of his tiny tongue. Then, his expression returned to normal, the thought apparently having evaporated.

“No, I’m not,” he said. Once again, Allison’s temper flared.

“You really are cold blooded, aren’t you? You feel no guilt after murdering a child?!” she said, her voice rising near the end. Wait, why am I the one getting emotional here?

Brian Bentley did not respond. 

Allison remembered a tip her old mentor, Professor Dawson, used to tell her.

“Allie, if somebody is giving you a hard time during an interview, simply say nothing. The awkward silence will compel them to keep talking. Most of the time.”

So that’s exactly what she did. Mirroring Brian Bentley, Allison said nothing. Silence fell upon the room like a blanket of snow.

The silence continued.

 

 

The silence continued.

 

 

The silence continued.

 

 

The silence continued.

 

 

The silence continued.

 

Then, success! Brian Bentley started to respond. Albeit, not with words. He stood to his feet, his green eyes finally breaking their embrace with Allison’s browns. He turned to face the far side of the desk, his back facing the strange two inch tall door. He began to walk. Despite the desk being about 1.5 feet in width, for his miniscule legs it would take him a hot minute to reach the edge. The edge, seemingly, being the place he was going.

Allison sat, as if in a trance, watching him make his way over. 

What is he doing? she thought.

Finally, Brian Bentley made his way to the end of the metal desk, his bare feet slightly going over the edge. He peered into the abyss, a fall that looked to be hundreds, if not thousands, of feet. He took a step back, and once again looked to Allison.

“If you don’t get on with this, I’m probably just gonna jump off myself.”

That did it. How dare him, is he seriously screwing with me?! Does he not realise I’m going to KILL him?! Allison thought.

“FUCK you!” she exclaimed, slamming her fist on the desk. The force caused a vibration, and Brian Bentley fell to his rear, his expression ever unchanging.

“You think you’re too good for this? You think you’re too cool to show fear?! You want me to get on with it?! Fine!” Allison said angrily, the venom spilling out of her mouth.

“How would you like me to do it, then, since you’re the one calling the shots here, huh?” she asked.

“Usually, I just drop them to the floor and quickly squish them like bugs, but how about I branch out, just for you? What if I bring my fist down on your insignificant body, and crush you where you stand? What if I throw you on this chair and fucking sit on you, huh? What if I stick you in my shoe and let you squish under my toes? What if I drop you in that toilet over there and take a shit on you? Did you know that toilet flushes straight into a fucking incinerator?!”

The cruelty Allison had failed to find earlier was now flooding into her mind, triggered by the inexplicable anger she was feeling towards Brian Bentley. Still, she went.

“What if I inhale you up my nose, let you drown amidst the snot? What if I stick you between my boobs and squeeze as hard as I can? Would you like that, you little perv? What if I fucking EAT you, huh? What if I drop you inside my mouth like a little piece of candy and swallow you whole? What if I let you dissolve into nothingness in my stomach acid?! Well?! Which one sounds the best to YOU, you robot child murdering disgusting little BUG?!” Allison was screaming at this point, the sheer power of her voice causing Brian Bentley’s hair to flutter in the wind it was creating.

Finished with her tirade, Allison was now panting and sweating. Her face red, her neat ponytail coming apart at the seams, she looked like she had just run a marathon.

Why am I so mad? she wondered to herself. Why is his behavior driving me so insane?

 

 

This was far from the worst behavior she had seen from a convict. She had seen convicts call her every name under the sun, threatening to kill her and fuck her corpse if “you fucking touch me, bitch!” Through it all, she would sit calmly, hands neatly folded on the desk until it was their time to grab the tiny criminal and drop them on the floor to be crushed. But a little light provoking and silence had caused her to lose her composure to this extent? She truly did not understand why. 

Through it all, as you might have guessed, Brian Bentley did not move. Brian Bentley did not speak. Brian Bentley did not blink. Unless you were looking closely, you’d probably think Brian Bentley did not breathe. This did little to soothe Allison’s anger, but at this point she was too tired to go on like this. Finally forced to a decision, Allison chose to do what she knew best.

“Whatever. Clearly, you’re brain damaged, so I’ll just squish you under my foot like the fucking bug you are,” she spat. 

“I’ll make it quick” she said as her left hand suddenly reached for the tiny convict. Unceremoniously, and with no trace of gentleness, she plucked Brian Bentley off the edge of the table and moved to the center of the SPAR, dropping his body to the cold metal below. As she had done hundreds of times before, she raised her jet black heel far above the body, before coming to a stop to ask the final recommended question.

“Do you have any last words?”

Normally, she brought her foot down immediately after asking, not always giving them enough time to respond. This time, though, she hesitated. For the first time ever, she actually wanted to know what the last words would be. But no words came, so she began to lower her foot with a groan of disgust.

However, right before her foot made astronomical contact with the floor, something strange happened. Brian Bentley spoke. They were words that Allison had heard many times before, but they nonetheless caused her foot to abruptly stop descending.

“I didn’t do it.”

“I didn’t do it.” “I’m innocent.” “I was framed.” “They set me up.” These were all words that many criminals had screamed or cried prior to their deaths, but something about the way Brian Bentley spoke them was entirely unique.

This was not a scream.

This was not a cry.

This was a whisper, a soft declaration of innocence to an empty and uncaring universe.

 

 

Most people probably wouldn’t have even heard it, but Allison’s well trained ears and the eerie silence that only a metal room could create caused Allison to hear him as if he had screamed it into her ear. Allison moved her foot to the side, so she could look upon Brian Bentley once more. What she saw was a pitiful young man, eyes closed, small tears running down his face, body shaking in the way that only happens when one is sobbing.

Compelled by an unknown part of her brain, she lowered her foot directly next to him, and once again felt Brian Bentley between her fingers as she returned him to the metal desk. Once he realised he was not dead, Brian Bentley opened his eyes, a steady stream of tears staining his face.

“Why did you say that?” Allison whispered.

“You said you would make it quick,” he responded, his voice mixed with the occasional sobbing gasp.

“I said, why did you say that?” Allison repeated, slightly more forcefully this time. “Are you trying to make me change my mind? Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Why would you say that?” she continued.

Brian Bentley responded by tearfully shaking his head, as if he was a child being scolded by a strict teacher.

“Just… I just… one last time… I wanted the universe to hear it… hear…” he choked out, before closing his eyes and sobbing slightly harder. 

The tears were now fuller, his body convulsing with more intensity. Strangely enough though, he was making absolutely no noise. His hands were clasped over his mouth in a dead man’s embrace, and his whole body was so tense it looked as if it would break should someone touch it wrong. It was pretty impressive, actually, and Allison realised it was the type of skill that could only be acquired with an ungodly amount of practice. Clearly, Brian Bentley was not the robot everybody thought he was.

Looking upon his tiny, sobbing figure, Allison did not see a murderer. She saw a scared shitless kid, shouldering an earth shattering amount of sadness. Professor Dawson’s words from so long ago reentered her mind.

“It’s your job to plant your feet, stand against the current, and decide how things truly are.”

 Suddenly, three years worth of doubt came flooding into her mind. The kind of taboo doubt that was repressed within a repression, something she would dare not speak aloud.

Why was his trial not televised?

Why was he sentenced after two days?

Why was every court record sealed?

Why was Timmy Osment’s autopsy never released?

Why was Brian Bentley’s testimony never released?

Why was the police officer’s body cam disabled?

Why was new evidence “discovered” the exact day Brian Bentley turned 21?

Why was Brian Bentley sentenced to life in prison?

Why was Brian Bentley re-sentenced to death?

Why was Brian Bentley convicted?

Why was Brian Bentley convicted?!

“I didn’t do it…” Brian Bentley weakly called out again.

He didn’t do it.

He didn’t do it.

Brian Bentley is innocent.

Allison snapped back to reality, feeling nauseous. Brian Bentley was innocent. He did not commit that terrible crime. The question then was what Allison was going to do with that information. She steeled her spine and opened her heart, for she knew what needed to be done.

“Brian,” she said softly.

Brian did not respond, he only continued to cry.

“Brian, look at me,” she repeated, ever so gently teasing his chin upwards with the tip of her fingernail.

Brian locked eyes with Allison, and she decided that, even if the world might hate her for it, she needed to look right in his soul and say three terrifying words.

 

“I believe you.”

 

 

~~~

I had broken a flower pot. It stood on a table right next to the front door, and I wasn’t looking where I was running. Flowers on the floor, dirt scattered everywhere, and shards of ceramic just waiting for my mom to step on them as she ran over to check on me. I heard an adult curse for the first time that day, and unfortunately it was directed right at me. After the cursing, after the bleeding, after the crying, after the scolding, I asked her one question. I wasn’t sure anymore.

“Mom, do you still love me?”

She smiled at me warmly.

“Forever and for always. The day I stop loving you is the day you stop being my son.”

“When will that day happen?”

“Never.”

~~~

She’s lying, Brian thought. The voice echoed around him once more.

“Brian? Brian, did you hear me? I said I believe you. I believe that you didn’t do it, okay? I believe you and I want to help you. Please listen to me.”

Allison Starr had decided to help Brian Bentley, the most hated man in the country. She needed to get Brian to calm down so they could formulate a plan, but she was having a hard time getting through to him. Brian’s stoic demeanor had crumbled in the pursuit of pleading his innocence one last time, and that gate was not going to close again without resistance. Slowly, though, the gentle coaxing of Allison’s reassuring voice and the soft touch of her index finger slowed his tears. He stood to his feet and looked his adversary in the eye. Her eyes were almost as big as his whole body, but he felt no fear. He felt something much stronger.

“What did you say?” Brian asked. Allison smiled, he was finally ready to talk.

“I said I believe that you didn’t murder Timmy Osment. I want to-”

“FUCK YOU!” Brian screamed at the top of his lungs. 

Apparently not ready to talk. Brian’s green eyes were radiating fury- they might as well have been crimson.

For such a small thing, his voice was surprisingly strong, and Allison recoiled in shock.

“What?! Why? I’m saying I want to help you, moron!” Allison said, suddenly put on the defensive. 

Does he think I’m- oh. I see.

“Just because it’s your kink to be as cruel as possible doesn’t mean I have to fucking fall for it!” Brian shouted. Allison took a deep breath.

He’s emotional, he just faced his own death, and now he thinks I’m trying to torture him even more after promising him a quick death. This isn’t about me. Don’t respond with anger, Allie. Be patient, Allison thought to herself as Brian stared her down.

“Brian, I know I’m the last person you’re likely to trust right now, but please please please give me a chance. I’m not like those other Chevaliers. I don’t get off on being cruel,” Allison said calmly.

“Oh really?” Brian sneered. “You sounded pretty excited when listing all the ways you could torture me to death. You know, just three fucking minutes ago?”

Shit, he’s right. “I’m really sorry about that, I promise I didn’t mean it. I-I just got so angry that-”

“And who’s to say that you won’t get angry again, huh?! Am I supposed to trust someone who might crush me at the first sign of an argument?!” Brian interrupted. Allison was getting impatient.

“Brian,” she said sternly, “I know you’re upset right now, but I don’t need to remind you of the size difference here, and I’m going to need you to calm down or-”

“And THERE it is! Fucking DO IT!”

“Stop interrupting me, you little shit!” Allison yelled. Through all of this, she hadn’t noticed that Brian was moving closer and closer to the edge of the desk.

“I don’t have to put up with this,” Brian said, his tone returning to an eerily neutral pitch. Incidentally, his expressions had faded away as well. Any trace of the sobbing, screaming young man named Brian had vanished, and in his place was the infamous robot child murderer Brian Bentley.

“I told you what would happen if you wouldn’t get on with it,” he said, before throwing himself over the edge of the metal desk.

“Brian, NO!” shrieked Allison, her hand darting out to intercept the tiny man plummeting to his death. He landed safely in her palm, and Allison felt something unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Her only physical interactions with shrunken convicts up to this point had been pinching them between her thumb and index finger, and bringing her high-heeled foot down on them. Compared to that, this felt more… delicate. She quickly moved her palm back over the desk, and gently laid the squirming figure across the metal surface.

Almost immediately, Brian got up and started running towards the edge. Left with no choice, Allison gently pinned him down with a single finger so he wouldn’t hurt himself. That didn’t stop him from trying, though, and soon she was worried that the act of pinning him down would somehow cause him bodily harm.

“Please, Brian, listen to me,” Allison said, with tears of frustration in her eyes, “I believe that you’re innocent.”

“You think you’re the first one to say that to me?!” Brian shouted, his anger returning.

“You think you’re the first one to say they believe me, only to abandon me the second it becomes inconvenient?!” he continued. Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, he stopped fighting the unbearable pressure of the giant finger. The anger in his voice was replaced with a deep, refined sadness.

“You think you’re the first one to say they believe me, only so they can hurt me twice as bad in the future?”

Allison slowly removed her finger, and Brian rolled into a sitting position.

“What makes you different?” he asked quietly. This was not rhetorical. This was not a question he already knew the answer to. He genuinely wanted to know if she had an answer.

“I… I don’t know,” she said sadly.

“I don’t know why you would ever in your right mind trust me.

All I know is that my heart says you’re innocent.

All I know is that I want to help you.”

“I’m two years older than you, so when Timmy Osment died I was in my second year of college. One of my professors was very concerned that you were sentenced to life in prison only two days after you were declared a suspect. She didn’t understand why the trial was completely inaccessible in any way to ‘protect the privacy’ of a family that was well known for loving the spotlight. They created #RIPTimmy merch almost immediately. At the time, she was ostracized for having the courage to speak her mind. Everybody was so damn angry, Brian. A child, one of the most famous in the world, had been murdered for no reason. Millions of parents had to explain to their kids why Timmy was never going to be in another movie. We just… I just wanted someone to blame. When somebody was offered up, everybody accepted it without question. My professor told me to stand against the current. To have the courage to look somebody in the eye and tell them they’re not alone in their battle against the world. I never could. It’s far too late for me to be saying this, Brian, but I believe you. I believe in your innocence. You don’t have to go through this alone. I want to help you.”

Brian listened silently. His breathing had steadied, and a minuscule part of him was feeling something he had not felt in three years: hope.

She isn’t lying, he thought.

“So, what exactly are you hoping to do for me?” he asked. Allison was overjoyed, although she tried to keep her facial reaction muted.

“I want to smuggle you out of here. I am not going to let you die,” she said.

“Hmm. And then what? You realize that I am never going to become normal size again, right? I don’t need to tell you that the shrinking is one-way. That’s why the government only uses it to take out the trash,” he said, while gesturing to himself.

“I don’t know. We’ll have plenty of time to figure it out once we get out of here.”

Brian narrowed his eyes in brief suspicion, before saying “Fine. Fuck it.”

Allison smiled in relief, they were finally on the same page.

“Well? Let’s do this. Bust me out of here,” Brian said, standing to his feet and spreading his arms. Allison began to reach for him, before abruptly stopping and looking towards a certain area above the metal door.

“Uh, about that, Brian. SPAR- er, Chevalier sessions last 60 minutes, and we’re not allowed to leave until it’s over. And, well, it’s only been seven minutes.”

Brian let his arms flop to his sides.

“And also, I actually don’t know exactly how I’m going to bust you out of here. The facility needs to believe that I, well… killed you.”

Brian sat down, cross-legged.

“But, at least we have 53 minutes to come up with a plan… right?” Allison said, with an awkward laugh. Brian stared at her.

“I want to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but my trust in your claim has just fallen a bit. Now I’m thinking you might squish me the minute that timer is up, just so I would have lived for 53 minutes thinking I was going to be free,” Brian said matter-of-factly.

Dammit, I lost a lot of progress just then, Allison thought.

“Brian, I would never-”

“Here’s what I am going to do,” Brian said firmly.

“I am going to walk over to the far side of this table. I am going to sit down. Most importantly, I am not going to respond to any more of your questions or statements. If you want to torture me, it will have to be physically. I hope you come up with a decent escape plan.”

With that, Brian did exactly as he said he was going to do. Soon enough, Allison was left in perfect silence, a pair of microscopic green eyes burrowing their way into her consciousness from the far side of the metal desk.

~

There were five minutes left on the timer, and Allison hadn’t been able to think of a single good idea. She had spent the last 48 minutes awkwardly staring at the timer, watching it tick down as she struggled to come up with a decent escape plan. True to his word, Brian had not moved from his spot at the end of the desk. The few times Allison tried to engage with him, or ask him to at least help her come up with something, he did not respond. He simply stared at her, daring her to prove his suspicions right. Allison stood from her chair, and began to pace across the room.

“I’m not asking you to respond, I just want to think out loud,” Allison said.

“The protocol for these things is that you… er, the convict, must be dead or guaranteed to die soon by the time that timer reaches zero. After I… do the thing… I need to take out a document with your information on it, write down how I did it, sign my name, and put it in the cabinet it came from. Then, the facility will send someone to sanitize the room, collect the document, and put a new document in with the information for the next convict.”

Allison took a breath.

"For me to smuggle you out of here, I need to do two things. I need to hide you so nobody will see you, which should be easy enough since you’re… well, you know. I could put you in my bag, but I’d rather have you closer, so I can tell if you fall out or need help. I don’t know how I could do that. That’s problem one,” she said.

“Problem two is that the facility needs to think you’re dead. I’ve only ever stomped… what I usually do leaves visible evidence that it happened. I’ve been told they don’t really care about that, though, they just need the description and my signature. There aren’t any cameras in here… so…” Allison said, a realization starting to form.

“So, basically… I just need to think of a method of execution that… doesn’t… leave a body,” she said, each word fitting into her mind like pieces of a puzzle. Cathy’s words from the other day slithered into her mind.

“At the very least, try eating one alive next time. They say bugs are high in protein, and they’re very… satisfying.”

Allison turned to Brian.

“I have an idea. You’re not going to like it.”

~

The timer reached zero. Accompanied by the distinct sound of a door being unlocked, the red light above the door dimmed, and the green one lit up. The session was over, and Allison was free to leave the room. Wasting no time, Allison made her way out. Her heart was racing, but she was careful not to let it show on her face. After all, there was one final obstacle before she could escape the facility.

Allison turned to her right, and looked towards the metal door next to her own. Above, there was an ornate label reading “SPAR 2.” The light was green, indicating that the session was over, but the occupant seemed to still be inside. Allison moved closer to the door, wondering what the deal was.

Just when she was standing right in front of the door, a sudden noise caused her to jump back. It sounded like a rock hit the other side of the door at full force.

What the hell was that?! Allison thought. Then, as if to answer her question, the door opened, and the occupant came strolling out. Allison gasped, not at the occupant but at what was on the flip side of the door.

There, precisely at the spot where the strange noise seemed to come from, was a horrifying red stain. Not so much a rock, but a shrunken one-inch criminal had been thrown directly at the door at full force. Allison turned and fled back to the door of her own SPAR, not wanting to look at the stain anymore lest she throw up. Behind her, the occupant spoke up.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Allie! I should have aimed for a different spot. Here, I closed the door. It’s okay to turn around,” Cathy said apologetically. Allison slowly turned to face her.

“So, looks like you got Brian Bentley, huh? I’m more than a little disappointed,” Cathy said.

“Y-yeah, I did,” Allison said, still slightly shaken, “what kind of criminal did you get?”

“Me? Well, I don’t know. I stopped reading when I saw that his name wasn’t Brian Bentley,” Cathy said, before strolling over to Allison.

“No matter what he did, let’s just say I really made him regret it. More importantly, though, you really didn’t deserve him, Allie.”

“Huh?” Allison asked.

“Brian Bentley. It’s unfair that you got him and I didn’t. I really wanted him, and I would have given him exactly what he deserved for murdering that adorable kid.”

Allison internally cringed, suddenly feeling unbelievably lucky that she got Brian and Cathy didn’t.

“So, let me guess,” Cathy said as she peered into Allison’s SPAR, “you plucked him up, walked over to the middle of the room, dropped… him…” Cathy slowly stopped talking.

“W-what?” Allison asked. Suddenly, Cathy stormed into Allison’s SPAR, examining every inch of the floor.

“Cathy!” Allison shouted, “we’re not allowed in other people’s SPARs!”

Cathy walked right up to Allison, eyes trained on her the whole time with an expression of shock on her face.

“You didn’t,” Cathy said incredulously. Allison’s blood turned to ice.

“Didn’t what?” Allison replied, a little too quickly.

“You didn’t step on him!” Cathy squealed, before wrapping Allison up in a giant hug, pressing her sizable breasts against Allison’s as she jumped up and down.

“You finally branched out! And all it took was an infamous child murderer!” Cathy laughed.

“Cathy, please stop jumping! Yes, I didn’t step on him, okay? Please let me go!” Allison pleaded. Cathy finally relented, her eyes sparkling.

“How did you do it?” she asked feverishly. Allison pointed to her stomach.

“No. Way,” Cathy said, before again storming into Allison’s SPAR.

“Cathy!” cried Allison once again.

Cathy made her way over to the metal desk, and opened up the cabinet below. She began to read the document she found there out loud.

“Name: Brian Bentley. Crime: Murder of Timothy Osment,” she began, making an unpleasant face.

“Method of Execution… Swallowed alive! Allie, I’m so proud of you!” she exclaimed, running back out to deliver yet another hug.

“Okay, Cathy, thank you very much.” Allison said, gently pushing Cathy away. Cathy let go, then lowered her face down to Allison’s stomach.

“That’s what you get, you disgusting child murdering little BUG!” Cathy shouted into Allison’s stomach.

“Jesus, Cathy, enough already!” Allison said, causing Cathy to frown.

“Anyway, I’d love to celebrate, but I’m gonna go home,” Allison said.

“Already? But it’s super early, and you’ve only done the one session!” Cathy replied.

“I know, but it was a pretty big one. I’m already exhausted. I’ll probably take the rest of the week off as well. I need a break."

“Aww, sweetie,” Cathy cooed, “you go and do that, then. You deserve it, you did the world a favor today. Go rest.”

“Thanks, Cathy,” Allison said with a genuine smile, “have a nice day.” She made her way to the exit, before abruptly stopping.

“Cathy?” she said, turning her head back. “For the love of god, don’t tell a single person that I was the one who got Brian Bentley.”

Cathy mockingly zipped her lips shut, before waving goodbye with a wink.

Finally, Allison exited the facility. She took in the sweet, crisp morning air.

“Alright, I need to hurry before-”

She stopped.

“Oh god damn it, I parked two fucking blocks from here!” she cried, before power walking away. She wanted to run, but she was afraid of bouncing around too much.

Eventually, out of breath, she found herself standing before her car- a modest silver Honda. She quickly got in, and looked around to make sure nobody was nearby. Probably because it was so early, the supermarket lot was nearly empty. Confirming this, Allison started to unbutton her shirt. After the top few buttons were undone, and the tops of her breasts were exposed, she carefully pried them apart until she spotted a mess of black hair just visible inside her cleavage.

“We’re in my car now, Brian. I’m sorry that Cathy, well, bounced around so much, but she’s kinda like that. She’s the only person who knows that I specifically got you, so I needed to make sure she thinks that I swallowed you.”

The figure between her breasts squirmed a bit, causing tingles to shoot out through her body.

“Anyway, I’m really sorry but I want to keep you in there until I get home. I’m terrified that somebody will see you, and I need to make sure that you don’t get thrown around in my car. My place is about 20 minutes from here. And with that being said, well…” she started, her face turning a bright shade of crimson.

“I-I know that you’re a boy, a-and you’re naked, and you’re between my… boobs and all, and my car is gonna vibrate a lot, and your body m-might… react… and well, I guess what I’m trying to say is…” 

She took a deep breath.

“If something happens on the ride home, I promise I won’t be mad!” She exclaimed, before hastily buttoning her shirt back up, trying to contain her embarrassment.

~

After one of the most awkward car rides of her life, Allison pulled up to her apartment. Ever careful to avoid jostling around too much, she collected her things and exited the car. The 20 second walk from her car to her front door felt like two hours, but she finally found herself safely inside. 

I did it, she thought.

I saved Brian Bentley.

Oh god… I saved Brian Bentley.

The nausea returned. Suddenly, all of her goals had been accomplished. She had gained Brian’s trust, somewhat. She figured out how to smuggle him out. She figured out how to make it seem like she executed him. She made it past Cathy. She made it to her car. She made it home. She got inside.

Normally this would be a good thing, but Allison was feeling the kind of dread that can only accompany a very specific question:

“What do I do now?”

For now, she needed to release Brian from his jiggly prison. She set her stuff on the table next to the front door, and made her way over to the sectional. She sat down, and once again began to unbutton her shirt. She pulled her breasts apart, slightly more this time so she could see his entire body, rather than just his hair. She was more than a little afraid that his body would be accompanied by a certain wet spot.

“Okay, Brian, we’re-” she stopped mid-sentence. As she peered down into her cleavage, she saw something shocking.

He was sleeping.

He’s asleep? Allison thought. I guess it makes sense, he must have been under a crazy amount of stress, but between my boobs?

Allison gazed down at the one inch man in between her breasts. His face was leaning against the slope of her left breast, one hand resting adjacent to his face while his other laid limp at his side. His face, which usually carried the complexion of an emotionless supposed murderer, was now peaceful. The way his eyes were closed, along with the way his mouth was slightly curving downwards, made him look surprisingly innocent, like a child or a small animal. She watched as his miniscule belly slowly expanded, then retracted, as the man she had just rescued from death slept soundly.

He’s… adorable, Allison thought, before quickly snapping out of it. She gently pinched him between her fingers, much more softly than she ever had done before, and laid Brian down on a nearby pillow.

Best let him sleep.

~

…

…

“You’re disgusting.”

Brian jolted awake. 

Where am I? he thought.

He raised himself into a sitting position, and took in his surroundings. He was on some kind of soft surface. Looking in the distance, he could see an unbelievably big screen of some sort. It was off, and in the black mirror he could see what looked like a normal living room, with a humongous sectional sofa, and a wooden table with magazines and various remote controllers strewn about. He matched a pillow on the sectional with his current location, and it all came flooding back to him.

Ah. I’m small. That woman. She smuggled me out. This must be her home. 

As if to confirm his thoughts, Allison came strolling into the room. She saw that he was awake, and her face lit up.

“Brian! I’m so glad that you’re awake. I wanted to let you get some rest, but it’s been really hard waiting around,” she said with a chuckle.

“Sorry to worry you,” Brian said flatly.

“No, no, it’s completely fine. I hope you slept well. Anyway…” she moved in closer and got on her knees so her face was relatively level with Brian’s.

“Like I said earlier, I’m not really sure what we should do now. I know that it was irresponsible of me to say that I want to help you without knowing exactly how to help you, but I at least wanted to remove you from any immediate danger, you know?”

Brian nodded, his expression remaining neutral.

“So, for starters… could you tell me what really happened with Timmy Osment?” she asked softly.

Brian’s face darkened.

“Actually, you know what, nevermind. We don’t need to figure out anything today. Maybe we should instead start with some food?” she said, hurriedly changing the subject.

Brian returned to normal, and asked “What time is it?”

Allison checked her phone, and replied “6:57 PM. You slept for a long time, you must have really needed it.”

Brian’s eyes drifted away from hers, as he looked around the room.

“Everything is so big. I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said after a moment.

Allison looked confused. “Really? Did you not see anything big before they sent you to me?”

Brian resumed eye contact. “They didn’t shrink me down until the moment before I entered your room,” he said plainly. Allison was shocked. 

“Those were your first moments being tiny? You seemed so… calm, though. Like nothing about it was strange.” Brian shrugged.

“I had other stuff on my mind.”

“Fair enough. Anyway, how about some dinner? Is there anything you would like? I can order whatever.” Brian shrugged once more.

“I’m not picky. Please order something that you would like.” he said.

“You don’t need to be so considerate of me, you know, but thank you. I need to use the bathroom, and I’ll think about what would be easy for somebody… well, small to eat,” she said.

“Oh, that reminds me. Do you need to use…?”

Brian shook his head no.

“Okay. I’ll turn the TV on for now.” 

With that, she turned the television on and left the room. Unfortunately for Brian, she did not wait to see what channel it was left on, nor what program had just started.

“Hello, and welcome to the 7:00 news,” a middle-aged newsman started.

“Let’s start once again with the biggest story of the day, the potentially final update to the trial of Brian Bentley, the man who murdered Timmy Osment, ‘America’s Little Brother.’”

Brian’s eyes widened.

“As we reported yesterday, Brian Bentley was sent to the ‘Silver Strip’ Chevalier facility today, and we can confirm that Brian Bentley, 21, is now dead, executed by a Chevalier. As per policy, the ‘Silver Strip’ will not release the details of which specific Chev got him, or the details of his execution, but we can only hope that he got exactly what he deserved. Now, we have interviews with the family members of Brian Bentley, and what they have to say about today’s events…”

~

Allison finished her business, and started to head back to the living room.

Should I get… pizza? No, too greasy. Needs to be easy to cut… oh wait, who said it needs to be solid? Get some soup, genius!

Having come up with an idea, Allison strolled into the living room to bounce it off Brian. When she arrived, she saw that his eyes were glued to the television. She decided to see what was so interesting, and she saw that a middle aged woman was talking to a man with a microphone. Allison was too pleased with her good idea to fully notice that the woman’s hair was black as night, and her eyes were a striking green. She decided to listen in.

“Look, I’ve made my stance on this clear time and time again. That man stopped being my son the day he decided to become a criminal. I feel no differently about today than I would any other day. Please stop harassing me.”

Gee, that’s harsh, Allison thought, before her eyes drifted down to the news card at the bottom of the screen, which contained the woman’s name.

“Laura Bentley.”

Allison’s heart stopped. She charged for the remote and turned the TV off, standing in front of it with her arms spread for good measure, as if to guard Brian from anything it might contain. She nervously looked at him.

His eyes were wide. He was sweating. He was pale. He was slightly shaking. His whole body was tense. He looked awful.

Convinced that the television would do no more damage, she inched towards the trembling man and kneeled down, so her face was once more at his level.

“Brian?” she asked softly.

Brian did not respond, he only continued to stare in the direction of the television.

“Brian, look at me,” she repeated, ever so gently teasing his chin towards her with the tip of her fingernail.

Brian locked eyes with her, and Allison truly had no idea what to say. She was too smart to bother asking if he was okay. She only continued to look into his small green eyes, a look of utmost concern on her face. After a small eternity, Brian spoke first.

“The world abandoned me,” he said, barely more than a whisper. Allison’s heart fractured.

“I won’t abandon you,” she said, matching his whisper. She softly stroked the side of his face with her right index finger, while supporting his back with her left.

They stayed like this for a while, Brian looking towards Allison but not at her, while she gently provided him with some physical reassurance.

~

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the night. Allison ordered some soup, and they ate in silence. Eventually, she could tell that Brian was getting sleepy again, despite having slept for hours not too long prior. She took him in her palm, again marvelling at how light and delicate he was, and moved to her bedroom.

“I have another bedroom, but I’d like it if you slept in here, so I’m nearby in case something happens,” she said softly.

“I set up a towel on my nightstand here, and laid a clean, soft shirt over it. The shirt pocket is right there, so please use that as a blanket. We can figure out something better tomorrow. You don’t seem to mind the whole, er, lack of clothes thing, but I’ll see what I can do about that as well,” she continued. Indeed, Brian had not once complained, nor even acknowledged that he had been naked through everything that had happened. Allison tried not to think about it, but it was getting hard to ignore.

With that, she gently placed Brian atop the shirt, and he instantly made his way for the shirt pocket. At that moment, though, a realization struck Allison like a bolt of lightning.

“Oh, fuck, I’m such a goddamn idiot!” she exclaimed, bringing one hand to her forehead. Brian turned towards her, an eyebrow raised. Allison calmed herself, straightened her shirt, and extended one finger to her new roommate.

“My name is Allison Starr,” she said, “it is very nice to meet you.”

“Star?” Brian asked

“It has two ‘r’s, but yes. Starr,” she replied.

Brian had the smallest hint of a smile for a moment, before extending his fist out to the gigantic finger before him.

“My name is Brian Bentley. Like the car. Nice to meet you.”

With that, he reached forward and tapped her finger with his fist in a finger-fistbump. The slight sensation at the tip of her finger sent what felt like an electric shock throughout Allison’s whole body. She smiled at him warmly, before making her way towards her closet to pick out some night clothes. Once she was ready for bed, she sank into her mattress, before looking over at her nightstand. She saw a small lump nestled into the shirt pocket, with a head peeking out of the edge. The head had messy black hair and striking green eyes- eyes that were staring right at her.

“Allison?” he said, calling her by name for the first time.

“What is it, Brian?” she replied.

“Thank you for saving me,” he said softly.

“You’re welcome, Brian,” she said.

I know what I want to do next, Allison thought.

I want to make him happy.

 

With that, she turned off the light, rested her head on the pillow, and they both drifted into a peaceful sleep.

 

 

 

…

…

“…please don’t contact us anymore.”

Allison jolted awake.

What time is it? she thought.

She looked at her phone, wincing from the sudden brightness. 

8:43 AM?! I need to get ready… and…

As she began to panic, thinking she needed to head to the Silver Strip, she looked towards her nightstand. There, she saw a shirt that had been stretched over a towel. Inside the shirt pocket was a small lump, with a tiny head peeking out. This head had messy black hair, and it all came back to Allison.

That’s right, it’s Brian. I brought him here.

Allison Starr had decided to save Brian Bentley, the most hated man in the country, from death. She took responsibility for his life, as he had been condemned for a crime he did not commit. She caught a glimpse of his pain when his own mother, on national television, stated that she couldn’t care less that he had been executed. After witnessing this, Allison came up with a goal for herself: She wanted to make Brian happy. Now that it was morning, and it was time to start working towards that goal, Allison had one question.

How am I supposed to make Brian happy?! I can’t imagine the trauma he’s been through, and I’m only two years older than him, a-and I barely know how to make myself happy, and he probably doesn’t fully trust me yet, and…

As Allison was running through all the issues with her goal, she noticed something strange about the tiny man nestled in the shirt pocket. He seemed to be having a bad dream. He appeared to be tossing and turning, and his face was twisted into a grimace. Allison knew that she couldn’t very well let him have a bad dream if her plan was to make him happy, so she decided to wake him up. Using her index finger, she gently pressed down on his body from outside the shirt pocket, in some form of a humongous poke. It worked, and Brian’s eyes opened. He looked to be confused for a moment, but quickly returned to his usual neutral expression. He was already becoming used to waking up tiny. He then turned in the direction of the finger that nudged him awake, and he was met with his giant roommate.

Allison was wearing a loose fitting gray shirt, with checkered purple pajama pants. Her medium-long auburn hair, usually kept in a neat ponytail, was hanging loosely, the occasional stray hair jutting out. Her face, battling traces of sleepiness, was radiating warmth at her tiny companion.

“Good morning, Brian. Were you having a bad dream?” she asked, her tone conveying mild concern. The memory of his breakdown the other day was fresh in her mind, and she was desperate to not let something like that happen again. The unfortunate incident with his mother came close, but she was able to calm him down in time. With that being said, she didn’t know if he had any particular triggers, so she wanted to practice caution when it came to things that might upset him. 

“Morning, Allison. I did, but don’t worry about it,” he said.

“Was it bad? Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

“It’s nothing worth talking about. Really, I’m okay. Please don’t worry about me too much,” he replied. 

“Alright,” she said, “but the past day or so has been extremely eventful and stressful for you, so don’t hate me if I worry a bit too much.”

Brian chuckled. “You know, I get the impression that you’re very hard to hate,” he said. 

Allison’s heart ever so briefly fluttered, and she grinned at him widely.

“Anyway,” Brian continued, “what time is it?”

“Around 8:45 AM,” Allison replied. Brian raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you have to be at work?” he said, his inflection taking an odd turn at the word work. Ignoring this, Allison shook her head no.

“I took the rest of the week off so I could spend more time with you while we get used to things. Today is Thursday, so we have four days.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Brian said. “Everything you’ve done is very kind. I feel bad that you suddenly took on so much responsibility.”

“What do you mean?” Allison asked.

“Well, the world thinks I’m dead, so everything that I do now has to be through the filter of you and your home. I don’t want to put pressure on you, but I literally will rely on you for everything. I’m somewhat useless at this size,” he explained. Allison pondered carefully for a moment, wanting to reassure him without dismissing his valid concerns.

“I understand, but I chose to do it knowing the responsibility that comes with it. I said that I wanted to help you, and I’m completely fine with whatever form that help takes. You don’t need to worry or feel guilty. Thank you for being considerate, though,” Allison replied. 

“Also,” she said, “you’re not useless.”

“Thank you. Well, on the bright side, the fact that I’m ‘dead’ means that there are pretty much no restrictions on what we can do,” Brian said somewhat jovially, before his face slightly darkened as he realized something.

“You can literally do whatever you want to me.” 

Allison quickly tried to reassure him, “Brian, I would-”

“It’s fine, Allison,” Brian said, his face returning to normal as he held one hand up to stop her. “At this point I’m fairly certain you’re not going to do anything bad to me. I was just thinking out loud.”

At that line, Allison sensed an opportunity to mess with him.

Take a note from Cathy, Allie. Try flirting with him, maybe he’ll get flustered!

“Without your consent,” she said. 

“Huh?” Brian asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I won’t do anything bad to you, without your consent,” she said playfully with an awkward attempt at a wink.

Brian didn’t seem to get it, as he blankly stared at her before muttering “right…”

Damn it.

“Anyway,” Brian started, “should we get going? I don’t want to keep you in bed too long.”

“Ah! Yes, good point. Maybe we can figure out some breakfast.” At that, she started to get out of bed. Brian began to remove himself from the shirt pocket as well, but Allison abruptly stopped him.

“Wait!” she exclaimed, “can you stay in the shirt pocket for a moment, Brian? I want to get something ready first.”

He complied, looking slightly bemused.

Allison rushed over to her closet and pulled open a drawer located at the bottom. Reaching to the back, she rummaged around before pulling out what looked like a large men’s shirt. It was plaid, with a somewhat haphazard mix of reds, blues, and greens. She moved to a small desk she had set up in a corner of the room, and pulled out a pair of scissors. She went to work on the shirt, cutting out various shapes in the fabric. Squares and rectangles of differing sizes, but none too big that they would not comfortably wrap around a one inch man. She laid them all out before Brian, still in the shirt pocket.

“Maybe I can look up some better designs later, but I thought you could maybe wrap these around yourself like a towel or something, so you at least don’t have to walk around naked,” she said. For well over 24 hours now, Brian had been naked, his clothes apparently confiscated before he was sent to Allison. Oddly enough, he didn’t seem to care, but Allison wanted to give him the option. Brian looked at the pieces of fabric before him.

“Does the lack of clothes thing bother you?” he asked.

“A little bit, yeah,” she replied.

“Oh,” he said, “I’m sorry I’ve been making you uncomfortable.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Brian, but I would honestly appreciate it if you would put one of those on.” Allison turned to give him some privacy. Soon, Brian let out a miniscule cough, signalling that it was okay for her to turn around.

Doing so, Allison saw that he had wrapped one of the rectangular pieces of fabric around his waist, like one might do with a bath towel after exiting the shower. It covered his private areas, but it didn’t exactly look secure. Suddenly, Allison came up with an idea. She moved to a drawer filled with office and craft supplies and pulled out some string. She cut off a small strand and handed it to Brian.

“Try tying this around your waist. That should act like some kind of a belt, yeah?” she said. Brian nodded, impressed.

“That’s a good idea,” he said, before securing his waist with a simple shoelace knot. Just like that, a tiny outfit had been assembled. Now that Allison didn’t need to try so hard at averting her eyes from his waist, she admired his figure. As she had noted earlier, he was surprisingly muscular for a supposed child murderer. His arms were thick and toned, while his abs sported the smallest hint of a six-pack. HIs chest was similarly chiseled, and a sudden cough from Brian indicated that she might have been staring a bit too long.

“My eyes are down here, sister,” he joked, with a deadpan expression. Allison was caught off guard by the sudden joke/call-out.

“S-sorry!” she said, flustered. “Anyway, h-how about that breakfast meal, huh?”

Brian nodded, and she took him in her palm before making her way to the kitchen.

After some deliberation, Allison decided to try cutting up some soft fruit into extremely small pieces using her best knife, which Brian would be able to skewer with the broken end of a toothpick. It was somewhat unwieldy, but it was good enough for the time being. Afterwards, the pair found themselves in the living room. Allison was still wearing her pajama pants, but she had put on her softest sweater. Although she wouldn't admit it, she had done so just in case Brian wanted to rest on any part of her body at some point.

“So, what are you wanting to do now?” Brian asked. “I suppose you’re going to want to know about three years ago.”

“Actually, no,” Allison replied, confusing Brian.

“I mean, yes I want to know, but I don’t want to force you. With that being said, I do have one important question for you,” she said. Brian closed his eyes and braced himself for an uncomfortable question.

“How would you like to have a nice, lazy day today?” Allison asked. Brian’s eyes shot open. Although his expression concealed it, he was very surprised.

“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.

“I mean exactly what it sounds like. How would you like to relax on this sofa all day, doing absolutely nothing aside from wasting time on the internet and getting to know each other better?” she replied.

Allison wanted to do this for several reasons. For one thing, she herself was exhausted from the events of the previous day. She wanted a break from life-changing, emotional events. Additionally, she wanted Brian to get used to being one-inch tall. As he had revealed the day prior, his meeting with Allison took place immediately after being shrunken. Although he seemed to not find it particularly stressful, Allison had a feeling that he needed to adjust more than he let on. She figured that spending a day on the sectional in her presence would allow him to get familiar with what it feels like. Since they were going to be spending a lot of time together, she wanted him to become comfortable with her.

Beyond that, she knew that Brian had been more or less cut off from the world for three years, so giving him some time to get caught up on current events seemed like a good call. She also felt like giving him some time to relax might make him more comfortable with having difficult conversations later on. Lastly, although she would never admit this to him, she was worried that he might try to hurt himself again. If you recall, Brian had thrown himself off the edge of the table in Allison’s SPAR. Although she was pretty sure that he only did that in response to his belief that Allison was planning on torturing him to death, she wanted to make sure that she was around him at all times in case he exhibited any self-harming behavior. Allison had planned this out the previous night, after the incident with the news, and she hoped it would ease his mind while deepening their relationship.

“Really?” Brian asked. As you can imagine, Brian had more or less given up on the idea that he would ever have the luxury of wasting a day off again, as he didn’t get any days off from, well, the whole world despising him. Being faced with the opportunity, he was feeling the unfamiliar stirring of excitement within his stomach. Allison smiled. Turns out, not even one inch tall, wrongly convicted murderers can resist a nice, lazy day.

“Really,” she said. “What do you think?”

“That sounds nice. Thank you. I’m sorry in advance, though,” Brian said.

“For what?” Allison asked.

“For the fact that you’re gonna have to relay every internet search I can think of into a computer for me.”

At that, Allison was reminded of something.

“Ah!” she exclaimed, “That reminds me. Well, first of all, you really don’t have to apologize for that kind of thing. Second of all, though, yesterday I actually thought of a way you can browse the internet without my help.” 

With that, she got up and dashed to her bedroom. When she returned, she was holding an odd, rectangular device. It had a screen, which was about 6 inches long, but only 2 inches wide. She folded out an included stand on the back, and propped it up in front of Brian- long side down, so the screen rose to about twice his height. Brian was nonplussed.

“What… in the hell… is that?” he asked. Allison suddenly looked somewhat embarrassed. 

“Well, that’s uh… the iPhone Slim,” she replied. Brian slowly turned his head to look at her.

“That awful thing… is a phone?” he said, incredulously.

“Well, er, yeah! It came out last year. They said it was, uh, innovative. You’re meant to hold it with both hands, see?” she said, before grabbing it and demonstrating. Indeed, she was holding the long side with both hands, pretending to type with her thumbs.

“Innovative,” Brian repeated, “did they also say it was ugly as shit? How much did it cost?!”

“Well, now I don’t want to tell you! Anyway, you’re definitely right that it’s ugly. Uncomfortable to use, too. That’s why I got a different phone soon after. But, well… I got caught up in the hype, okay?” she said, hanging her head in defeat. Brian looked at her with great pity.

“Anyway, what does this have to do with me?” he asked. Allison placed it in front of him once more.

“Well, since the screen is only twice your height, I thought you might be able to use it! If I place all the important apps on the lower half of the screen, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to reach. You should have no issues with the keyboard as well. I can enable the assistive touch features, so you would be able to control everything without pressing any buttons, and you would be good to go! What do you think?” Throughout her explanation, Brian’s face transitioned from judgemental to appreciative. 

 

 

“Allison, you’re brilliant.” Her face lit up.

“Thank you! It doesn’t have cellular capabilities anymore, but it can still access the internet. This means we can’t message each other if we need to, though,” she said.

Brian’s face narrowed in contemplation for a moment.

“What if… oh, I’ve got it. Set up an email address on both phones, and we can send messages to our own email address. That way, we’ll both be able to see the message. You can delete them after, just to be safe,” he said.

“Brian, you’re brilliant!”

After completing the necessary preparations, their lazy, wasteful day began. Allison alternated between her phone and laptop, blissfully drifting between social media, news, and strange listicles. Similarly, Brian went to town on his new device, desperately taking in as much information as he could about the events of the last three years. He read about some of the most interesting scientific discoveries. He read about what happened to some of his favorite TV shows and video game series that ended while he was incarcerated. He read about celebrity deaths that saddened the world, and celebrity scandals that maddened the world. Whenever there was a video he wanted to watch, he would ask Allison to pull it up on the television, and they would watch it together.

Every now and then, Allison would notice Brian staring at her from the corner of her eye. As she had suspected, he was still adjusting to being small, and he seemed to be marvelling at her enormous figure. She never acknowledged it, as she didn’t want to discourage him, but she found it extremely cute that he found her so enthralling. Slowly, Brian was warming up to her.

Whenever Brian and Allison were watching a video, more than anything else Allison wanted to ask if she could hold him in her hand while it played. She loved the feeling, and she wanted him to become physically comfortable with her, but she was too shy to ask. She was afraid she would make him uncomfortable, so she simply sat there, occasionally glancing at him while he was immersed in whatever video was playing.

Eventually, the doorbell chimed, startling Brian. 

“It’s okay, it’s just a package that I ordered yesterday. Do you want me to put a pillow in front of you while I open the door?” she asked. Brian nodded.

She retrieved the package, and beckoned Brian into her hand. She then placed him on top of the box, and once he was secure, they moved into the bedroom.

Placing Brian on the bed, Allison opened the package. Unsure how Brian would react to this, she braced herself and pulled out what was inside. It was a small pet carrier.

Meant for small animals, it was about eight by eight inches. The bottom was made of solid cloth, while the walls and ceiling were breathable cloth mesh. Due to the mesh, the inside was completely visible. The top zipped open, which allowed easy access from the outside. Allison was more than a little nervous that Brian might insinuate that she sees him as a pet, but she felt that it provided a way for him to have his own enclosure at night, without having to leave her bedroom.

“W-what do you think? I thought you could have your own space at night while still in my bedroom. I can make sure that you’re okay from the outside, and I can easily get you if you need help. We can put some kind of cloth cushion on the bottom, and we could even set up your phone on the inside, if you wanted to use it there. I really hope you’re not offended, I promise that I don’t see you as some small animal, but-”

“Let me stop you right there. It’s great,” Brian said.

“Really?” asked Allison.

“Yeah. Thank you very much, Allison.”

Allison breathed a sigh of relief. However, there was one issue that she wanted to address, despite the fact that it was extremely embarrassing.

“There is… uh… one last thing I wanted to ask about, though,” she started, refusing to make eye contact.

“I was, er, a little concerned that you wouldn’t have any privacy around here, especially at night, when you, uh… you know… might want to engage in some… activities…” she continued, her cheeks turning red. Brian was confused.

“What activities are you referring to, exactly?” he asked.

“Oh come on, you know…” Allison replied. “You’re a man, and sometimes you need some… r-relief, right? That’s what I mean…”

Brian suddenly got it.

“Oh, are you talking about jerking off?” he asked. Allison’s eyes went wide.

“Oh my god, Brian! I was trying to be subtle!” she cried.

“What’s the need? What’s so embarrassing about cranking one out every now and then?” he said teasingly.

“Eww! Cranking?! What the hell is wrong with you?!” she exclaimed, burying her head in her hands. Brian could practically see the steam rising from her head. He couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction to his teasing.

“That’s very considerate of you, Allison, but you don’t need to worry about it. I can’t get that kind of relief,” he said sullenly. Allison raised her head to look at him, suddenly concerned.

“W-why? Do you have any medical issues I need to know about, you know, down there?” she asked nervously. Brian shook his head.

“I do have an issue, but it isn’t medical. You see, I’ve… I’ve been in pain for a long time. Eventually, the human mind can’t take it anymore, and it starts to lose certain… senses,” he said, sadly looking at his feet. Allison brought a hand to her mouth.

“Oh, Brian… are you saying you can’t…?” she asked.

“That’s right, Allison,” Brian declared stoically. “I will never again feel the joy of a woman’s touch.”

“And that’s not all,” he continued, turning so his back was facing Allison. “I can't recall the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of grass. I'm naked in the dark.”

Allison gasped. “Brian, I’m so sorry,” she said, as she reached for him to give him some comfort. At that moment, though, Brian turned back towards her, and she saw something she did not expect. He was struggling not to laugh, a huge smirk on his face.

“Brian, what…?” Allison started.

“Yeah, I’m totally fucking with you,” Brian said. “I can hear and taste fine.”

“You fucking asshole!” Allison cried, flopping onto the bed. “I was seriously worried!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” Brian said, still smirking.

“What was that about being naked in the dark, then?” Allison asked.

“I was quoting The Lord of the Rings, doofus,” he replied. “Frodo says that in The Return of the King.” Allison groaned in frustration, before breaking out in a smile herself.

“You like Lord of the Rings, huh? That really old book and movie series?” she asked.

“I do. Especially the movies,” Brian replied, his eyes sparkling like a kid’s.

“I’ve never seen them myself,” Allison said. Brian’s eyes narrowed.

“If we’re going to be living together, that’s gonna be a real problem,” he said.

Allison sensed an opportunity for them to bond, and she pounced on it.

“How about we watch them tomorrow? How long are they back to back?” she asked.

“Oh… counting snack, bathroom, lunch, and dinner breaks… about 12 hours?” he replied.

“12 hours?!” Allison exclaimed. “Oh, what the hell… let’s do it,” she said with an adventurous grin. Brian’s face lit up, and he matched her grin.

“Excellent.”

Back in the living room, Allison and Brian had returned to lazing around. Before they got too into it, though, Brian spoke up.

“I was lying about the emotional trauma part, but I really don’t need that kind of relief,” he started. “It’s kinda weird, but I don’t really get sexual urges. Never have,” he said. Allison’s eyes widened, this was unexpected.

“Are you saying you’re… asexual?” she asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. I appreciate beauty, I just don’t get aroused by it. Kinda like how one might appreciate a painting.”

Asexual, huh… Allison thought. I guess there really are all kinds of people in the world… wait, does that mean..?

“Wait, does that mean you never want to be in a relationship?” Allison asked, a tiny amount of nervousness in her voice. Brian looked up at her.

“No sex drive doesn’t mean I can’t fall in love, Allison,” Brian said. “Quite the opposite, in fact…” he muttered. Allison looked away, scared she had offended him. After a brief silence, Brian spoke up again.

“I have never been in love, though,” he said quietly. Allison could tell he was purposefully keeping his tone neutral.

“Have you?” he asked.

“Yeah, I have,” she said softly. “One time.”

“How did that work out?” Brian asked gently.

“Not very well,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he replied.

Allison smiled, and extended her finger out to gently rub the top of his head.

“Thank you, Brian. You’re much nicer than he ever was.”

As she started to pull her finger away, something surprising happened. Brian caught it, and pulled it close to his chest. He wasn’t strong enough to do this himself, obviously, but Allison sensed his intention and allowed her finger to be pulled. He held it close, and rested his head on the skin right above her nail. Allison felt like her heart was about to explode.

“I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me,” Brian said quietly. “Whoever he was, he didn’t deserve your kindness.”

Trying to hold back tears, Allison softly thanked him once again, and he eventually relinquished his hold on her finger.

The rest of their day proceeded as it had been before, simply enjoying each other’s company as Brian got caught up in the happenings of the world. Allison ordered soup for dinner again, promising that they could figure out something solid in the future, and they eventually retired to bed.

In the animal carrier, which Brian insisted they rename Bag End, promising she would understand later, Allison placed the same towel and shirt combo from the previous night. It seemed like Brian had gotten rather attached.

“Alright Brian, what time should we start our movie marathon tomorrow?” Allison asked.

“Hmm… how about we wake up at 7:30, and start watching at 8:00?” he replied.

“That sounds good to me. I’ll set my alarm. I had a really nice day today, Brian,” she said warmly.

“I did too, Allison. So much can happen in three years. Thank you for everything,” he replied. Although his face carried the same neutral expression, his voice was emanating happiness.

“You’re very welcome. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

With that, Allison sank into her mattress, turned off the light, and reflected on the day’s events.

My goal is to make him happy, she thought, as if carving the words into her soul.

Today was a really good start.

 

 

 

 

 

~

 

“Alright, the first one is Fellowship, so rent that one first. Next is Two Towers, and the last one is Return of the King. Make sure to get the extended editions.”

Brian Bentley, the most hated man in the country, was getting ready to have a Lord of the Rings marathon with the woman who was supposed to execute him, Allison Starr. As he had shared the day prior, Brian was a big fan of the series, and Allison suggested that they watch them together. She had done so as an opportunity for her to learn more about her tiny companion’s interests, while at the same time deepening their relationship. After all, Allison made it her goal to make Brian happy after he had been wrongly convicted for murder, and what better way to make someone happy than to share in their favorite movies? It was 7:45 in the morning, and Brian was lecturing Allison on what the proper marathon-watching steps were, as if he was a professor on the first day of class.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t get the theatrical cuts?” Allison asked teasingly. “We could save so much time that way!” 

With one hand on his hip, Brian pointed a miniscule finger in his gargantuan protector’s direction disapprovingly.

“Don’t make me come up there, young lady,” he said sternly.

“Fine, fine,” Allison relented, before inputting some commands into her enormous television. “It is done. Now, what’s the protocol for food?”

“Right. We’ll eat breakfast now, then start Fellowship. Be sure to set up any snack food ahead of time so it is in grabbing distance. That doesn’t really apply to me, since I can’t reach or eat any snack food, but that’s neither here nor there,” Brian started.

“After Fellowship, we’ll eat breakfast again instead of lunch. You’ll understand why later. Then, we’ll eat dinner between Two Towers and Return of the King. Pizza is standard, so you should get some for yourself, and I’ll have some leftover soup,” he continued.

“Are you really okay with more soup? We could think of something more fun, you know,” Allison asked thoughtfully.

“We have no time for such distractions!” Brian said theatrically, causing Allison to giggle.

“Really, though, soup is fine. Thanks for asking,” he said, returning to a normal tone. Allison nodded. She was just glad to see him so animated, especially after the breakdown from two days prior.

“So, let’s get breakfast going, and then we can start. Any questions?” Brian asked. Allison’s hand shot up.

“Where would you like to sit?” she asked. This was a more important question than one might think. Due to Brian’s size, Allison would have to be the one to place him wherever he wanted to go. During the movie, then, this meant that Brian would more or less be stuck there. Therefore, she wanted to make sure he would be comfortable. Allison was a naturally thoughtful person, and Brian was quickly coming to appreciate it.

“Anywhere next to you on the sectional is fine. If you would prop a pillow behind me I’d appreciate it. They’re really comfortable to recline into.”

“Got it,” Allison replied, with just the smallest hint of sadness. Although she was happy that he specified that he wanted to be near her, a part of her was hoping that he would ask to be on her shoulder, or in her hand. From the brief moments where Allison transported Brian from room to room in the palm of her hand, she was quickly becoming addicted to the feeling. Feeling him safe and secure awoke some of her previously unknown protective instincts, and she loved the feeling of his little body as it rested in her hand. She was scared to ask him directly, though, so she simply hoped that he would eventually ask for those things on his own.

“Oh, but what if there’s some kind of emergency, or you need to use the bathroom?” Allison asked. “How are you gonna get my attention?”

They both thought carefully for a moment, before Brian pointed a finger upwards in realization.

“My phone. Prop it up nearby so the screen is facing you, and if I need to get your attention I’ll turn it on. If you see the screen light up, you’ll know to pause,” he explained.

“That’s perfect! You’re really smart, Brian,” Allison praised. Brian shrugged, his face ever remaining neutral.

“Turns out my brain only looks small. Who knew,” he joked. Allison rolled her eyes, before moving to grab some cereal for herself, and some previously cut fruit for Brian.

Soon enough, they found themselves on the sofa, ready to begin the momentous undertaking of watching all of Lord of the Rings in one day. Allison was seated at one of the corners of the sectional, one arm propped up against the arm rest. She was slightly reclined to the side, with her legs partially stretched out down the length of the sectional. In front of her thighs was a single small pillow, at the front of which was her one inch companion, reclining against it comfortably.

Incidentally, Allison was dressed to the nines in her softest, fuzziest attire. She had on a slightly too-big sweater made of the finest quality fluff, thick gray sweatpants, and obnoxiously fuzzy socks. All of which had been recently thrown in the dryer, of course. Again, this was all in service of her practically subconscious desire to get physically closer to Brian. With non verbal confirmations that they were both comfortable, Allison punched some commands into the remote, and their marathon began.

~

Soon enough, Allison and Brian were immersed in the fantasy world. Allison was not very familiar with the genre, but she was quickly becoming a fan. There was one thing keeping her from fully focusing on the movie, however. Allison had made sure to place Brian in a spot that she could view without having to turn her head, just in case his phone lit up. A side effect of this, though, was that Allison was able to watch Brian’s adorable reactions to what was happening in the movie. Every now and then, sometimes without her even noticing, she found herself looking at her miniscule comrade instead of the screen. 

Due to the fact that Brian had a resting neutral face, Allison was learning to read his emotions through his eyes. During the movie, Brian’s eyes were sparkling, as if they contained an entire galaxy. He seemed entirely engrossed in the film world, and Allison thought it was one of the most precious things she had ever seen. She realised that what she was witnessing was somebody watching their favorite movie for the first time in three years, and she couldn’t help but smile the entire time. Slowly, with ever increasing intensity, Allison felt a long forgotten stirring of warmth within her stomach.

~

After their meal of second breakfast, Allison now appreciating the reference, they returned to the couch to begin the second movie in the trilogy. Although Brian did not want to change locations, Allison was now sitting in a more upright position, her legs hanging off the edge of the sofa. Her hands were resting in her lap, and she almost felt like they were being magnetically drawn towards Brian.

Much like she had done earlier, Allison continued to enjoy Brian’s face just as much as the movie, if not more. As few were willing to admit outside of anonymous message boards, Brian was actually a pretty handsome man. Behind his eerily emotionless supposed murderer expression, which in actuality was simply a resting neutral face, he had a boy-next-door kind of charm to him. When his eyes were sparkling, this quality was on full display, as Allison was learning. He had no hint of any facial hair, and his eyes could be wide and curious when he was relaxed. Seeing this side of him was a wonderful experience for his gargantuan guardian.

Allison was experiencing an immense feeling of satisfaction at that moment. For one thing, she was watching a fantastic movie for the first time. Beyond that, though, she was witnessing the results of her dangerous choice to shield Brian Bentley from death. His eyes had seemed so empty when she first met him. He hardly seemed to be aware of what was going on. At the time, she had attributed this to his cold-blooded murdering nature, but he was simply hiding the immense fear and sadness that he had been carrying. Then, he broke down right in front of her. He was a kid who was about to die for a crime he didn’t commit, and he simply couldn’t take it anymore. At that moment, Allison had decided that she simply couldn’t let somebody with that kind of sadness die, and the fruits of her labor were now being revealed to her. Brian was alive. Brian was comfortable in her presence. Brian was watching his favorite movie. Brian was happy. As a result of this, Allison was very happy too.

Eventually, about an hour into Two Towers, Allison simply couldn’t take it anymore. She straightened her back and took a deep breath. Then, without warning, she gently plucked Brian up from his spot in front of the pillow. He went tense for a moment, but his fear was quickly replaced with simple confusion. Allison transferred his small body, appreciating the feeling of his muscular physique between her fingers all the while, to her waiting palm. She plopped him down in her left palm, and quickly moved her right hand underneath her left for extra support. Brian looked up at Allison, silently asking for an explanation, but all he could see was Allison’s face, crimson red, as she desperately tried to avert eye contact by watching the screen. She was extremely nervous- would he demand to be put back? Would he get uncomfortable? Would he get mad she touched him without his permission? As such, her heart was racing and her cheeks were red. After a moment, though, she felt Brian settling into her hand, relaxing his body as he put his hands on the soft, cushy floor for support. Brian had accepted Allison’s initiative, and her heart soared. Needless to say, she suddenly found it even harder to focus on the events of the film.

~

After dinner, the pair was finally making their way through the end of the trilogy. Incidentally, Brian had not left Allison’s palm for the remainder of Two Towers. At one point, he had laid down on his side, using Allison’s thumb as a pillow, and she had to try not to squeal with happiness. Partway through Return of the King, however, Allison decided to change positions. She was now fully laying down along the side of the sectional, her head resting sideways on a pillow. Brian was resting on the area right above her chest and below her neck, fully reclined into her fluffy sweater. Although Allison could no longer see him, her right hand was resting across his body, keeping him secure while her hand acted like a living blanket. His arms were resting over the crest of her hand, and she knew that if he needed help he could simply tap on her skin a few times. Like a switch had been flipped, Allison was now completely fine with asking for physical contact with Brian, and he was completely fine with agreeing to it. Turns out, they were both longing for it, but they were both too shy to ask. Now that the event horizon had been crossed, however, they were both able to fully enjoy the kind of unique contact that could only happen between a giant woman and a tiny man.

~

“That was great. It’s been so long since I last watched those, it feels like a part of my soul was missing,” Brian said. The movie marathon was over, and Brian and Allison were discussing them before they went to bed. Brian was once again perched in Allison’s palm, but she was now holding him slightly closer to her face.

“Did you like them?” he asked, his smug eyes suggesting that he already knew the answer. Allison didn’t want to admit defeat just yet, though, so she simply shrugged.

“They were pretty good. I didn’t really get fully invested in the characters, though,” she replied. Brian narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Oh, really?” Brian asked, really drawing out the word. “Who was it, then, that I recall openly crying when a certain somebody said ‘you bow to no one,’ hmm?”

“Shut up!” Allison exclaimed. “I just have a condition where every time something emotional happens my eyes start to leak this salty liquid, that’s all!”
“Hmm. Sounds like you should get that checked out. You know, by Doctor Eugene. F. Bullshit,” Brian replied, causing Allison to giggle.

“Alright, fine!” Allison sighed, “they were really, really good. We’ll definitely have to watch them again sometime.”

“Damn right,” Brian said, striking a triumphant pose.

“I do have one question, though,” Allison said, holding up one finger for emphasis.

“What’s that?” Brian asked.

“Why didn’t they just fly on those giant eagles to Mordor?” she replied.

“Because Sauron would have seen them coming from miles away. The whole point was to get there in secret,” Brian answered.

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.”

~

About an hour had passed. Allison and Brian had spent the time continuing to discuss the movies.

Brian talking about cool trivia…

“Hey did you know the actor for Aragorn broke his toe when he kicked that helmet?”

“No, why the fuck would I know that?”

Allison asking about the extended universe…

“So, just how hard is the Silmarillion to read?”

“Well, let’s just say that you get credit for trying.”

And other topics of conversation regarding the fantastical world that Allison had just discovered.

After a while, though, Brian grew quiet. Allison grew concerned, his eyes had returned to a somewhat empty state, and she knew that something heavy was on his mind.

“Brian, what’s wrong?” she asked, bringing one finger to the side of his face. Brian stayed quiet for a few moments, before he steeled his resolve and looked towards Allison.

“Allison, would you like to know what really happened to Timmy Osment?”

Allison’s heart skipped a beat.

“Really? You’re okay talking about it? I’m completely fine waiting a while, you know,” she replied.

“It’s fine. I know you are more curious than you’re letting on, and it’s only fair that I let you in on what happened,” Brian said. “Especially since you’ve been so nice,” he muttered.

“Okay,” Allison said, “but if at any point you want to stop, please tell me.”

Brian nodded, and Allison reclined back into the sofa, one finger propped behind Brian’s back just in case.

“I was 18, as you know,” Brian started. “It was late at night, and I was walking around my city. I had a fight with my mother, and I was afraid to go back home. I went to a commercial area, which is where a lot of stores and restaurants were. Eventually, I heard some kind of a yell, so I started walking in the direction it came from. I saw somebody running away from a certain spot in an alley. It looked like they had their phone in their hands,” he continued. Allison once again wondered why Brian’s testimony was never released to the public. 

What about this story is so important? She thought.

“I ran over to the spot they seemed to be running from, and I saw a large figure crouching over a smaller figure. The large figure was dressed in all black, and it was too dark to see his face. My guess is that he was about 6’4. He seemed startled, probably because of the person who ran, and when he saw me he took off. I still didn’t really know what was going on at that point, so I ran to check on the smaller figure,” he continued. Allison braced herself for what would happen next. Brian seemed to have a hard time saying it, though, so she decided to give him a nudge.

“Was it Timmy?” she asked gently. Brian nodded, his eyes darkening even further.

“It was Timmy. He was on the ground. He had a huge gash in his neck. There was so much blood,” Brian said. He closed his eyes.

“He was still alive, Allison. Whatever happened must have just happened. I didn’t know what to do. I ran over and took off my jacket, I tried to wrap part of it around his neck. I tried to hold it there, but there was just so much fucking blood,” he continued, his voice rising in frustration near the end. Allison began to stroke his back tenderly with her finger.

“I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. He died right in front of me. Then, some fucking police officer showed up. He saw my hands around Timmy’s neck. He didn’t seem to care much about the giant gash in his neck, or the fact that everything was covered in blood, and he tackled me to the ground. He kicked me. He kept. Fucking. Kicking me,” Brian said, gritting his teeth.

“I begged him. I screamed. I begged him to go look in the direction that the large man went. I swore that I was just trying to help. It didn’t matter. He eventually stopped kicking me, and called in some backup and an ambulance. I was arrested. That’s it,” Brian said.

Allison was shocked. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time? she thought.

“B-but why-”
“I don’t know why Timmy Osment, child superstar, was in some random alley. They say he was in the city for some event, but that alley was nowhere near where he was supposed to be. I don’t know why somebody had sliced his neck in the middle of a commercial center where somebody could see them. I don’t know fucking anything. All I know is that I couldn’t help him,” Brian said sadly. He was struggling to keep his tone steady, and Allison’s heart ached. There was one thing she didn’t understand.

“Why were you convicted so quickly? Your story suggests that there was another potential suspect. There was even another person who noticed the crime before you got there. Why didn’t they look for that person? Why were they so quick to condemn you?”

Brian looked up at Allison, making eye contact for the first time since he had started his story.

“You said it yourself two days ago. They wanted someone to blame. Nobody wanted to admit that they had no clue who killed Timmy Osment,” he said flatly.

“The trial was a joke. That’s why they didn’t televise it. The autopsy would have shown the gashes in Timmy’s neck, which didn’t line up with the fact that they never found a weapon. That’s why they didn’t release it, or my testimony. A whole lot of people worked together to make sure that my life was ruined for something that I didn’t do, Allison.”

At that, he went silent, and Allison grappled with what she had just heard. She still had questions, but she didn’t want to push Brian any harder, so she just continued to stroke his back while he sat in her hand, his green eyes holding an ocean of darkness. After a while, though, Brian spoke once more. His voice was barely a whisper.

“He was so scared, Allison. He was just a kid. I tried to tell him that everything was going to be okay. He was so scared. He didn’t need me. He needed his family. I shouldn’t have been the last thing he ever saw,” he said.

“It was better than dying alone, Brian,” she replied softly. “You tried to help him.”

After a few moments, Brian raised his head. He slapped his cheeks with his hands a few times, and he returned to a more normal tone and expression.

“Anyway, so that’s what happened. I wish I knew more, but it seems my questions will never be answered. As far as the world is concerned, the case is closed. Do you still believe me, Allison?” he asked cautiously. Allison softly smiled at him.

“I do, Brian. I believe you,” she replied.

“You’re the first person to ever say that to me and mean it. Thank you,” Brian said.

At that, they both decided it was time for bed. Soon, Brian was in his carrier, and Allison was in her bed. They were staring at each other, sharing in their newfound connection.

“Goodnight, Allison,” said Brian. Allison slightly furrowed her brow.

“… Allie,” she said after a moment.

“Huh?” Brian asked.

“If you want… you can call me Allie,” she replied. Brian looked perplexed.

“Isn’t that what that terrifying woman called you at the facility?” he asked. Allison smiled at his description of Cathy.

“Yes, but I never asked her to call me that. You would be the first person in years to call me that with my permission,” she replied.

“I'm honored. In that case…” Brian began.

“Goodnight, Allie.”

Allison beamed.

“Goodnight, Brian. Thank you for telling me what happened.”

 

She turned off the light. One more day had passed, and the bond between the man meant to die and the woman meant to kill him had strengthened immensely. 

 

 

~

“I have a question, but it might sound insensitive. If I ask, can you promise not to get offended?”

“No, no, no. You can't promise something like that. I have no idea what you're going to ask me. So you can go ahead and ask me what you're going to ask me, and my natural response could be to get offended, then through no fault of my own I would have broken my promise.”

“That sounded like a quote.”

“It was. Pulp Fiction.”

Allison Starr was hanging out with Brian Bentley, the most hated man in the country. She had saved him from death for a crime he did not commit, and they had grown rather close in the three days since. After a movie marathon, and some emotional revelations regarding the death of Timmy Osment, Brian had suddenly grown quite fond of resting on the body of his giant protector, rather than just near. Allison was more than happy to oblige him, as she had become quite a fan of it herself. Although Brian had spent the first half of their Saturday in Allison’s hand while they watched TV, he was now perched on her shoulder, leaning against her neck as she used her laptop. Apparently, Allison was wanting to ask him a potentially offensive question.

“I’m just messing with you, Allie. I promise not to get mad,” Brian said in his usual neutral tone. Allison reached up and playfully poked him.

“Jerk. Anyway, I was just wondering… well… why you are so expressionless, you know?” she asked hesitantly. Indeed, Brian Bentley was known for his eerily neutral expression. One of his nicknames was “Robot,” alongside other charming monikers like “Child Murderer,” of course.

“I mean, like… were you always like that, or did that happen after everything with Timmy?” she elaborated. Although she could not see it, Brian pondered carefully for a moment.

“Probably a mixture of both. I was always pretty hard to stir up, but I had to really hone that skill while in prison,” he said.

“Why did you have to do that?” she asked.

“Well, think about it. People thought I was a child murderer. The other guys in prison didn’t take very kindly to a child murderer,” he started. Allison’s face darkened slightly, this was something she hadn’t thought about.

“Eventually, I had to find some way to adapt. If you stop reacting to provocation, eventually they will stop doing it. That’s what I figured, anyway. I guess it was one way to defend myself,” he continued.

Defend himself… guess that explains the abs, Allison thought.

“I see, that makes sense. Definitely didn’t help your public image, though,” she replied. Brian chuckled.

“If you’re in a situation like mine, at a certain point you have to stop caring about public perception,” he said dryly.

“True.”

“Anyway, enough about me. I have a question for you, Allie,” Brian said suddenly.

“M-me? Well, I guess it’s only fair…” she replied, suddenly feeling rather nervous.

“How does one become a Chevalier?” he asked. Allison was stunned by his unexpected question about her job.

“Why do you want to know that?” she asked.

“I’m thinking about a career change. No, because nobody knows how to become a Chevalier, that’s why. It’s all super secret,” he replied.

“That’s true… but we’re really not supposed to talk about it, you know,” she said. At that, she felt his tiny fist bop her neck a few times.

“Who am I gonna tell?” he replied playfully. Allison sighed.

“Fine, fine. Nobody knows because they approach you. I suddenly got called into a government office one day where they offered me the job,” she answered.

“Really. Did they tell you why they picked you?” Brian asked. Allison shook her head, nearly knocking him off unintentionally.

“Not really. I think it had something to do with government issued surveys they send out every now and then. They did say I was recommended for the job, though.”

“Ooh, how mysterious,” Brian said, “any idea who it could have been?”

“Well, I had only recently graduated from college, so I thought it was probably one of my professors. I have no clue which one,” she replied.

“Well, were there any professors you were particularly close to?” he asked. Allison thought for a moment.

“One, I suppose. My mentor, Elizabeth Dawson. I was pretty close to her. It definitely wasn’t her, though,” Allison replied. Brian made a questioning noise, encouraging her to go on.

“Well, because she was privately very against the Shrink Penalty. She was a retired defense attorney,” she continued.

“Interesting,” Brian said, “so what does she think about your being a Chev?”

Allison was quiet for a moment.

“I… I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her since I took the job. I was scared of what she would say… I guess,” she said sadly. She felt Brian’s hand rub her neck tenderly.

“It’s okay. Sorry I asked,” Brian said softly. Allison reached up and gently rustled his hair. At that, she came up with a new goal for herself.

If his lack of expressions is a defense mechanism, I want to break it. I am going to fluster Brian Bentley, she thought. She decided to try right away. Without warning, she plucked Brian from her shoulder and transferred him to her palm. He looked up at her questioningly, and she grinned at him in response.

“I’ve been wondering,” she said slowly, before quickly moving in so her face was close to Brian. 

“What’s it like to be so small around a giant woman like me?” she asked playfully, her warm breath washing over her tiny friend. “Am I intimidating?”

Brian’s view was of her smiling mouth. He simply brought his hand to his chin in contemplation, though, hardly even acknowledging her attempt at teasing.

“Have you ever seen that old musical Into the Woods?” he finally asked. Allison retreated back to her original posture.

“What, you just gonna ignore my question?” she asked in mock offense.

“No, no, I just remembered a line that sums up my answer,” he responded. “Anyway, have you seen it?”

“No, I haven’t,” Allison said.

“Alright, well it’s about characters from classic fairy tales. Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk has a song, and one line he sings when talking about meeting the Giant’s Wife is ‘You know she’s big but you don’t feel small.’ That’s how I feel,” Brian said.

Allison was slightly moved.

I try to tease him and he says something sweet?! Not fair, she thought.

“Aww, thank you, Brian. Sounds like an interesting song, though, what are the lines after that?” she asked.

“I don’t want to tell you, they’ll ruin the moment,” he replied. Allison grinned.

“Well, you have to tell me now, I’m too interested,” she said.

“Fine,” Brian sighed, “he goes ‘someone bigger than her comes along the hall to swallow you for lunch.’”

Allison cracked up laughing. “You’re right,” she giggled, “that certainly does ruin your point.”

“In real life, I think that person coming down the hall might be Cathy. She seemed very excited when she thought you had been eaten,” Allison said after calming down.

“She certainly did. That woman gave me bad vibes, what’s her deal?” Brian asked, making an unpleasant face as he recalled what Cathy had said.

“She’s probably one of the most, well, enthusiastic Chevaliers I’ve ever met. I had to practically beg her to stop telling me the details of her sessions, it made me want to throw up,” Allison replied.

“Why do you think she’s like that?” Brian asked. “From what I could hear between your… well, you know, she seemed very nice and sweet to you.”

“You’re right, to normal people she’s very nice. As for convicts, though… It’s embarrassing to say this, but I think she might… get off on it. You know, sexually,” Allison replied, whispering the last word. Brian looked disturbed.

“Damn. That’s fucked up,” he said. Allison shrugged.

“Well, in her defense, she is dealing with the worst-of-the-worst, you know. Not like I can feel too bad about what she does to them.”

Brian went quiet for a moment.

“Yeah, but… I almost went to her. That almost happened to me,” he said cautiously. Allison’s smile vanished, as she realised that he was right. She looked down at him, and saw that his expression was troubled.

“Well… you didn’t, right? I got you, and I was able to save you,” she said softly.

“That’s not what I mean,” replied Brian, “I mean, what if others like me get sent to her? Other innocents?”

Allison was shocked into silence.

“Brian… there aren’t any others like you. You said it yourself, public outrage is what got you convicted. That doesn’t happen every time. The rules are really strict, only the absolute worst, most disgusting criminals get the Shrink Penalty,” she replied slowly.

“Yeah, but, how can you be sure? It happened to me, so who’s to say it won’t happen to others?” he continued. Allison shook her head sternly.

“No way. I understand how you feel, but I can tell you personally that everything surrounding the Shrink Penalty is extremely strict and regulated. Since the punishment is so severe, it’s under intense scrutiny to make sure situations like yours don’t happen. That doesn’t change the fact that it did happen, but you really don’t need to worry. People who get the Shrink Penalty deserve it. I personally just can’t do the whole… torture thing.”

Brian narrowed his eyes, he was clearly troubled.

“In prison, Chevs might as well have been demons. People were terrified to even bring up the Shrink Penalty, out of some superstition that doing so would make you more likely to get it. Even though Cathy might be extreme, people like her seem to be the majority, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Allison replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I guess I just don’t understand. You say your mentor was a defense attorney who was opposed to the Shrink Penalty. You told me when we met that you don’t get off on being cruel, and you usually provide criminals a quick death. You apparently hate even talking about what other Chevs do in their sessions."

He took a deep breath.

"Allie… why are you a Chevalier? Why do you do something that makes you so uncomfortable?” he asked pointedly. This was something he had been wondering since the moment she decided to save him, but he simply couldn’t keep it in anymore.

Allison didn’t know how to respond. She sat in silence, staring at Brian as he sat in her palm. His expression was not judgmental, nor was it accusatory. He simply looked concerned, and it was scrambling Allison’s brain.

“I… I guess… I’ve just… It’s been six months…” she stammered. At that moment, though, the doorbell rang. Brian flinched, but he quickly regained himself and looked back towards Allison. His eyes softened, and he pulled Allison’s thumb towards his chest.

“Allie, I’m sorry. This is none of my business, and I shouldn't be questioning your kindness. I’ve clearly upset you, and I promise that wasn’t my intention. Please don’t be sad. I think that was the food we ordered, so let’s just eat, okay?” he said softly, as he lightly hugged Allison’s thumb. His gesture of kindness snapped Allison out of her fog, and she smiled at him.

“Don’t be sorry. You’re right, let’s go eat,” she replied.

Allison had ordered some pasta. She thought that it might be easy to eat, since noodles are so soft and easy to cut. She was right, but Brian was nonetheless struggling, as he only had some broken toothpicks to eat with.

“Hmm… it tastes good, but this is kinda rough… why aren’t there any utensils for one inch people?!” he lamented. Suddenly, Allison’s brain was zapped as she came up with an idea.

“3D printer, 3D printer!” she exclaimed, one hand flapping in excitement. Brian looked up at her, eyes widening in realization.

“We’ll buy a 3D printer, and then we can just make utensils for you! We can make chairs and a bed and shit, too!” she excitedly continued.

“Dude! Allie, you’re a fucking genius!” Brian exclaimed, rising to his feet. He held out his fist, and she lightly tapped it with her index finger. Just like that, Allison had figured out how to make Brian much more comfortable.

~

Later on in the evening, Allison and Brian were relaxing on the sofa once again. Brian had elected to sit on Allison’s thigh, basking in the warm, fuzzy fabric. Brian was letting Allison in on another one of his favorite subjects- astronomy.

“Get this, Allie. Inside a black hole, space takes on some properties of time,” he said.

“What the fuck does that mean?” she asked with a laugh.

“Well, we can choose to move through space, but we can’t move in time, right? We’re always moving forward,” he started. Allison nodded in agreement.

“Inside a black hole, it’s literally impossible to escape. No matter what you do, you are drawn towards the center. Just like how we are drawn forward in time,” he explained.

“Oh, I see. That’s pretty interesting,” she replied.

“Fuck yes it is! That means that, if you were somehow walking along a bridge inside of a black hole, even if you turned completely around and started walking, you would still be walking towards the center,” he continued, his eyes sparkling once again. Allison giggled at his enthusiasm.

“You know, you’re pretty surprising, Brian,” Allison remarked.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve learned over the past few days that the infamous Brian Bentley likes Lord of the Rings, musicals, and now black holes?” she continued with a smile.

Brian’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“What’s your point, there, Allie?”

Allison let out a slightly fuller laugh, and pulled out her phone.

“Let’s see if the internet can help you figure it out. Hey Siri,” Allison called into her phone, “is Brian Bentley secretly a huge dork?” she asked smugly. 

“Oh, I see how it is,” Brian said, pulling up his fists. “You want to fuckin’ go, sister?” 

Allison began lightly poking at him, Brian dodging and bopping her attacking fingers as she giggled all the while. As this was going on, Allison’s phone chirped in recognition of her question, and an artificial voice began repeating a response.

“Here’s what I found. Brian Bentley was executed via Shrink Penalty for the murder of Timmy Os-”

“Shit!” Allison cried, “Siri, shut the fuck up!”

The voice stopped, and Allison sheepishly looked back at Brian. He stared at her blankly for a few moments, and Allison became very afraid that she had upset him. Suddenly, though, Brian cracked up, laughing harder than she had ever seen before. He fell onto his side, his eyes showing traces of tears as he clutched his stomach in joy.

“W-what the fuck’s so funny, huh?” Allison asked defensively, her cheeks red.

“Y-your fucking face!” Brian eventually got out, before returning to his belly laughs. Allison simply sat there, her arms crossed as she pouted in embarrassment. On the inside, though, she was very pleased. One more milestone had been met in her goal to make him happy- she had made him laugh.

~

After dinner, the two were watching TV. Anything but the news, obviously. Brian was once again resting on Allison’s shoulder. As time had gone on, however, Allison had noticed that Brian was leaning against her neck more and more. Eventually, it felt like his whole weight was leaning against her, and she had the sneaking suspicion that he had fallen asleep.

“Brian?” she whispered, “Brian, are you awake?”

He did not respond, and her suspicions were confirmed. Careful not to jostle him around, she reached up and grabbed him from her shoulder. She gently transferred him to her palm, and she gazed down at him as he slept.

She was reminded of when she first brought him to her apartment. He had been sleeping inside of her breasts, and it was the first time that she had seen him look so peaceful. Just as she had done before, she marvelled at how innocent he looked. Nobody would have been able to tell that he had been through so much pain. He simply looked like a normal young man, and Allison was extremely happy that he was able to look so relaxed in her presence.

It’s only been three days, but we’ve really come a long way, she thought.

She continued to gaze at him adoringly, not fully realizing just how happy his presence was making her.

At that moment, though, Brian began to stir. He half-stood up, his arms pushing his chest up, as he looked all around. His eyes were still half-closed, and Allison guessed that he was still partially asleep.

“W-where am I?” he slurred, sounding more perplexed than actually scared. He looked up at Allison.

“Who are you?” he asked drowsily. Allison couldn’t help but grin.

“It’s me, Brian. Allie. You know, Allison Starr?” she replied softly. At the mention of her full name, Brian relaxed, and lowered himself back onto her palm. He rested his head on her thumb, which she had conveniently laid out immediately prior.

“Mmm… Starr…” he mumbled. “My shooting star…”

Allison’s heart skipped a beat. Her whole body suddenly felt very warm, and her cheeks turned bright red.

“That’s right, Brian,” she whispered, “your shooting star…”

Allison brought one finger to the side of his face, and began to stroke it tenderly. She continued like this for a while, basking in her burgeoning feelings that she was finally becoming aware of.

After a little while, Allison decided it was time for bed. First, though, she wanted to try something related to her goal from earlier.

“Brian, wake up,” she said softly as she nudged him awake. He stirred for a moment before opening his eyes.

“I was sleeping, huh? What time is it?” he asked, as he rose to his feet in Allison’s palm. 

“About 10:30, it’s time to go to bed,” she replied softly. Brian raised an eyebrow.

“You woke me up to tell me it’s time to go to sleep?” he asked, causing Allison to giggle. Brian turned towards the TV, and his back was soon facing Allison. A moment later, he felt a strange sensation on his back. It felt like two giant, slightly moist pillows were gently pushed against him from behind. He felt the slightest of suctions before they were pulled away, just as suddenly as they had arrived. Brian turned towards the strange feeling.

“Allie, what was th-”

Just as Brian started to question her, he saw Allison leaning towards him, her lips puckered outwards. Her lips slowly eclipsed his field of view, and they soon pressed into him, engulfing nearly his whole body. Now that she was no longer trying to simply confuse him, Allison put a little more force into it, fully enveloping his body in the squishy folds of her plump lips. To Brian, it felt like he was getting hugged by two soft, wet cushions, and he was soon covered in a thin layer of saliva. He tried to pull away instinctively, but a small suction pulled his face back in, burying it in Allison’s top lip as she continued to kiss him. She let out an ever so slightly sensual moan, the sound reverberating around Brian and causing a vibration which made his whole body tingle. Then, after a small eternity, Allison pulled away with a large smack.

She looked down at her tiny companion. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was ever so slightly open. His hair was tangled, and his whole body glistened from the thin layer of Allison’s saliva that now clung to him. Most importantly to Allison, though, was the fact that his cheeks were bright red. She had achieved her goal from earlier: Brian was completely flustered. For the first time since she had brought him home, he was embarrassed into silence. Allison slyly grinned, admiring her handiwork as she waited for his response.

“…That was… was… h-h… ” he stammered, trying to form the words.

“H-Harassment! That was s-sexual harassment!” he exclaimed theatrically, pointing one finger in Allison’s direction. Slightly undercutting his playful accusation, however, was his shocked expression, which had not yet recovered from Allison’s surprise smooch.

Allison smirked at him condescendingly.

“Oh hush, just be glad I’m not wearing lipstick,” she said smugly. At this, Brian let out a genuine laugh, which Allison soon reciprocated. At that, she decided that it truly was time for bed, although she figured that it would be a little more difficult for either of them to sleep now.

~

Although Brian first required a little washing-up, the duo soon found themselves in their bedroom once again. Allison was still glowing from the earlier kiss, while Brian was clearly trying to contain his embarrassment.

“Alright Brian, I hope you sleep well,” Allison said teasingly.

“Oh, you can fuck right off with that, Allie. I’ll be filing a complaint in the morning,” he responded.

“Mm-hmm, I’m sure you will,” she said. “After you get done with that, though, I want to prep the apartment a little. Tomorrow is the last day before I have to go back to work, and I want to make sure you’ll be okay on your own. Goodnight, Brian.”

“…Goodnight, Allie,” he replied quietly.

 

Although Allison could not tell, Brian had developed an extremely troubled look on his face as she continued to talk. It was not dissimilar to the one from earlier when he was asking Allison about why she was a Chevalier, but it was entirely the look of someone who knew they were going to have a difficult conversation at some point in the future. For now, though, Allison simply turned off the light, unaware of Brian’s conflicted heart as she drifted off to sleep.

 

 

~

“Alright, Brian, are you ready to make some plans for tomorrow?” asked Allison Starr.

“Sure, Allie. Let’s do it,” replied Brian Bentley. Allison didn’t notice, but his tone was rather sullen.

“Here’s the schedule. I usually leave for the facility around 8:30 in the morning. The exact time I leave depends on the number of… well, you know… I have that day. I’m almost always back by 5:30 or so,” she explained. Brian raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“You work that whole time?” he asked. The implication being, you execute people that whole time?

“Not exactly. There’s a lot of waiting in between sessions. Most of the day is spent in their various ‘waiting rooms.’ When it’s time for all the Chevaliers to get ready, the facility lets us know. That’s about it,” she replied. Brian nodded, satisfied with her explanation.

“What this means, then, is that you will have a maximum of nine hours alone. We need to make sure that all your needs are covered during that time,” Allison continued. She pulled out a piece of paper.

“Let’s write ‘em down. Food, obviously. We also need to make sure you’re in a comfortable spot. What else?” she asked.

“Well… I need to be able to use the restroom, so to speak,” Brian said.

“Ah, good point. That could be tough, so let’s come back to that later. Keep it coming, dude,” she replied.

“Being near my ‘bed’ would be nice, in case I want to take a nap or something,” he continued.

“Ah yes, well that one should be easy. You’re still rocking the towel and shirt pocket combo, so we’ll just make sure one is set up near your primary position. On that note, I’ll be sure to put your phone nearby wherever that is, too. Sound good?” she asked. Brian nodded.

“So, ignoring other issues for now, how about my bed as a primary spot? It’s away from any windows to the outside, so nobody would see you. It’s also pretty comfortable,” she suggested.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Brian answered. “What do we do for food, then?”

Allison pondered for a moment.

“Well, it needs to be something you can eat easily, it needs to be in reach at all times, and it should be something that doesn’t need to be warmed up. The good news is that we only have to worry about lunch,” she started.

“What about some kind of soft bread?” Brian suggested. “You can set up a piece on a paper towel or something nearby, and I can tear some off when I get hungry.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Just bread, though? Won’t that get boring?” Allison asked.

“Do what we gotta do. Like you said, it’s only one meal. I’ll eat a big breakfast,” he replied. Allison nodded, satisfied.

“What about water, then? I would put some in a bottle cap or something, but putting it on the bed wouldn’t be very stable. I wouldn’t want it to spill.” They both pondered for a moment once again.

“Ah. Super genius Brian to the rescue. You got a cutting board?” Brian asked.

“Oh, I see,” Allison said, “we set up the bread and water on a cutting board, and put that on the bed. That would keep it stable. Damn, you are a super genius,” Allison replied. Brian shrugged.

“Alright, next I wanted to let you know about something I thought of the other day,” Allison started. She went over to a drawer filled with office and craft supplies and pulled out a spool of string. The very same string that formed Brian’s “belts,” in fact.

“This is ‘just in case’ type stuff, but I wanted to give you a way to make your way back up to safety in case you ever find yourself on the floor. I thought I could tape some long pieces of string to a couple spots inside the apartment, and you could use it like a rope to climb places. Does that make sense?” she asked. Brian narrowed his eyes.

“Could you show me an example?” he replied. Allison nodded, and beckoned him into her palm.

Allison made her way over to the small table in front of the sectional. She placed him on the table, and cut off a long piece of string.

“So, I would tape one end to the edge of the table, here. Then, it would drape down to the floor. If, for some reason, you ever found yourself on the floor, you could use the string to climb up to the table,” she explained.

“Oh, I see. That’s a good idea, Allie,” Brian praised. Allison grinned in response.

“Where else are you going to put some string?” he asked.

“Not in places that are too high up, like the kitchen counter or something, since you could hurt yourself if you fell. So, how about this table, the bed, and that small table with the plant next to the front door?” she suggested. Brian gave a thumbs up.

“Alright, perfect,” Allison said, “all that’s left is the bathroom thing. It’s still early, though, we can figure it out later. So… what do you want to do today, Brian?” Allison asked, her eyes sparkling. To her surprise, though, Brian simply shrugged, his eyes facing downwards.

“I don’t know… I’m kinda tired, I guess,” he said. Allison frowned.

“Is something wrong? Do you feel sick?” she asked, putting her finger to his miniscule forehead to check for a fever. She felt nothing, so she simply looked at him in concern, waiting for an explanation. Once more, he shrugged.

“I didn’t sleep well, I think. Actually… do you… do you think I could spend some time back in the pet carrier? I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but… well, I guess it would be nice to be by myself for a little while,” he said reluctantly. 

Allison was shocked.

What’s wrong? she thought. He’s been so lively lately, why is he looking so downtrodden?

Despite her confusion, she didn’t want to make him feel guilty for wanting some alone time, so she simply gave him a gentle smile in response.

“Of course that’s okay, Brian. I want you to feel like this is your home, too, and everybody is entitled to privacy in their own home,” she replied. At that, Brian flashed a grateful smile, and Allison took him in her palm once more. Soon enough, Brian was resting in his carrier, phone nearby for browsing convenience. 

“Okay Brian, I’ll be around. Send an email to our address if you need something or want some company, okay?” Allison asked, trying not to sound too disappointed that they weren’t going to be spending time together.

“Thanks, Allie, I will. See you later,” Brian replied. Allison smiled and left the room, a small frown overtaking her face once she was out of sight.

Allison found herself resting on the sofa. For the first time in a while, though, she was completely alone. She had her laptop out, but she was simply staring at the screen, not focused on anything in particular. 

It’s only been four days, Allison thought, but it feels really weird not having him near me.

Indeed, the two had been nearly inseparable since she had rescued him. This was partly due to necessity, since Brian needed Allison’s help to do most everything, but also because they genuinely enjoyed being around each other. Their bond had grown immensely in a short amount of time, and Allison was now feeling the absence of that bond.

Was it the kiss? She wondered. Did I go too far, and now he’s uncomfortable?

No… he was joking about it last night, so I don’t see why he would suddenly be upset about it now… 

She put her head in her hands.

Maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe he’s tired, like he said, and nothing more. People can just want to be by themselves, right? It doesn’t mean that they’re upset about something.

She tried to silence her doubts with that line of thinking, but they soon returned. Groaning, she put her laptop to the side and began to pace around the living room.

Come to think of it, he did seem kinda sad for a minute yesterday, Allison thought.

It’s when he was talking about Cathy, and whether or not other innocent people get the Shrink Penalty. Could he still be down about that? Well, let’s see. What were we talking about before he said he wanted to be alone?

She sat back down.

I was showing him my string idea… more generally, we were talking about how we should prep the house for when…

Suddenly, a realisation began to form.

We were talking about what we need to do for when I go back… to work. Work. Where I execute people his size. The same work where he almost got executed for a crime he didn’t commit.

Just like that, Allison had an idea of why Brian was down. The question then was what she was going to do with that information.

Well, shit. Of course he would be uncomfortable with that. What am I supposed to do, though? He’s going to need to get used to this, so how can I help him get over it?

She began to run through some possible courses of action. None seemed particularly helpful, though.

Should I go talk to him right away? Maybe during lunch? Dinner? Before bed? Fuck!

You know what, no. I’ll let him bring it up to me. I shouldn’t force him, and I’m sure he’ll ask about it when he’s ready. For now I guess I’ll… just… leave him alone.

Allison made a decision. She wasn’t particularly happy about it, though, if the frown on her face was anything to go on. When it came down to it, Allison loved hanging out with Brian, and she was sad that it seemingly wasn’t going to happen that day.

~

To Allison’s dismay, the rest of the day proceeded as expected. Allison gave Brian his space, and she lounged around by herself. She did some cleaning, watched some TV, played some video games, all the normal things one might do on a Sunday. Her heart wasn’t completely in it, though, since she wanted to be doing those things with her one inch companion. Especially after she had just realised that she was coming to like him as more than a friend.

That’s not to say that they never talked, though. They ate lunch together, and Brian occasionally messaged her when he needed to use the bathroom. During these interactions, Brian repeatedly apologized to Allison for wanting to be by himself. He was clearly very concerned that he was hurting her feelings. For her part, Allison continued to reassure him that there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be alone. She simply said that if he changed his mind, or wanted to talk about anything, she was available.

Allison did have a moment of relief, though, when she received an email from Brian. Thinking he needed to use the bathroom or something, she opened it only to find a link to a video of a raccoon eating grapes. The accompanying message simply read “thought you would enjoy this.” Allison grinned from ear to ear, and pulled the video up on the television. She soon found herself dying of laughter, listening to the hilarious sounds of a raccoon going to town on some green grapes.

At that, Allison responded to the email with her own favorite video of a raccoon, one in which the trash panda stole a handful of cat food. Just like that, she was soon engaged in a war of “who can find the best video of a raccoon?” Although she was still sad that she wasn’t around Brian, she found comfort in the fact that they were still able to joke around with each other.

~

After dinner, where Allison and Brian vigorously debated who won their battle of the raccoons, Brian had decided to spend the rest of the evening next to Allison, much to her delight. She could tell he was still slightly troubled, however, and hoped that he would decide to talk about it. To her slight frustration, though, he didn’t. Soon enough, it was time for bed.

“It’s the last time I’ll say it, but I really hope that I didn’t hurt your feelings today,” Brian said as he nestled into his shirt-pocket-bed.

“It’s the last time I’ll say it, you really didn’t. I just hope nothing is wrong,” Allison replied.

“It’s the first real private time I’ve had in over three years, you know. I’ve always been somewhat of an introvert, so it’s been really hard. Thank you, Allie,” he said softly. Allison’s heart softened at this confession.

“You’re welcome, Brian. There’s nothing wrong with alone time. Well… with that being said, though…” she started, the smallest hint of a blush painting her face, “I really enjoy spending time with you, so… maybe don’t do it too often,” she said softly. Brian suddenly felt a little self conscious.

“Yeah… I promise I won’t. I really enjoy spending time with you, too, Allie,” he replied. An awkward silence overtook the room, as Allison tried not to gush too hard at his kind response.

“T-Thank you, Brian. Anyway… goodnight. I usually wake up around 7:00, is that okay?” she asked.

“That sounds good. Goodnight,” he answered. At that, she turned off the light, their awkward exchange erasing any lingering traces of uneasiness in their hearts for the time being.

~

The next morning, Brian had returned to his withdrawn state. It was almost time for Allison to leave, and she had just finished preparing the apartment for Brian. Allison tried to probe the heart of the issue a few times, but Brian had been reluctant to reciprocate.

I can’t let this go on, we really need to address this, Allison thought. I suppose I’ll have to bring it up myself.

“Brian, are you acting down because you’re worried about my job?” she finally asked. Brian’s eyes slightly widened, and he looked up at her from his position on the bed.

“W-what?” he asked nervously. Allison let out a small sigh.

“You don’t need to keep it a secret. I’m not stupid, it makes you uncomfortable that I’ll be out working as a Chevalier, right? That’s why you’ve been withdrawn lately,” she continued. Brian let out a resigned sigh, and steeled his resolve.

“…yeah, that’s right. I just… don’t know how I’m supposed to feel,” he said quietly.

“Well, why didn’t you just talk to me about it? I don’t want you to be all sullen from now on,” she asked.

“I know… I just didn’t want to offend you. It's not really my place to comment on your job.”

Allison was slightly shocked by this statement.

His place? What does he think his place is? she wondered. Brian wasn’t done, though.

“I guess I was hoping I would get over it on my own… I’m sorry,” he continued, hanging his head.

“Brian… why are you acting like this?” Allison asked incredulously. “Why are you apologizing for having an opinion? What the hell are you talking about when you say it’s not your place? If you have a concern, I want to hear it!”

Brian looked confused.

“I just mean… You’ve done so much for me, I don't want to accept that then come around and criticize what you do for work. I should just keep my problems to myself, that’s all,” he said. Allison shook her head vigorously.

“No, no, no, Brian, I don’t want our relationship to be like that. You don’t need to walk on eggshells around me just because I helped you. I want you to treat me like an equal, and I don’t want you to be afraid of saying things that might make me unhappy,” she said firmly.

“But… we’re not, though,” Brian said softly. 

“Not what?” Allison asked.

“We’re… not equals, Allie. You have all the power, here,” he continued. Once again, Allison was shocked.

“Y-you seriously believe that?” she asked. “What have I done to make you feel that way? I’ve been trying so hard to make you feel comfortable and happy,” she said, her frustration rising. Brian’s breath became slightly labored, this was exactly what he had been trying to avoid. 

“I know that, I-I really do, and I’m so, seriously grateful, I promise it’s nothing you’ve done. It’s… it’s just a fact. You’re so much bigger than me, and you’re the only person who knows I’m even alive, whatever happens to me is entirely up to you,” he continued.

“So, what are you implying, Brian? Because of that, you’re afraid to upset me because I might hurt you, is that it?” Allison asked.

Brian did not respond.

“You can’t be serious… I would never hurt you, Brian, how can you not understand that by now?” she continued.

“It’s only been five days since we’ve met, Allison,” Brian said, his tone becoming slightly firmer as he stopped using her nickname. “People who knew me for a lot longer were very quick to hurt me, and they didn’t have the added advantage of being thousands of times my size. Also…” 

He took a deep breath.

“Those people didn’t have a job where they actually hurt people like me all day, every day.”

Allison didn’t know how to react. Her brain was being pulled in multiple directions. She understood the logic in what he was saying, but she couldn’t accept it emotionally. She herself understood the contradiction between her job and how she was treating Brian, but she had been trying not to confront it. Although she had accepted that she would need to be patient when it came to fully earning Brian’s trust, she was still hopeful that the process wouldn’t take too long. Despite her better efforts, she was becoming impatient.

“I… understand that you… have had bad experiences…” Allison started, trying to consolidate her various thoughts. 

“Bad experiences?” Brian repeated, his tone becoming slightly darker. Allison realised she should have chosen better words.

“You know what I mean, Brian, I wasn’t trying to downplay what you’ve been through. I just mean… you yourself said that I’m the only one who has ever truly believed you. I’m different from those people that have hurt you in the past. I thought you had realised that I would never do what they did,” she continued, trying to rectify her mistake. 

“How am I supposed to know that you’ll continue to feel that way?” Brian asked, his own temper rising.

“Allison, it’s only been five days. How am I supposed to know that you won’t change your mind? Won’t get tired of looking after me all the time? Won’t find some flaw in my personality that you can’t accept, and grow to hate me? How am I supposed to know that? Are you seriously going to fault me for protecting myself?!” he continued, raising his voice.

“Do you seriously think so little of me?” Allison asked, her eyes starting to tear up. “How am I supposed to gain your trust, then? How are we supposed to live together if you’re living in fear that one day I’ll decide to hurt you?”

“I don’t know, Allison. The entire fucking world turned its back on me. Everybody who I was supposed to trust abandoned me. My own mother said I was a disgusting murderer. I’m not saying that you’ve been anything less than wonderful, thoughtful, and accommodating since you’ve brought me back here. I’m… I’m just saying that I’m fucked up, okay?! It’s going to take some fucking time!” he exclaimed, trying to stay his own tears.

Allison took a deep breath. Her sympathy outweighed her anger, and she returned to a more stable mental state.

“Okay, Brian, okay. I understand. It’s just… hard to hear that and not take it personally. I want you to trust me. I promise that I won’t hurt you for any reason, let alone for something as silly as an argument. Please, don’t be afraid of saying what you think, okay? Look, I’ll prove it to you. We’re already talking about this, so please tell me your concerns about my job, okay? I promise I won’t lash out,” she said calmly.

Brian looked up at her. Before he could stop himself, he spoke.

“How am I supposed to accept your kindness when you kill people just like me all day long?” he asked slowly.

“W-what?” Allison asked in disbelief.

“That’s my issue. How am I not supposed to feel guilty? You do so much for me, you make sure I’m safe, healthy, and comfortable, but then go out and squish people all day? Why should I be the only one who gets to survive?” he continued, the floodgates having been opened.

“B-Because you’re innocent, Brian! Obviously, because you’re innocent and they’re not!” Allison exclaimed incredulously. Brian shook his head.

“You don’t know that, Allison. You seriously say with full confidence that I’m the only person who was, is, or ever will be innocent that got the Shrink Penalty?”

“Brian, we just talked about this,” Allison said, “the rules are so strict-”

“Clearly not strict enough!” Brian interrupted. “It happened to me, Allison. It fucking happened. There’s no way around it. The system is not perfect. I am living evidence that it can happen, so how am I supposed to sit here while you’re out there supporting the system that wanted me dead?!”

Allison took a deep breath. She promised not to lash out, but it was becoming difficult.

“Brian, listen to me. I’ve been doing this for six months. You have no idea how many convicts say that they’re innocent, but they’re always lying. You want to know how I know? Because they lie about everything else. They lie about what their actual crime was. Like you noticed, we’re supposed to act like we don’t know what their crime is. The ones who claim innocence always lie about what their crime was. I’m trained in facial and body language recognition, okay? Not to brag, but I’m really fucking perceptive. That’s how I knew you were telling the truth. You were the only one who didn’t care if I believed you,” she said, her thoughts spilling out all at once.

Brian shook his head.

“Allison, you place too much faith in the people running those facilities. The only goddamn reason I got the shrink penalty was because the fucking public wanted it. They literally made up evidence the day I turned 21, just so I could be ‘re-sentenced’ to death. Who the fuck gets ‘re-sentenced’ like that?! It’s bullshit. The judge who sentenced me, the governor who supported the decision, fucking all of it was just to get good press, and support for their fucking reelection campaign. How can you see all of that and claim that something like that has never happened before?” he asked angrily.

“Brian, you’re not listening to me. I just said that I personally am able to tell if they’re lying. I was able to figure out that you were innocent, right?” she asked exasperatedly. Brian shook his head once more.

“No, you knew because you were familiar with my case. You were able to notice everything about it that didn’t make sense. You even said that your own mentor planted those seeds of doubt in your head. You’ve had three years to figure out that I was innocent. Even then, you were literally just about to kill me anyway. Like you said, I didn’t care if you believed me or not. I only said it because I wanted to say it one last time. You can’t come that close to fucking up and claim that your instinct is perfect,” he said.

At that, Allison became slightly angry.

“So, what, then, are you saying I’m a murderer? Are you saying that I’ve killed innocent people?!” she asked angrily. Brian held his head in his hands for a moment.

“I’m saying you can’t fucking know! And even if you haven’t and never will, you work in a facility full of people that might! You’re probably the only person there that would have saved me. Even if you get it right every time, there’s no way in hell that those sadistic freaks do!” he shouted. “How can you work in a place like that, then come home to me and feel like everything is fine?!”

“Because the Shrink Penalty does a lot of good!” Allison exclaimed.

“It gives the worst-of-the-worst what they deserve! A fraction of the pain, suffering, and humiliation that they inflicted on the world! I’m doing the world a fucking favor!” she continued. 

“No, no, no. You don’t believe that. If you did, then you wouldn’t just crush them all within five minutes. That’s no different than any other death penalty. If you truly believed that, you would fucking torture them like the rest of your coworkers,” he replied.

“Shut up! Like you yourself said, you’ve only known me for five days, so who are you to tell me what I believe?!” Allison shouted.

“Allison, I don’t know why you’re a Chevalier. I’m not entirely sure you know either. But there is something seriously wrong with the way you’re treating me while you choose to keep doing that job. I don’t know how I’m supposed to accept your kindness unless we figure out what the hell is going on here,” Brian replied.

“Brian,” Allison said sternly, “I’m very sorry that you don’t like the fact that I enjoy my job, but I fucking do. You said it yourself, it’s none of your business why I chose to become a Chevalier. I’ll tell you one thing: the Shrink Penalty does a lot of good, and I’m not going to abandon that good just because I decided to save you.”

“So, the system is fine even if innocent people die?” Brian asked quietly. Allison sighed.

“Brian, you’re the exception. Your one case doesn’t mean we should shut everything down.”

At that, Brian exploded.

“FUCK YOU! So one innocent man is fine, but what about two, huh?!” he shouted.

“Brian, what-”

“What about three?! Well?! What is the exact number of innocent people getting tortured and killed you’re fine with before it stops being acceptable?!” he continued.

“Brian, that’s not-”

“Okay, so ten innocent deaths is fine, but eleven is the cutoff before the system stops being okay. Are you willing to kill them, then?! Why not round them all up and get it over with all at once, huh?! Then you can come back here and watch movies with me, and I’ll be completely fine with the fact that you murdered ten innocent people while I get to be the only one who fucking lives!”

“FUCK YOU!” Allison screamed. Without thinking, she brought her hand up and swung it towards Brian, as if to slap him. Brian saw the palm racing towards him, and once again resigned himself to death. Allison’s brain caught up to her movement at the last second, though, and she quickly stopped her arm. When she looked, her palm was centimeters from Brian. He was still standing, and looking Allison right in the eye, but his breathing was labored, and there were tears in his eyes. Allison drew her hand back, and stumbled backwards, realising that she very nearly hurt Brian- the one thing she had promised not to do.

He’ll never trust me now, Allison thought. Not only was she reeling from the difficult questions Brian had been raising, she now felt like she had proven his fears to be completely valid. She had almost killed him over an argument, and her brain couldn’t take it.

“I’m… sorry…” she stammered, before running out of the room. Trying to keep from breaking down, she grabbed her bag, keys, and phone, and fled to her car. Her mental state was in tatters, but she felt an overwhelming urge to run away. So she did. Soon enough, she found herself sitting behind the wheel of her car. After a moment of heavy breathing, her face clouded over. As if in a trance, she started the car, and calmly began to drive towards her place of work. 

The apartment had fallen silent. There was no trace of the screaming match that had just occurred. There was only a bed. On this bed was a phone, a cutting board, a folded shirt, and a one inch man who had just collapsed.

 

The silence continued.

 

 

 

 

~

Allison pulled into the parking lot of a supermarket two blocks away from the Silver Strip. She exited the car and began the long walk towards her place of employment. Through all this, not a single thought of substance passed through her mind. She simply continued to move, a clouded look on her face, completely driven by the memory of routine. Soon enough, she was standing before the primary entrance of the Chevalier facility, ready to begin a day of work. 

She passed through the door, making her way towards the device used to clock in. She did so, letting the facility know she was ready to begin a SPAR session at any time. Above the device was a schedule, listing the various times that all Chevaliers would need to report to their SPARs. For the most part, all SPAR sessions were scheduled to happen at coordinated times. Some Chevaliers would be assigned more SPAR sessions than others in a given day, but there was at least one scheduled time where everybody in the building would execute a convict in the same hour. On this particular day, there was only one. This session was at 1:00 PM, leaving Allison with just over four hours to kill. 

Still driven by autopilot, Allison made her way to the side of the building that housed the various “waiting rooms” Chevaliers were allowed to relax in while they waited for their assignments. These rooms were designed to be as lavish and comfortable as possible, and were well known as one of the best perks of being a Chevalier. There was a fitness center, a game room, a mini-theater, among others. Allison mindlessly moved towards her preferred waiting room- the library. The library was the quietest and least frequented waiting room, which made it an ideal hiding spot for Allison. She preferred to keep to herself, avoiding her coworkers and the detailed recounts of their SPAR sessions. Allison soon found herself in her favorite spot, where she was practically guaranteed to find isolation- a large, comfortable chair located in a hidden corner of the room. Soon, the rustling of her movement was replaced by a blanket of silence, and Allison Starr was alone once more.

As if a nerve had been triggered by the overwhelming silence, Allison suddenly regained her awareness. Almost immediately, her mind was assaulted by guilt, confusion, fear, and sadness. The full weight of her argument with Brian came crashing down on her at once, and she felt like she was going to collapse.

I almost killed him, Allison thought. At this realization, a cacophony of thoughts overtook her mind.

I almost killed him.

He hates me.

He’ll never trust me again.

What am I doing?

Why am I here?

I almost killed him.

Please stop.

“Allie… why are you a Chevalier?”

I don’t know. Please stop.

“How can you work in a place like that, then come home to me and feel like everything is fine?!”

I don’t know. Please stop.

“You seriously say with full confidence that I’m the only person who was, is, or ever will be innocent that got the Shrink Penalty?”

I DON’T KNOW!

Allison closed her eyes, and put her head in her hands. She was breathing heavily, and she could feel a growing heaviness behind her eyes. In the span of five minutes, she had been forced to confront the cracks in her worldview, and she was having trouble sorting through all the questions and emotions flooding through her mind as a result.

Truthfully, Allison knew something was wrong with the Shrink Penalty the moment Brian Bentley had been re-sentenced to death. Not only was the government changing their previous definition of a “worst-of-the-worst criminal” by sentencing somebody who had only killed a single person, the decision seemed entirely fueled by public outrage. Combined with the revelation that Brian was actually innocent, it took but a light poke to shatter her worldview entirely.

Brian is right, Allison thought, how would I know if a convict was innocent? How would anybody? What the hell have I been doing?

Her mental state stabilized for the time being, Allison raised her head and took a deep breath. She replayed all of her previous SPAR sessions in her head, thinking about the dozens of times in which a convict claimed to be innocent. She was not lying when she said that they almost always lied about what their crime was, but these memories were suddenly painted with a layer of conspiratorial doubt.

What if they weren’t lying? What if their file had been tampered with to make it look like they were lying? How would I know?!

Allison slapped her cheeks a few times.

Calm down, Allie. Give yourself some credit. I am extremely perceptive- everybody has always said that, right? I studied psychology, body language and facial expression recognition, sociology, criminology, right?! I could tell- those assholes were always fucking lying!

She gave a small sigh, her confidence briefly restored. However, that confidence was quickly replaced by a blood-chilling realisation.

What about the ones who never claimed to be innocent? What if they were innocent, but didn’t even want to bother trying to convince me because they knew I would never believe them?

Allison continued this way for a while, bouncing back and forth between reassuring herself and coming up with conspiracy theories. She soon found herself blankly staring at a bookshelf in the distance, her thoughts having imploded into a numbing sense of melancholy.

“What am I supposed to do?”

~

Her silence disturbed by some vague noises in the distance, Allison checked the time. She saw that it was 12:50, almost time for the scheduled SPAR session.

No matter what, I have to get this session done. I can figure everything else out after, Allison thought. Giving herself a resolved nod, she gathered her things and exited the waiting room. Soon, she found herself standing outside the door which led into the silver hallway that housed all of the SPARs. This door was one of two, the other one located on the opposite end of the hallway. Seeing as how Allison’s SPAR was directly opposite the door in front of her, she naturally used that one every time. However, an unknown force compelled her to keep walking.

Soon enough, Allison was standing in front of the other door, her hand reaching for the handle. Moving inside, Allison was now at the opposite end of the metal hallway. She slowly began the long walk towards her SPAR, still slightly confused as to why she didn’t use her usual entrance. Looking to her left, she could see the repeating metal doors, each one leading to a chamber of death. Standing outside each door, waiting for their respective lights to go from red to green, were people of all shapes and sizes. These people were her fellow Chevaliers, and Allison found herself examining each one as she moved towards her own SPAR. As she did, a growing sense of uneasiness overtook her senses.

Allison saw an early-twenties, attractive young woman, earbuds in as she checked her phone. Allison noticed that she was holding what looked to be a gym bag, the faintest trace of body odor permeating the surrounding air. Thinking about whatever smelly, sweaty fate awaited that woman’s shrunken convict, Allison could only think one thing:

What if they’re innocent?

Allison saw a mid-thirties man. He looked like the kind of neighborhood dad who would man the grill at barbecue parties. He was examining some kind of multi-tool pocket knife, running his fingers along the various blades, screwdrivers, and bottle openers. Thinking about whatever sharp, bloody fate awaited that man’s shrunken convict, Allison could only think one thing:

What if they’re innocent?

Allison saw a middle-aged woman. She looked like the enthusiastic leader of a neighborhood church group. Her clothes were bright pastel colors, all neatly and meticulously pressed to give a clean, innocent appearance. She was happily perusing a Bible as she waited. A hard cover Bible. Thinking about whatever brutal, preachy fate awaited that woman’s shrunken convict, Allison could only think one thing:

What if they’re innocent?

Allison saw an older, overweight man. His thin, greased-back hair glistened under the harsh overhead lights. Ignoring the judgmental looks of those around him, he fiddled with a bottle of pills. Looking closer, Allison saw that it was a bottle of Viagra. It was already taking effect, if the state of his pants was anything to go on. Allison shivered. Thinking about whatever disgusting, sticky fate awaited that man’s shrunken convict, Allison could only think one thing:

What if they’re innocent?

Allison continued along this way- examining the various Chevaliers, imagining their chosen methods of executions, and wondering what would happen if their convict was innocent. Soon enough, she approached her own SPAR, her face pale and her stomach turning. Before she could reach her destination, though, Allison was intercepted by a certain Chevalier who was very excited to see her again.

“Allie!” rang out a cheerful, girlish voice. Allison found herself wrapped up in a giant hug, long arms squeezing her frame tightly.

“How was your four day weekend?” asked Cathy, overjoyed to see her friend again.

“F-Fine…” Allison choked out, her head slightly spinning.

“Was it? I’m so happy to hear that. You deserved a nice, long rest. I missed you so much, though! Did you do anything fun?” Cathy asked, finally releasing Allison from her bear hug before turning to face her. Who Cathy was met with, though, was far from the neat, professional young woman she was expecting.

Cathy could instantly tell that something was wrong. Although Allison was not dressed any different than usual, she looked ill. Her face was pale, and her eyes were sunken and lifeless.

“What’s wrong, Allie?” asked Cathy. “You look sick. Are you going to throw up?”

Allison started to reply. “I-I’m fi-”

“Because if you are going to throw up, you should totally save it for your bug. That would be hilarious,” interrupted Cathy with a laugh. She expected Allison to react as she normally would to that kind of teasing- a disgusted noise, and a scrunched up face. However, Allison simply stood there, her eyes remaining blank as she continued to take irregular breaths. It was then that Cathy understood that something was very wrong.

“Allie, something’s not right. Are you okay?” she asked, her tone becoming deadly serious. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Allison did not respond.

“Alright, we’re going to the hospital. Come with me,” Cathy started, before grabbing Allison’s hand and moving towards the door. At that moment, though, Allison snapped back to awareness.

“N-No! I’m fine, Cathy. I’m sorry, I just spaced out for a second. I d-didn’t sleep very well.”

Cathy released Allison’s hand and returned to her original spot, her face expressing strong concern for Allison’s wellbeing.

“Are you sure, Allie? I mean this in the nicest of ways, but you look awful,” Cathy said, before checking Allison’s head for a fever. Allison shook her head.

“I’m sure. I’m sorry to worry you,” she said. At that, Cathy’s expression softened a bit. 

“It’s just…” Allison started, her face darkening.

“What is it, sweetie?” Cathy asked.

“Cathy… do you think anybody innocent has ever gotten the Shrink Penalty?” replied Allison. Her doubts had boiled over, and she simply had to ask it out loud.

Cathy let out a boisterous laugh.

“As if! What the hell are you talking about, Allie?” Cathy asked jovially. When she looked back at Allison though, Cathy saw that she was completely serious. She looked like a little girl asking her Mom if Santa was real. Cathy changed her tone.

“Why are you asking that, Allie?” she asked softly. “Are you seriously worried about that?”

Allison quickly made up a lie.

“I just… I accidentally saw some Anti-SP propaganda on the internet the other day, talking about how innocent people might get the Shrink Penalty. I guess it just… stuck in my mind, for some reason.”

Cathy shook her head disappointingly.

“Allie, you can’t let that stuff get to you. Those ‘humanitarian’ crybabies just want everybody to be able to get away with anything. They’ll say whatever they can to make you think any form of accountability is cruel,” Cathy said, as if lecturing a student. “You know how strict everything is around here. Since the punishment is so severe, everything is under intense scrutiny to make sure that kind of thing never happens.”

That’s exactly what I told Brian, Allison thought.

“So please, babe, don’t lose any sleep over silly questions like that. We’re giving these bugs exactly what they deserve- a fraction of the pain, suffering, and humiliation that they inflicted on the world,” Cathy continued.

That’s exactly what I told Brian, Allison thought again.

“I know, Cathy,” Allison started, “It’s just-”

“BZZZZZZZZT”

At that exact moment, harsh buzzing sounds rang out across the hallway. Looking at the source of the noises, Allison and Cathy noticed that every SPAR had unlocked, the green lights shining brightly above them. The convicts were soon to be delivered, and the sessions were about to begin. Cathy turned back to Allison.

“Look, Allie, we don’t have time to finish this conversation. You really don’t look well, though…” she started, trying to figure out the best course of action. After a moment, she let out a frustrated sigh.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you should squish your bug right away. Get it over with, and use the rest of the hour to calm down, okay?” she said. Allison weakly nodded.

“Here’s a breathing exercise I learned. It’s called ‘box breathing.’ Exhale all the breath in your lungs while counting to four. Then, hold your breath like that while counting to four. Then, inhale slowly while counting to four, and hold it like that while counting to four. Rinse and repeat. Can you do that for me, Allie?” Cathy asked, demonstrating along the way.

Allison repeated Cathy’s instructions.

“Good girl. If you’re having trouble calming down, just focus on doing that, okay? We’ll talk after the session,” Cathy said, before giving Allison another hug. They then both entered their respective SPARs, and Allison soon found herself alone in the familiar metal room.

~

Allison approached the metal desk with great trepidation.

Just get it over with, she thought, trying to motivate herself. You don’t even need to ask his name. Nobody will know. Just squish him and be done with it.

Sitting in her chair, Allison opened the cabinet underneath the desk, and pulled out a document. The document was simple- it listed three things, and contained a picture. The picture was of a large, burly man. He was bald, and his long, thin beard started from his chin and reached down to the base of his neck. His small, dark brown eyes bordered on black, and he was looking into the camera as if he was trying to pick a fight with the viewer. The three things were as follows:

NAME: Frank Turner

CRIME: Hate crimes, murder of four adult men

METHOD OF EXECUTION: (blank)

Allison stared at the document, absorbing the information.

Quadruple murderer, Allison thought. This is no different than any other session. 

Steeling her resolve, Allison returned the document to the cabinet, closed it, and neatly folded her hands on the desk. Although she tried to erase any traces of nervousness in her face and body language, it was not going well. Her face was still pale, and her neatly folded hands were ever so slightly shaking.

Suddenly, yet another harsh buzzing sound rang out across the room, causing Allison to flinch.

That awful buzzer is still loud. This is no different than any other session.

Immediately after, the strange two inch door retreated into the wall, leaving a small hole in its stead.

That weird-ass door still retreated into the wall. This is no different than any other session. 

Then, propelled by an unseen force, a small figure came flying into the room, face planting onto the desk below it. 

The convict still came flying in. This is no different than any other session. 

It was a man. Only, this man was one inch tall, and completely naked.

The convict is still small and naked. This is no different than any other session. 

Just like that, the session began.

The man squirmed for a few moments, before shakily rising to his feet. He shook his head a few times, as if to clear a mental fog. Allison now understood that convicts did this because they were not shrunken down until the moment before they were sent to a Chevalier. It had to be rather disorienting. Then, the convict opened his eyes.

As Joe had been before him, the man was instantly awed by the immense scale of his new environment. Unlike Joe, though, Allison was immediately in his line of sight, and her overwhelming enormity caused him to shriek and take a few steps back. He quickly regained himself, however, deeply embarrassed that he let out such a pathetic noise.

Allison looked upon him silently. Not wanting this to last any longer than it had to, she was desperately willing her hands to reach out, grab the convict, and drop him to the floor. Her hands were not cooperating, though, frozen by fear and doubt. Allison simply sat there, her face pale and her eyes wide.

The man took in the features of his giant would-be-executioner. Once he got over the initial shock of her unbelievable size, he found himself facing a young, attractive woman who looked to be scared out of her mind. Curiosity and a sense of false confidence compelled him to make the first move.

Allison watched as the shrunken man’s expression changed from fearful to aggressive. He puffed himself up, trying to look as intimidating as possible for somebody so small. He then spoke, his voice low and gravelly.

“Lady, I think I’m the one who’s supposed to be afraid of you.” 

Allison saw red.

“FUCK YOU!” she screamed. Without thinking, she brought her hand up and swung it towards the convict, as if to slap him. He saw the palm racing towards him, and his consciousness was overtaken by the crushing weight of primal fear. Allison’s brain did not catch up with her movement, and her palm made contact with the insignificant man.

After the smallest sound of a thump, the man went flying across the room at a breakneck speed. His consciousness having already faded after the initial slap, he was not able to even scream as his body sailed towards one of the metal walls. With a sickening splat, he made contact with the wall. His body instantly exploded, blood splattering across the wall as if it had been hit with a water balloon filled with ketchup. A small lump of nondescript guts and bone fell to the floor with a small slap, and the deed was done. Frank Turner was dead, executed by a Chevalier. Allison had not asked him even a single question, and she was now alone once more. Above the door, a timer showed that exactly 59 minutes were left before the session would end.

Allison’s response was instant and electrifying. She screamed, thoroughly disturbed by her own act of brutality. She covered her mouth with her hand, and instantly felt the sensation of liquid on her face. Looking down, she saw that the hand she had used to slap the convict had a little of his blood on it- blood that was now staining her face.

Allison couldn’t take it. She rushed over to the toilet installed in the SPAR and vomited, before frantically wiping her mouth with some nearby toilet paper. She began to tear up as hundreds of disturbing thoughts invaded her mind at once.

I killed him.

I almost did that to Brian.

What if he was innocent?

I’m a murderer.

I killed him

I didn’t even ask what his crime was.

What if he had told the truth?

I almost did that to Brian.

I need Brian.

I’m a murderer. 

I don’t want to be here.

Let me out!

Allison quickly stood to her feet and ran over to the metal door. She was now fully crying, and she began to bang on the cold surface.

“Let me out! I already killed him! It’s done! I fucking murdered him, are you happy?! Let me out! Let me the fuck out! It’s already done! LET ME THE FUCK OUT!” she screamed. She continued to bang on the door, despite knowing that nobody was around to let her out, and nobody would hear her screaming through the quadruple-soundproofed walls. She continued to pound against the door, though, desperately screaming for somebody to let her out while her fists turned redder and redder.

Eventually, she gave up, sinking to her knees in front of the metal door. The tears still flowing, she looked to the right. There, she saw the horrifying stain that used to be her shrunken convict. At this sight, her frantic and squeamish mind caused her to rush back to the toilet and vomit once more. Then, she crawled over to a corner, head buried in her knees as she continued to sob.

“I’m a murderer…” she softly cried.

“Brian… Brian, please help me…” she called into the silence, desperately trying to calm herself down by thinking of the happy days she spent with Brian. All that entered her mind was the argument, though, and how she had almost killed the man she was coming to love. At that, she only cried harder.

“Brian…”

~

The timer reached zero. Accompanied by the distinct sound of a door being unlocked, the red light above the door dimmed, and the green one lit up. The session was over, and Allison was free to leave the room. Although she was no longer loudly sobbing thanks to Cathy’s breathing technique, the tears were still flowing, and her mind was no less distressed. She rose to her feet, quickly grabbed her things, and ran towards the door. She had forgotten to write down the details of the execution on the document, but at that moment she couldn’t have cared less.

Allison flung the metal door open and rushed towards the exit. She felt an overwhelming urge to flee the facility and go back home. Just as she was frantically opening the exit door, she heard a voice call out behind her.

“Allie! What’s wrong? Where are you going?! Wait!”

Ignoring Cathy’s distressed cries, Allison continued to rush towards the outside. Hardly sparing a moment to breathe, Allison continued to run away. Soon enough, she was sitting behind the wheel of her car, breathing heavily.

She knew that she couldn’t very well drive like this, so she took a few moments to get her mental state under control. Since she was no longer in the facility, this became a much easier task. Once again using Cathy’s breathing technique, she calmed herself down to the point where she could think coherently. Continuing to breathe heavily, Allison wiped her face and put her key in the ignition. After taking one last deep breath, she started the car, and began to drive home.

~

Allison was standing outside the door of her apartment. She was holding her key out, just centimeters from the lock. She was not moving, though. Her eyes were simply staring straight ahead at the wood of the door.

How am I going to face him? she thought. I almost killed him. He must hate me.

Letting out a resigned sigh, she unlocked the door and entered the apartment.

“I’m home…” she declared to the empty room, sad that nobody was there to answer her.

However…

“Welcome home, Allie,” said a small voice.

Allison turned towards the source of the noise- the small table adjacent to the front door. There, leaning against the potted plant, was a young man with messy black hair and striking green eyes. Brian Bentley had welcomed Allison home- a small, sad smile on his face.

“Brian…?” Allison said. “W-what are you doing there? How did you…”

“I climbed the string,” he replied, pointing to the string that was taped to the table. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“But… why? I almost… don’t you hate me?” she asked softly. Brian shook his head.

“Allie, why don’t you put your stuff down? We can talk once you get settled,” Brian said. Allison weakly nodded, and began to remove her jacket.

Soon, the pair was in the bedroom. Allison was sitting on the floor, nestled in the space between her bed and her nightstand. Brian was perched on said nightstand, his legs dangling over the edge. Allison was having a hard time making eye contact, while Brian was simply looking at her with a gentle smile. Allison opened her mouth to talk first.

“Um… Brian, I-”

“Let me stop you right there,” Brian started. “I’m sorry, Allie.”

Allison was shocked.

He’s… sorry? But I almost hurt him! she thought.

“What…?” Allison asked.

“I said I’m sorry. About this morning,” he replied.

“Why, though? I almost…” she started. Brian held one hand up to stop her.

“I shouldn’t have ambushed you like that. I was trying too hard to spare your feelings, and I bottled up my anger. I should have just talked to you from the beginning. I shouldn’t have made you need to bring it up to me. I’m truly sorry, Allie,” he elaborated.

Allison was stunned. Brian’s kind apology simultaneously whacked her in the heart and lifted a weight from her shoulders. She could feel the tears begin to return, but she needed to ask one more thing before she could fully embrace his apology.

“I almost hurt you, though… I promised that I would never hurt you over something as silly as an argument, and then I went and almost killed you. How… how can you not hate me?” she asked slowly. Brian softly smiled in response.

“You didn’t, though. That’s what matters to me. I pushed you too hard, and you were able to stop yourself. Thank you, Allie,” he said. “I could never hate you.”

At that, Allison couldn’t hold in the tears anymore. She cried in relief, repeatedly thanking Brian for his apology while professing her own guilt over what had happened. Brian simply sat there, telling Allison that he forgave her as many times as she wanted to hear it. She took Brian in her palms and held him close to her chest, giving him some kind of hug while at the same time trying to avoid showering him in her tears, unbelievably happy that they were still friends.

Brian was back on the nightstand, while Allison got herself under control.

“Thank you, Brian. Thank you so much. I promise to move slowly in gaining your trust from now on, I should have been more patient. Even though you’re trying to spare my feelings, I know that what happened today probably set me back a bit. I’ll try to do better,” Allison said.

“Thank you, Allie. Thank you for everything you have done for me. From now on, I’ll try not to be so scared about voicing my opinion. In the future, I should just be honest with you right away. I’ll try to do better,” Brian replied.

Having both apologized, and stated their goals for the future, the strange pair broke out in huge smiles. They had made up.

~

Some time had passed. Neither of them had moved from their positions, and they had just been talking for a while. Eventually, though, Allison wanted to broach a difficult subject.

“Um… Brian, about the whole Chevalier thing…” she started.

Brian did not respond, he just silently encouraged her to go on.

“You were right. The Shrink Penalty is flawed. I think I’ve known that since the day you got ‘re-sentenced,’ but I was trying not to think about it. I shouldn’t have taken my insecurities on you. I just… I don’t know what to do. All I could think about today was if any of the convicts were innocent, and how I would never know. I couldn’t think straight,” she said.

“Did you… have a session today?” Brian asked hesitantly. Allison nodded, her face darkening.

“What happened? I promise not to judge or get angry,” he continued.

“I k-killed him. I killed him right away. I couldn’t take it, and I started to panic. I got sick, I banged on the door, I cried, I just couldn’t take it,” she said, tearing up at the memory. Brian’s face was overtaken with pure sympathy.

“I’m so sorry, Allie…” he said softly.

“I hate it,” said Allison. “I fucking hate it. I hate that damn metal room. I hate that awful table. I hate my coworkers. I hate talking to convicts. I hate squishing them. I fucking hate everything!” she continued, her voice growing angrier and angrier.

“Allie…” started Brian. “I asked you this before, but I want to know the truth this time, okay?”

Allison softly nodded, knowing what was coming next.

“Why are you a Chevalier?” he asked gently.

Allison closed her eyes, and began to talk in a small voice.

“I… I told you that I was in love once. It was because of him. It’s just… he was so… it wasn’t just that it didn’t end well, h-he… he hurt-”

“It’s okay, Allie,” Brian said. Allison took a deep breath.

“He drove everybody in my life away. He completely isolated me until all I had was him. Then… something really bad happened, and he left,” Allison continued. Brian nodded in understanding.

“I was completely alone. I had nothing. That’s when I was offered the job. They said I would have good pay, very few commitments, and complete anonymity.”

“So, that’s why you became a Chevalier?” Brian asked.

“No. I became a Chevalier because… I wanted revenge. I wanted to get revenge against him,” Allison replied.

“Did you?” he asked.

“No.”

Brian nodded again.

“Why didn’t you quit, then?”

Allison sat in silence once more.

“It took me a while to figure out that being a Chevalier wasn’t helping me. By then, everybody who wasn’t completely driven away by him had abandoned me because I was a Chevalier. My own mother… they all told me not to contact them anymore,” she said sadly.

“Mmm. Tell me about it,” Brian said. Allison looked up, and saw that he had a sly grin on his face. At that, she gave a small laugh, before immediately covering her mouth with her hand.

“I just… the longer I waited, the harder it was for me to think about quitting. How could I ever go back to a normal job after being a Chevalier for so long?” she said, her face darkening once more.

“I don’t deserve it. I’ve killed so many people… even if they were the worst-of-the-worst, they were still people, and I killed them,” she continued.

“Oh god…” she started, burying her face in her knees as she realized something. “I kept killing people because I was too scared to quit… I’m a monster, I’m a murderer… I’m awful…”

Allison’s shoulders began to shake. Brian could tell that she was crying again. His heart fractured. He wanted nothing more than to give her a hug, to wrap her up in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. He couldn’t. For the first time, Brian was truly lamenting the fact that he was only one inch tall.

“I’m not a bad person… I never wanted to be a bad person… please believe me, I’m not a bad person…” Allison weakly called out. Brian steeled his spine and opened his heart, for he knew what needed to be done.

“Allie,” he said softly.

Allison did not respond, she only continued to cry.

“Allie, look at me,” he repeated, coaxing her to look at him with the ever so gentle sound of his voice.

Allison locked eyes with Brian, and he decided that, even if the world might hate him for it, he needed to look right in her soul and say three terrifying words.

“I believe you.”

~

Allison looked at him questioningly. Brian continued to speak.

“I believe you, Allie. You’re not a bad person. A bad person wouldn’t have saved me. You got caught in a vulnerable moment, and you eventually felt like you were too stuck to get out. That doesn’t make you a bad person. That makes you human.”

Allison’s heart exploded. Those were the exact words she had needed to hear for a long time, and she felt like her soul had been liberated. Although her face was still stained with tears, she was flashing the most radiant, grateful, and beautiful smile Brian had ever seen. At the sight of her smile, he felt something unfamiliar stir in his stomach, making his whole body glow with warmth.

“Thank you,” said Allison. Nothing more needed to be said, and a wonderful silence fell upon the room. Allison wiped her face with a nearby tissue, and reclined against the wall. She let out an enormous sigh, releasing all the sadness and guilt that had built up over the previous six months. Allison was now experiencing the same kind of hope that she had given Brian- the hope that she was not alone in her battle against the world.

“You know, Brian,” Allison started, “my goal when I brought you back here was to make you happy.”

Brian smiled.

“I never imagined that the happiness would end up going both ways,” she continued. At that, they both shared a laugh.

“With that in mind, I just came up with a new goal,” she said. Brian raised an eyebrow.

“What might that be?” he asked.

“It’s a secret,” Allison said with a sly grin and a wink.

“Oh, come on-” Brian started. At that moment, the doorbell rang, causing them both to flinch.

“D-Did you order something?” Brian asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Allison shook her head.

“Nope. Must be a salesman,” she said, flashing Brian a reassuring smile.

“I’ll go turn them away, and then let’s see if you can guess what my new goal is.”

She flounced away, leaving Brian to groan as he flopped over on the nightstand.

Allison made her way to the front door, still glowing from her conversation with Brian. She tried to put on a mean face for the salesman, but she simply couldn’t manage it.

Screw it, she thought, before swinging open the door. What she was met with, though, instantly wiped away her good mood.

“Allie!” rang out a concerned, girlish voice. “What the hell happened? Are you okay? Did you go to the hospital? I got out of there as soon as I could!”

Allison was so overwhelmed by Cathy’s barrage of questions that she could hardly complain while Cathy barged into her apartment, hands poking and prodding her all over for signs of sickness or an injury.

“C-Cathy! What the hell?!” exclaimed Allison. Cathy breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, you look a lot better now, at least,” she said.

“Yeah, er, well, like I said, I just didn’t sleep, right? I t-took a nap, and now I’m all good! You really didn’t have to come here,” Allison said, trying to recall her excuse from earlier while simultaneously nudging Cathy out the door. Cathy wasn’t having it, though.

“I’m so glad to hear that, Allie, you have no idea. I’ve never seen you look like that,” she said.

“Yeah, well, thanks for the concern. You can go now,” Allison replied.

“No, no, no, don’t think you’re getting away from me so easily. Even if you’re better now, that doesn’t mean something else isn’t going on. I’m already here, so let’s go out!” Cathy exclaimed. Realizing that Cathy wasn’t going to leave without a fight, Allison began to sweat nervously.

“Thanks, but that’s not really a good idea. I’m… still not feeling, uh, great. I don’t have the energy,” she stammered.

“It’s not like we’re headed to the club or anything, silly. Let’s just go grab some dinner, maybe walk around for a while. Get out of this stuffy place for a while, yeah? You’ll feel way better.” Cathy suggested.

“Cathy, I really-”

“Here’s the plan,” Cathy started. “Let’s go to this awesome italian restaurant. I think one of the waiters has a crush on me, so I get free stuff sometimes. After that, let’s walk to a nice ice cream place nearby. Let’s just go have some fun! I promise, you’ll be feeling better in no time.”

At that, Cathy did a spin for emphasis. Unfortunately for Allison, though, Cathy was not paying attention to her surroundings. As Cathy’s bag spun around, it ran right into the potted plant on the table next to the front door. It went flying, and violently crashed into the floor, breaking the plant pot on impact.

The plant was on the floor, dirt was scattered everywhere, and there were shards of ceramic just waiting for somebody to step on them.

“Shit, Cathy!” Allison cried, before dropping to the floor to try and collect any sharp pieces of ceramic.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I should have looked where I was going,” Cathy apologized.

“It’s fine,” Allison sighed as she began to bunch up the dirt.

“Look, let me help you with that,” Cathy started. “Let me just use the bathroom first, okay? Can you tell me where it is?”

Seriously? She breaks my pot and then demands to use the toilet? Allison thought.

“Down that hall,” Allison grumbled while pointing, too focused on the broken pot to really pay attention.

“Thanks, babe, be right back.”

~

After a couple minutes, the mess was more or less cleaned up. Allison breathed a heavy sigh.

So much for Cathy’s help, then, she thought. The hell is taking her so long?

Still sitting on the floor, she looked in the direction of the hallway, wondering where Cathy was.

At that moment, a realization struck her like a bolt of lightning, freezing her blood while stifling her breath.

The hallway. The bathroom. The bathroom door is next to my bedroom. I didn’t tell her which door. My door is open. Brian. Brian.

“CATHY!” Allison screamed at the top of her lungs. She quickly rose to her feet and began sprinting towards the hallway. When she turned the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks, feeling like she was going to have a heart attack.

There, standing right in front of her, was Cathy. On Cathy’s face was an expression of shock, confusion, anger, and excitement. Her hand was raised and slightly extended. In between her fingers was a small figure. It was a man. This man was one inch tall, completely naked, and he had messy black hair and striking green eyes. It was Brian Bentley.

 

Oh God…

 

 

 

~

Allison was frozen, her heart pounding. Cathy simply stood there, slowly rocking Brian back and forth between her fingers. Her eyes were trained on Allison, waiting to see what she would do. Cathy suddenly tightened her grip on Brian, causing him to make a small noise of discomfort. This brought Allison back into reality, and her mind started going into overdrive.

Calm down, Allie, she thought. I can’t panic. No matter what happens from here on out, I absolutely can’t let my real emotions show. This is a poker game. First, I need to figure out what she’s thinking. 

Putting on her best poker face, Allison decided to speak first.

“Cathy, listen to me…” she started, slowly and calmly. Before she could go on, though, Cathy raised her other hand, signalling Allison to stop.

“Don’t try, Allie, Brian already told me everything,” she said, her gaze ever fixed on Allison.

Brian… told her? Allison wondered. Why would he do that?

At that, her eyes drifted down to the one inch man in Cathy’s grasp. Looking at his face, she felt an unexpected wave of reassurance fall over her.

Seeing as how Brian Bentley was a naturally expressionless person, Allison had learned to read his emotions and thoughts through his eyes. Looking at his eyes right then, as they gazed at her with the intensity of a laser beam, they told her one thing:

Trust me.

Allison could tell that he was trying to put on a brave face for her, but he was secretly terrified. Trusting Brian, she decided to put on an air of smugness, as if nothing Cathy could say would surprise her.

“Oh… r-really?” asked Allison with an awkward smirk, immediately cursing herself for her nervous stutter.

“What exactly did he tell you?” she continued. Cathy gave the smallest of grins.

“Well…” Cathy began, “I accidentally entered the wrong room when looking for the bathroom, and I saw this little pest. The moment he saw me, he immediately began screaming and begging for help.”

Allison was more than a little confused, but she didn’t let it show. She only raised an eyebrow.

“He told me that you smuggled him out of the facility, and you’ve been keeping him here for five days,” she continued.

Allison was shocked.

That’s… the truth. Don’t tell me… does he seriously want to get away from me? she thought. Immediately, though, she remembered Brian’s instruction to trust him, and kept listening.

“Then, he told me all about how you’ve been tormenting and torturing him the whole time. You really should have heard him beg me to take him away from you. It was rather pathetic. Whatever you’ve done, it definitely screwed him up in the head,” Cathy said, a light smirk overtaking her gorgeous face.

There it is, Allison thought. Keeping her face neutral, she looked down at Brian once more. He gave her the smallest of winks, encouraging her to go along with it.

Brian, you’re a fucking genius. This is it. Now, I need to play along with this. Starting now, I’m a secretly sadistic woman who smuggled Brian out with the intent to continuously torture him. For the love of god, don’t let those acting classes go to waste.

Allison let out a small laugh, putting on a lightly arrogant persona. She wanted to combine her nervousness of being caught with a fake air of sadistic glee. She hoped that the persona would appeal to Cathy’s own sadistic nature without raising suspicion.

“He sure was quick to try and escape. Don’t think I’m going to forget that, little one. Unfortunately for you, you really picked the wrong person to ask for help,” she said.

At that, Cathy let out a chuckle, appreciating the irony of the situation. She tightened her grip on Brian again, causing him to squirm in discomfort. It pained Allison to see him in distress, but she knew that she absolutely couldn’t break character, as Cathy was hyper focused on her face. Now that the persona had been established, she decided to press the issue.

“Well, Cathy, you found him. What are you going to do with this information?” she asked. Cathy put one finger to her chin, her gaze never breaking.

“I’m… not sure. It’s a lot to process, Allie,” she said slowly. Allison saw an opportunity to direct the conversation.

“How about we go sit down, then? Let’s have a drink and talk about it,” she suggested. Cathy nodded, her expression slightly clouded. Allison motioned for her to follow, and they all moved into the kitchen. In devastating silence, Allison quickly pulled out some wine glasses. She then opened the fridge and poured some wine. Through it all, she could feel Cathy’s gaze piercing into her soul. Allison was hoping that a drink would loosen Cathy up, and make her less likely to notice any irregularities in her story.

My two goals are this, Allison thought as she poured the wine. I need Cathy to believe that I only kept Brian to torture him, and I need to get her out of the apartment.

Having resolved herself to these goals, she guided Cathy out to the sectional, where they both took a seat. Allison placed the wine glasses on the table in front of them. Cathy leaned in to grab hers, while at the same time extending out the hand that held Brian. She unceremoniously dropped him onto the table below from a small height. What to Cathy was several inches to him was multiple feet, and Brian crashed into the floor with a cry of pain. Once again, Allison forced herself not to react. 

For all I know, everything is a test. She could be doing this just to see if I react with sympathy, she thought.

Having deposited Brian, Cathy grabbed her glass of wine and reclined into the sofa. Her gaze finally moved away from Allison, and settled on Brian. Allison was relieved that she had a little more room to think.

“Well, Allie, start talking,” Cathy said. Allison wanted every moment she could to prepare her answers, so she decided to play coy.

“What do you want me to talk about?” she asked.

“Well, how you ended with this little bug on your table, of course,” Cathy said slowly.

Allison took note of the expression on Cathy’s face. To put it mildly, Cathy looked hungry. Her gaze was simultaneously laser focused and glassed over, as she gazed at Brian while softly biting her lower lip. Allison realized she could use this to her advantage.

She looks desperate for him. She has completely dropped her concern for my health, so she probably isn’t thinking about what happened at the facility today. I can’t let her connect Brian to what happened. If she makes the connection between me asking about innocent convicts and Brian, this is over. I need to keep her attention on Brian, give the wine time to take effect.

“Well…” Allison started, “do you remember what we talked about on the morning of Brian’s SPAR session?”

Cathy pondered for a moment, before her eyes widened in realization.

“Yes… you admitted that you enjoyed being a Chev more than you let on. That’s why you showed up to the facility so early, to catch Brian,” she said. Her tone was soft and serious, a far cry from the bubbly flirtatious woman Allison was used to.

Actually, I was at the facility so early because I was trying to avoid you, Allison thought.

“That’s right, Cathy. I was much more eager to get my hands on Brian than I let on,” she said.

“Why weren’t you just honest with me, Allie?” Cathy asked, a hint of sadness in her voice. Allison quickly came up with a lie.

“Well… I was just embarrassed. It took me a while to figure out that I enjoyed it, and by then I felt like I was pretty committed to acting like I didn’t. I guess I just didn’t want to admit defeat. I’m sorry,” Allison said with a dry chuckle. Cathy reciprocated her chuckle, her eyes still trained on Brian.

“What’s done is done, Allie. At least I know now,” she said. “So, what happened when Brian showed up?”

“Well…” Allison started, “I started off slow… tried the usual thing to get him to come clean, relive his guilt, all that stuff.”

“How’d that work?” Cathy asked.

“Not great. He isn’t guilty in the slightest,” Allison replied. She immediately cursed herself for her choice of words. She really didn’t want to be associating the words not guilty with Brian.

“I-I mean, he told me it didn’t really bother him. Said it didn’t matter. Really cold blooded, this one,” she quickly elaborated. Cathy made a noise of disapproval, her face slightly tightening in anger.

“Looks like the news was accurate about that one,” she grumbled, “what happened after the pleasantries?”

“I, uh, well, began the session, if you know what I mean,” Allison said nervously. “I beat him around… a bit… threatened to do all kinds of stuff, you know.”

Fuck, I need to be more descriptive if she’s going to believe me, she thought. 

As if to confirm her fears, Cathy finally looked away from Brian, a suspicious look in her eyes.

Shit! I need to draw the conversation away from this.

“A-Anyway, before I knew it there were only five or so minutes left. The hour went by way too quickly, you know?” Allison quickly said.

“Mmm. I know how that feels,” Cathy said, before looking back at Brian. Allison was relieved.

“So, I was getting ready to execute him, but I just couldn’t do it. Not only was I far from satisfied, but one measly hour didn’t seem like enough for the infamous Brian Bentley. So, I… well, like he said, I smuggled him out,” she said. At that, she nervously waited for Cathy’s response. This was the crucial moment. Allison had admitted to the crime, and she had to see how Cathy would react.

After a terrifying silence, Cathy turned back to Allison.

“Can I be honest with you, Allie?” she asked. Allison’s blood ran cold.

She didn’t believe me. This is over, she thought. She nodded in response. Cathy leaned in close.

“I had thought about doing the same thing myself,” she whispered in a sultry tone.

Allison’s brain was pulled in multiple directions. She was happy that Cathy seemingly bought it, but also shocked that Cathy had actually thought about doing it.

“Y-You’re kidding,” Allison replied, struggling to maintain her persona.

“Not one bit, Allie,” Cathy said, before pulling away and looking at Brian once more.

“I’m more than a little surprised that you actually did it, though,” she continued.

Reclaiming her persona, Allison flashed a slightly dangerous smile.

“Me too. I’ve learned a lot about myself in these past five days,” she said. Cathy laughed, clearly amused by Allison’s declaration, before taking another sip of wine. To Allison’s relief, Cathy had been sipping her wine throughout the conversation, and she was hoping that it would be taking effect soon.

“I’m proud of you, Allie. I’ll have to give you some tips later on. So, how exactly did you smuggle him out?” she asked, turning to face Allison with a curious smile on her face.

Instinctively, Allison blushed a bright crimson, which caused Cathy to cackle. After she calmed down, Allison reluctantly pointed to her breasts, which caused Cathy to laugh once more. Allison wondered if the wine was making her more giggly.

“Between your boobs? Oh, that’s hilarious. I bet he just loved that.”

They both glanced at Brian, who through all this had remained silent, tracking the conversation with his eyes.

Allison noticed that he had a peculiar expression on his face. Naturally, he looked scared, but there were a few other emotions thrown in there as well. He looked guilty, as if in penance for trying to escape. He looked embarrassed, as if recalling the sensation of being between Allison’s breasts. He also looked frustrated, as if lamenting his bad luck that Cathy wouldn’t help him. 

He’s playing a role, too, Allison realized. All of those emotions were false. He had only pretended to try and escape, he hadn’t cared about being between Allison’s breasts, and he must have somehow known that Cathy wouldn’t want to help him.  

I’m playing the role of the sadistic kidnapper, he’s playing the role of the tortured child murderer.

Brian looked in Allison’s direction, and she gave him the smallest of winks, as if to encourage him to keep it up.

We can do this, Brian, Allison thought, let’s keep this play going.

Suddenly, Cathy realized something.

“Oh! That’s why you didn’t want me hugging you and jumping around back then!” she exclaimed, before cracking up once more. Allison forced herself to laugh as well, awkwardly confirming Cathy’s suspicions. After calming down, Cathy kept going.

“So, that’s how you got him here, what happened next?” she asked, her eyes sparkling. Allison noticed that she was definitely loosening up. Once again, she decided to play coy.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“What have you done to him in the last five days?” Cathy elaborated.

Allison’s blood ran cold.

Shit, she thought, I need to come up with some torture ideas.

She sat in silence for a moment, desperately trying to unlock the sadistic part of her brain. She could tell that Cathy was getting impatient.

Shit, I need more time! I need to stall.

“Oh, come on, Cathy…” Allison said shyly. “You’re gonna make me talk about that? It’s so embarrassing…”

Cathy groaned.

“Oh, please. You can’t lock up on me now. You can't tell me that you’ve had him for five days and not tell me what you’ve done to him. Spill it, sister,” she said.

She’s right, if I don’t tell her something it will be suspicious, Allison thought. I need more fucking time! I can’t be sadistic under pressure!

At that, she glanced at Brian. He was looking at her with a determined look in his eyes. Allison realized that he was asking her to let him take over, and she felt a wave of gratitude wash over her

Thank you, Brian. I love you, she thought, not even realizing that she just declared her love for him.

“What about you, little man, why are you so quiet? What, you afraid to relive all the fun stuff we’ve done together? Why don’t you tell my friend here all about it?” she said. Brian started to speak, but he was abruptly hushed.

“Be quiet, bug, the humans are talking,” Cathy said sternly. Brian promptly shut his mouth.

“Wait… Cathy, are you the reason he’s been so quiet?” Allison asked. Cathy gave a sly grin.

“Well, let’s just say I gave him a strong incentive to be quiet. I got rather tired of his endless begging,” she said. Allison suddenly became very angry.

What… the fuck… did you do to him? she thought angrily. It became very hard to maintain her persona, but she somehow pulled through.

“Anyway, Allie, you were saying?” Cathy said. Just like that, the pressure was back on.

Shit, why can’t I think like this under pressure?! The same thing happened when I first met Brian! she thought. 

At that, she remembered something.

Wait… the same thing happened with Brian, but then I thought of a whole bunch of things once I got angry. What did I threaten to do to him, again?

“Well, I told him all about how I usually just squish them under my feet. I let him think I was actually going to do it a few times. I would put my foot or shoe on him, and slowly increase the pressure, you know,” she started.

“Mmm…” Cathy said, clearly engrossed.

“I also did that, but with my hands. I brought my fist down right on him, tried to smother him under my palm, that kind of stuff. I sat on him a lot. I made sure it was bad enough to hurt, but not enough to kill. I, uh… made sure it s-smelled, too,” she continued, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable due to her graphic descriptions. Cathy simply sat there, eyes glistening, encouraging her to go on.

“I stuck him in my shoe a lot. I would feel his tiny body under my toes as I walked around. A-Always my gym shoes, of course. And, uh… well… I did stuff in the t-toilet, too,” she said, her stomach turning. Cathy laughed, amused at the mental image. Allison couldn’t continue down that line of descriptions, though.

“I jammed him up my nose a few times, really made sure he was… c-covered… and, uh, I also put him between my boobs a lot. I squeezed, tried to suffocate him, that kind of thing.”

“W-What else did you… do?” asked Cathy, breathing slightly heavier.

“I… put him in my mouth, a whole bunch,” Allison said. Cathy’s eyes widened.

“I rolled him around, sucked on him, bit him, threatened to swallow him and stuff. So… yeah. That’s the kind of stuff I’ve been doing, okay?” she finished.

Through all this, Allison noticed that Cathy’s hand had been drifting lower and lower. At that moment, it was up against a very delicate spot as Cathy listened intently, clearly hanging onto every word. Allison was already nauseous enough at her own descriptions, but she didn’t want to call Cathy out. She wanted her to remain distracted, so she chose not to bring it up.

“Mmm… not bad, Allie… tell me, though, have you ever used him… sexually?” Cathy asked, enunciating the final word in a breathy tone.

Out of instinct, Allison turned bright red. This was completely accidental, but luckily Cathy took that in a good way.

“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” she said with a giggle. “You don’t need to be embarrassed, Allie, we’re both girls here.”

Allison regained herself, although she refused to look at Brian.

“A-Anyway, it has been that sort of stuff. A lot of it was emotional and mental torment, though. I don’t want to kill or permanently damage my new toy, after all.”

“Oh, Allie… those conditions really limit you, but oh well. I’m still proud,” Cathy said with a grin.

At that, Allison decided to press the important issue. Cathy seemed convinced of Allison’s lie, and the wine seemed to be taking effect. She took a deep breath.

“So, Cathy…” she started. Cathy made a questioning noise.

“What do you think about me smuggling him out? I… committed a pretty serious crime,” Allison said hesitantly. Cathy pondered carefully for a moment.

“Well… I suppose it would be rather hypocritical for me to criticize you for that, wouldn’t it?” she said with a sly grin and a twinkle in her eyes. Allison was perplexed.

What is she…?

The implication dawned on her.

Wait… she can’t be serious…

“Cathy…” Allison said slowly, “are you saying that you’ve…?”

“Who knows?” Cathy said, before taking another sip. Allison was horrified at the suggestion, and she desperately tried to keep her true feelings hidden.

“Allie, what do you think the purpose of the Shrink Penalty is?” Cathy asked.

“What do you mean?” Allison replied, confused at the change of topic.

“I mean, what makes the Shrink Penalty different from the electric chair? Why do people specifically want the worst-of-the-worst to be shrunken down?” Cathy continued. Allison made a questioning noise, her eyes narrowed in confusion. Cathy leaned in close.

“The torture,” she purred.

“People don’t want these criminals to just die, they want them to suffer. The goal is to create as much agony for them as possible, in penance of their disgusting crimes. With that in mind, don’t you think the hour long time limit is somewhat arbitrary?” she asked.

Allison stared at her in horror. Cathy giggled, before draining the rest of her wine.

“I’m gonna go get a refill. Keep an eye on the bug for me, would you?” she said, before standing up.

Once Cathy was out of sight, Allison turned to Brian. She leaned in close, and started to whisper to him. She wanted to get his input, or see if he had a plan. Just when she was about to speak, though, Brian frantically waved his hands. He then put one finger to his lips while shaking his head. Allison quickly understood what he was getting at.

Don’t take the risk, she might be listening.

Allison quietly sighed in frustration, before leaning back. Her face was painted in pure concern, she desperately wanted to make sure that Brian was okay. Perhaps sensing this, Brian gave her a thumbs up and a shaky smile. He then motioned for her to keep going.

Why is he the one reassuring me? Allison thought. No, I need to be the one looking out for him.

At that, she flashed Brian her calmest, most reassuring smile. She then mouthed the words “it’s going to be okay.” 

He gratefully smiled, before quickly returning to his earlier persona. A moment later, Cathy plopped back on the sofa, more wine in hand. Allison prepared herself for more, at least finding some comfort in the fact that Cathy was no longer thinking about what happened at the facility.

“Say, Allie, does little Brian here have anything to do with what happened at the facility?” she asked, before fixing her intense gaze on Allison.

Allison’s blood froze.

Fuck.

“W-What do you mean?” she replied.

“Well, you were so freaked out, and you looked so sick. Don’t think I’ve stopped worrying about you, you know!” Cathy said concernedly, never breaking eye contact.

Fuck, shit, fuck! Does she know? Is this a test? Is that why she’s staring at me?!

She realized that this was the most crucial moment for her to maintain her sadistic persona.

I need to draw the conversation back to Brian. Bring it back to her obsession.

“Yeah, you got me. I was up late ‘experimenting’ with Brian. I wanted to be prepared for today’s session,” she said with a laugh. “I took it too far, and that’s why I felt awful today.”

Cathy returned the laugh, finally breaking eye contact.

“I see, I see,” she said with a giggle.

It worked, Allison thought.

“You seemed more than tired, though, Allie. You looked scared, to be honest. What else were we talking about before the session…?” she asked.

It didn’t work. Fuck, I jinxed it! If she brings up the topic of innocent convicts, we’re dead. What do I do?! What else did we talk about?!

Allison panicked.

“B-Breathing technique!” she exclaimed. Cathy raised an eyebrow at her unexpected outburst. Allison moved quickly to direct the conversation away.

“You were telling me all about ‘box breathing,’ remember?” Allison asked. “Where you breath in and out while counting to four.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Cathy said after a moment.

Keep it going, draw attention away from the conversation itself, Allison thought.

“Yeah, you were telling me about that awesome technique. I tried it out, and it really helped at calming me down during the session,” she continued.

“Oh, Allie, I’m so glad to hear that. I’m happy I could help,” Cathy said with a smile.

“Me, too, Cathy. I don’t say this enough, but thank you for everything you do for me. You've been such an amazing friend since I became a Chev, and I can always count on you for help,” Allison said, hoping to distract her further. Cathy blushed, and set her wine down to give Allison a hug.

“Oh, thank you so much, Allie. You’re so sweet,” Cathy gushed.

This is good, keep it going, Allison thought.

“You know, I actually learned a similar breathing technique once. Well, I’m not sure if it’s really a technique, but it’s a way to focus on your breathing,” she said.

“Oh?” replied Cathy, taking a sip of her wine.

“Yeah, it’s, uh, well what you do is take a deep breath, but focus on expanding your belly instead of your chest. I think I read that it’s better for you,” Allison continued.

“That’s interesting, I’ll have to give that a try,” Cathy said, before setting her glass down.

“Don’t think you can distract from the main issue here, though,” she said.

A pang of fear assaulted Allison’s body, but she was able to maintain her persona.

“What issue might that be?” she asked playfully. Cathy gave Allison an intense, terrifying stare.

“When are you going to let me play with that little bug over there?” she asked.

~

The room went silent. Allison stared at Cathy in shock, while Brian closed his eyes in resignation. He had seen this coming, while Allison had not. Allison managed to keep her cool, though, and decided to act like she had.

“No way, sister,” she said with a dismissive laugh. “Brian is mine, and mine alone. I don’t share my toys.”

Cathy groaned, and gave her a condescending smile.

“Oh, please, Allie. Sharing is half the fun in times like these. You really think it’s okay to hog such a tiny, delicious, awful, disgusting child murdering bug all to yourself? This is the Brian Bentley!” she said. “Don’t forget, the whole point of this is to make him suffer, and I can do it so much better than you. No offense.”

Allison shook her head.

“The answer is no. I can’t trust him with anyone else, especially you. No offense,” she replied. At that, Cathy dropped her lighthearted tone, and suddenly became stern.

“Allie, this is Brian Bentley. He is the one bug I’ve wanted to play with more than anything else. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I found out he was going to the Silver Strip, and then how angry I was that you got him. This is my chance to live out my greatest wish, and I simply must have a taste.”

Allison did not respond, even in the face of Cathy’s terrifying gaze. Cathy suddenly lightened up.

“Come on, Allie. It’s not like I’m asking to borrow him, I just want to have a little fun! It can be right now, just let me have a little session with him?” she asked.

Allison did not respond.

“What about ten minutes? Just ten minutes? Come on, please?” she continued, sidling up to Allison like a cat. 

Allison did not respond. At that, Cathy retreated to her original position, and pulled out her phone with a teasing grin on her face.

“Well, if I can’t convince you, then maybe I should just give someone down at the Silver Strip a little call?” she asked playfully.

Allison’s blood froze.

“Y-You would seriously do that?” she asked nervously. Cathy grinned even wider.

“I wonder…” she replied, waving her phone around as if it was a magic wand.

I genuinely can’t tell if she’s joking or not, Allison thought. Her mind was racing through all the possible scenarios. Breaking out in a cold sweat, she looked down at Brian. What she saw broke her heart.

He was shaking. For the first time, Allison couldn’t tell if he was acting or not. He was simply staring straight ahead, a look of dread on his face. Sensing Allison’s gaze, he looked up at her. He took a deep breath, and gave her the smallest hint of a smile. He was giving her his permission. His eyes were saying “I can take it.”

No, Brian, you really can’t! she thought. God fucking damn it, what am I supposed to do?!

“Come on, Allie…” Cathy cooed, “what’s ten minutes versus never seeing him again?”

Allison closed her eyes.

I’m so sorry, Brian.

“F-Fine… t-ten minutes…” she said. Cathy beamed.

“Perfect…” Cathy said, slow and seductive. “Where can I take him?”

“Wait!” Allison exclaimed. “I have some conditions. One, you can’t do it alone.”

“Aww, why?” Cathy whined.

“It goes into my other conditions. You can’t kill him, or permanently injure him. I can’t trust you to follow those rules, so I need to be there to make sure you do,” Allison continued.

“Oh, come on, Allie, you know I would n-”

“Catherine,” Allison said, loudly and sternly. Cathy stared at her for a moment.

“Fair enough. In that case, why don’t we do it together?”

Allison was caught off guard.

“What?” she asked incredulously. “W-Why should I have to participate?”

“It’ll be the first two-Chev session extravaganza! It’ll be fun, and you can learn directly from the master!” Cathy exclaimed.

“No, Cathy, I really don’t want to play with him,” Allison replied. Cathy looked puzzled.

“Okay, so first you say that I can’t play with him because only you are allowed to, but then I offer to let us play with him together, and you say no? Which is it, Allie?” she asked frustratedly.

Shit, she’s right, Allison thought. This could be my chance to prove that I’ve been actually torturing him. If I decline, it’ll look suspicious.

She took a breath.

But I don’t want to fucking torture him! I promised that I would never hurt him! This fucking sucks! Why did I let her in?! Why did I leave my door open?! Why did I let her use the bathroom?! Why didn’t I fucking think?! FUCK!

While Allison was having her internal freak out, she once again looked at Brian. He was staring right at her, his gaze more intense than she had ever seen from him before. His face, his eyes, his body language, they were all screaming one thing:

I trust you, Allie.

Allison closed her eyes in resignation.

“Fine, Cathy. We’ll do it together. But I swear to god, it will only be ten minutes.”

Cathy smiled even wider.

“Cross my heart, babe. I’ll prove to you that I can be a good girl. Maybe next time that means you’ll give me more,” she happily said with a wink.

Next time?! Allison thought with horror. This is going to be an ongoing issue. I can't get into this right now, though. Fuck! I need to take some safety precautions.

“…I’ll set the timer,” Allison said after a moment of silence. She pulled out her phone.

“Oh, shit. Let me check something quickly, Cathy,” she said, before fiddling with the device.

“Everything good, Allie?” Cathy asked.

“Yeah, just an important email. Anyway, here's the timer,” Allison said, showing Cathy the screen. Indeed, the clock app was open, and the timer was set to ten minutes, just waiting to be started.

“Excellent,” Cathy said, trying and failing to contain her excitement. “Let’s get started, then.”

Allison tapped her phone, and set it to the side, screen down. The two women slowly looked down to the frightened, naked, one inch man on the table.

 

The session had begun.

 

 

 

~~~

Section 3.1- Convict Durability

So, you’re finally ready to begin your session! The convict has arrived, you’ve made your introductions, and now it’s time for the fun part. Section 3 is dedicated to the “torture” element of the job, where you will learn all the necessary information to maximize pain for your shrunken convict, and maximize pleasure for you.

As a Chevalier, the word “gentle” should not be in your vocabulary. With that being said, you should know what the limits of durability are for your shrunken convicts. After all, what fun would it be to accidentally go too far and end the session before you’ve had a chance to dole out proper punishment?

You might expect that shrunken convicts (henceforth referred to as just convicts) are extremely fragile, due to their small size. This is true, but not to the degree that you probably imagine. The shrinking process, as a side effect, slightly increases the durability of all affected items. In the case of convicts, this manifests as tougher skin, stronger bones, and reinforced organs. This is all relative, of course, as those benefits are vastly outweighed by the increased relative weight and force of everything around them. If a convict was not small, but kept the durability increase, they would easily be able to survive being hit by a car. When your finger can strike with the force of a train, however, that durability is relatively meaningless.

What this means for you, essentially, is that you can treat them more roughly than you would with an insect, but that’s about it. They can survive a moderate flick, for example, and other injuries of a similar pressure. Additionally, they can be dropped from a surprisingly high height and sustain no permanent injuries, due to the effects of air resistance on their much smaller and lighter bodies. So, don’t worry! There’s plenty of room for you to get creative. If you’re still having trouble, and want a list of actions that are known to cause permanent injury but not death, refer to Section 3.4.

At the end of the day, though, don’t worry too much. The worst case scenario of being too rough with a convict is that your session ends a little early. This might be frustrating, and you might be bored afterwards, but simply take note and move on. You will have plenty more sessions in the future. In Section 3.2, you will be introduced to some of the schools of torture that you may choose to study as you continue your journey in becoming a master Chevalier.

 

~~~

 

“I have to say, Allie, your conditions are going to take some of the fun out of this. No death is one thing, but no permanent injuries, either? That rules out some of my favorite activities, you know.”

Allison and Cathy were staring down at Brian, who was slightly trembling. The session had just begun, and Cathy was contemplating the best course of action. Although Allison had agreed to participate, she was hoping that Cathy would be too distracted by her desire for Brian to actively try to include her in the session.

Keep her talking, maybe I can run down the clock, Allison thought.

“I know, Cathy, but these are the terms you agreed to. Forgive me for exercising caution around you, since I know how you are when it comes to convicts. For example, I remember that time you told me-”

“Oh well, there’s no time to complain,” interrupted Cathy, before leaning forward and flicking Brian.

Brian…! Allison thought, as he flew backwards at an alarming speed. He crashed into a remote, the force causing his head to fly back as he gasped in pain. Despite the speed at which he collided with it, the remote barely moved due to his decreased weight. Brian collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him.

Allison’s whole body was screaming in concern, but she managed to keep it contained. She knew that her performance during this session would determine if Cathy discovered the truth behind why Allison smuggled Brian out, so she was channeling all of her mental energy into her ability to play the part of a sadistic kidnapper. As a result, she only let out a small chuckle.

He’ll be fine, Allison thought, Cathy believes that I’ll let her play with him again if she follows my terms. She won’t do anything stupid.

Brian regained himself, and stood to his feet. Perhaps emboldened by Cathy’s first action, his face was strong and resolute, albeit still masking traces of fear. Allison realized that he was no longer concerned with acting out the role of the frightened, kidnapped child murderer. His only goal was to make it out of this session in one piece. Cathy noticed this change in expression as well.

“Not bad, little bug. You recovered pretty quickly. Don’t get comfortable, though!” she said, before darting out to pinch Brian’s leg between her fingers. She pulled her hand back, pulling his leg out from under him. The back of his head slammed into the table, before he was whisked into the sky. He couldn’t handle the intense movement, and he got slightly lightheaded. Soon, he found himself dangling in the air, upside down as Cathy pinched his left leg. From his perspective, he could see the enormous face of his tormenter, a slightly glazed look in her eyes as she stared at him hungrily.

“I finally have Brian Bentley between my fingers…” she muttered, before lightly shaking him. With her other hand, she then grabbed one of his arms, before maneuvering so he was stretched out horizontally, his back facing the floor. She moved her hands lower, so he was right above her lap. Brian could barely see her face over her considerable bust. Suddenly, Cathy began to slowly pull his arm and leg in opposite directions. A tightness soon turned to pain, and his face contorted into an expression of anguish as the pain increased.

Allison had to interject.

“Cathy…” she started, trying to sound annoyed as opposed to concerned. “No permanent injuries, remember?”

Cathy stopped pulling.

“Oh please, Allie, you seriously need to trust me. I’ve done this hundreds of times, their little bodies can be pulled quite a bit before anything starts to tear,” she said with a sigh.

“I’m supposed to just take your word on that?” Allison asked exasperatedly, before immediately cursing her choice of words. Cathy grinned devilishly.

“Not at all. This is supposed to be a two-woman session, after all. Here, you grab his arms,” Cathy replied, before letting Brian’s arms dangle as she held him out.

Fuck! Allison thought. No, this is fine. This will prove that I’m willing to torture him, and I can always let go if it starts to go too far. I’m so sorry, Brian. You can do this.

With a small amount of trepidation, Allison reached out and grabbed Brian’s hands with her thumb and index finger. Once he was secure, Cathy started to move her hand so his body was stretched tight. Allison ever so slightly squeezed his hands a few times, hoping that it would reassure him that she was sorry for what was about to happen.

“Here, I’ll do the pulling,” Cathy said. “You just see what it feels like. Believe me, you’d be able to tell if something was breaking.”

With that, she resumed her pulling. Allison had to tighten her grip as the tension increased, hoping that she wasn’t causing any damage to his hands. Once again, Brian’s face twisted into an expression of pain, and Allison’s heart started to beat faster and faster. This was the first time that she was knowingly causing him pain, and it was taking all of her willpower not to react.

“See what I mean? Even with this much pressure, nothing is tearing or breaking. It’s pretty crazy,” Cathy said.

“Y-Yeah, that’s pretty impressive,” Allison said. “I think we can stop now.”

“No, no, not yet. He can still go a little more…” Cathy replied, biting her lower lip as she continued to pull. Brian began to weakly squirm in the two women’s grip, his body instinctively reacting to the intense pain. Then, after a moment, something happened that broke Allison’s heart. Brian screamed. It was a primal, screeching expression of pain, and Allison felt like the sound was assaulting her soul, eroding her ability to keep up the facade. 

Fuck, fuck! I can’t… this is too much… ! Fuck! Stop!

“E-Enough, Cathy,” Allison said, before releasing her grip on Brian’s hands. She knew that if she had let it go on for any longer, she wouldn’t have been able to hold in her anguish. With no opposing force countering it, Cathy’s hand went flying back, dragging Brian along with it before it came to a stop. Brian was once again dangling by his legs, eyes closed as he took heavy breaths. Cathy pouted.

“Oh please, right when it got good. Are we trying to torture him, or what?” she asked frustratedly. Allison quickly came up with a lie.

“Yes, but I want to be cautious with techniques I haven’t tried before. Screaming is usually a good indicator that we’re reaching the limit,” she said slowly, trying to stabilize her mental state.

“Well, whatever,” Cathy replied. “It’s fine for the first time, I guess. On to the next thing!”

With that, she lowered her hand until it was right next to her knees, and released her hold on Brian’s legs. With a small yelp, he plummeted to the ground below. He crashed into the floor with a cry of pain, his body resting just inches from Cathy’s open-toed shoe.

“C…!” Allison started, before immediately silencing herself.

It will look suspicious if I keep protesting. It’s fine, he’ll be fine. Shrunken convicts can easily survive falls like that. It’s just… I hate this so fucking much! How much time has passed? She thought, before slyly checking her phone.

Only a minute and a half?!

“Okay, little bug,” Cathy said with a small sigh, “since I’m not allowed to hurt you physically… I might as well fuck with you mentally. What to do…”

She brought a finger to her chin as Brian stood to his feet. Indeed, the fall had not seriously injured him. As Cathy was deep in thought, he looked up towards Allison. Unlike Cathy, she was barefoot, and her legs stretched into the sky. Far above him was Allison’s face, still wearing a false expression of mild amusement. She caught Brian’s gaze, and he tried to reassure her with his eyes that he was okay. Allison noticed this, and internally sighed in relief.

“Alright, let’s try this first,” Cathy said. She removed her foot from her shoe, and kicked it to the side. As Allison watched with increasing nervousness, Cathy slowly brought her foot over the one-inch man, and began to lower it. Seeing this, Brian quickly laid down on his back. 

“Smart bug…” Cathy cooed. “You definitely don’t want to be standing upright when a foot comes down on you.”

Just when it was about to make contact, Cathy moved her foot so only her big toe came down on Brian, covering his body from his shoulders to his feet. Only his neck and head were exposed, while everything else was buried under the unbearable weight of Cathy’s toe. Brian’s nose was assaulted by an overpowering mix of lavender-scented lotion and sweat, and his nose crinkled in response. He tried to move his neck so he could see what was going on, but his entire field of view was overtaken by Cathy’s big toe. All he could see was skin, so he simply waited for Cathy to provide further instructions.

“Kiss my toe, little one,” Cathy purred. Allison slightly flinched in shock.

“Kiss my toe, or else I’ll keep pressing down on your little bug-sized body. I won’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt,” she continued. At that, she began to press down harder. Brian could feel the pressure begin to increase, so he swallowed his pride and lightly kissed the all-encompassing salty flesh in front of him. To his surprise, though, the pressure did not relent.

“I didn’t say to stop,” Cathy said. “Keep going, and I’ll only stop once I feel like you’ve done a good enough job.”

Brian let out a frustrated sigh, and continued to kiss Cathy’s toe. As the pressure increased, he became slightly more frantic. Just when the pressure became nearly unbearable, Cathy lifted her foot. 

“Well done,” Cathy said slowly, “I feel nice and pampered.”

Brian closed his eyes in relief, glad that at least one more stage was over.

“Now, go and do the same for Allie.”

Allison’s eyes widened.

“What?” she asked, trying not to sound too scared. “Why me?”

Cathy gave a friendly smile.

“What, did you think I forgot about you?” she said. “I’m trying to teach you some of my secrets here. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn’t let you experience it yourself?”

Allison started to get nervous, before she quickly realized something.

Wait, this is actually good, she thought. Cathy won’t be able to tell if I’m actually increasing the pressure or not, so I can just pretend to do it. I don’t actually have to hurt him. But… I still have to put him under my… 

She put on a cunning smile.

“How thoughtful of you, Cathy. Alright, Brian, run over to my big, giant foot already.”

Brian rose to his feet, and began to move towards Allison. Not quite quickly enough for Cathy, though.

“Don’t waste our time, you little insect!” she exclaimed, before lightly kicking him. Brian went flying, and slammed into Allison’s foot. The sensation of Brian hitting her foot made Allison want to cry out, but she held it in. Brian bounced backwards a bit, and soon found himself lying on his back once more.

“There, he landed in the perfect position. Alright Allie, you know what to do,” Cathy said.

“Y-Yeah…” Allison said, unable to contain her nervous stutter. She steeled her resolve, and lowered her big toe onto Brian’s body. She made sure to do it as lightly as possible without raising Cathy’s suspicions.

I fucking hate this, she thought.

“Tell him what to do,” Cathy instructed, clearly enthralled by what was happening. Allison took a deep breath.

“Alright, little one, k-kiss my toe. If you don’t, I'll squish you under it. Just like this,” she said, before maneuvering her toe to look like she was increasing the pressure. In reality, though, she was not pressing down any harder than before, which clued Brian in to what she was doing. Playing along, he began to squirm in discomfort, causing Cathy to squeal in delight.

“Well done, Allie…” Cathy purred, biting her lower lip. “You heard her, kiss it!”

Knowing there was no way out of this one, Brian kissed Allison’s toe. She felt the smallest of sensations at the tip of her toe, and it made her want to cry. 

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, can’t do this.

After only a few moments, she raised her foot. Cathy made a questioning noise.

“I don’t like that one, Cathy. Feels gross,” Allison said truthfully. Cathy shrugged.

“Whatever you say, sister. That’s enough on the ground, then,” she said, before plucking Brian up off the ground and roughly depositing him on the table. He quickly rose to his feet and stretched a bit, restoring the blood flow to his extremities. He then looked back up towards Cathy. She pondered for a moment.

“Allie, how much time has passed?” she asked. Without showing Cathy the screen, Allison checked her phone.

Only four fucking minutes?!

“Six minutes, Cathy,” Allison replied calmly, her tone not betraying the lie.

“Seriously?” Cathy asked incredulously. Allison shrugged.

“Time flies,” she replied flatly. Cathy groaned in frustration, before her face lit up in an idea.

“Say…” she started, her tone slow and sultry. “Why should we have all the fun? Don’t you think bug-boy here deserves some relief?”

Both Allison and Brian raised an eyebrow simultaneously.

“Relief? For him?” Allison asked with a smirk. “Kinda goes against the whole point, doesn’t it?”

Sorry, Brian, but I really can’t advocate for you right now, she thought.

Cathy giggled.

“It might be relief, but it’s certainly not a reward. Let me help you out,” she said, before lowering her face towards Brian slightly.

“Little Brian…?”  she started. Brian looked up at her with nervous anticipation.

“Jerk off for us.”

Allison’s eyes widened.

She wants him to… masturbate?! I don’t want to see that! Allison thought in disgust. 

“Oh, c-come on, Cathy…” she started, trying to avoid anything sexual. “Isn’t that kind of embarrassing?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s the whole point!” Cathy exclaimed. 

“I meant for me!” Allison countered. Cathy laughed.

“Oh, please, don’t be such a prude,” she said condescendingly.  

“Uh… that’s kind of an offensive wor-”

“Believe me,” Cathy interrupted, “this is one of the best ways to humiliate convicts. It’s pretty good for the ol’ self-esteem, too.”

Cathy winked, and turned back towards Brian.

“Well? Get on with it, little bug,” she said.

Shit, how am I ever going to look him in the eye again?! Allison thought, before vaguely remembering something.

Wait… 

“I said… jerk off for us, Brian,” Cathy repeated, slightly more forcefully. To her surprise, though, Brian simply stood there, awkwardly fidgeting before scratching his neck.

“Sounds like he wants to say something,” Allison said.

“Who gives a shit?” Cathy replied, her temper rising. “We gave him an order, so he needs to fucking do it.”

“Oh, of course,” Cathy said after a few more moments of uncomfortable silence. “He needs a little… help.”

This can’t be good, Allison thought. As if to confirm her fears, Cathy quickly took her shirt off, casting it to the side. Her breasts were now only covered by a lacy red bra, softly bouncing and jiggling with every small movement.

“C-Cathy, what the fuck!” Allison cried, before turning away in embarrassment. Cathy cackled at her bashful response.

“You’re much more squeamish than I would have thought, Allie!” she giggled. “Don’t be shy, we’re both girls here.”

Allison slowly turned back towards Cathy and Brian, trying her hardest not to stare at Cathy’s unexpectedly exposed breasts.

“Why?” Allison asked.

“Well, it was unfair of me to ask him to jerk off without any… material.” she said seductively. 

Oh, you have got to be shitting me.

At that, Cathy leaned in towards Brian, pushing her chest forward. Soon enough, Brian was faced with two enormous breasts, each one at least five times his height. He realized that each one weighed more than enough to smush him flat, and it would be all too easy to jump in between them only to never emerge. Cathy lightly bounced her chest, causing her breasts to wobble and jiggle, ripples of juicy breast flesh radiating all around Brian’s field of view. It was certainly one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. Unfortunately for Cathy, though, he was not exactly appreciating it in the way that she was intending.

She pulled back, and looked upon Brian once more, expecting to see a certain reaction in his nether regions. To her great shock, though, his physiology was completely unchanged. He wasn’t even blushing, his face only carrying an expression of mild surprise. He was completely unaffected by Cathy’s boob-show, and her brain short-fused.

At that, Allison suddenly remembered a conversation from their first day together.

“It’s kinda weird, but I don’t really get sexual urges. Never have.”

“Are you saying you’re… asexual?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I appreciate beauty, I just don’t get aroused by it. Kinda like how one might appreciate a painting.”

Allison snapped back to awareness, suddenly understanding Brian’s lack of a reaction. Despite herself, she smirked.

Oh, that’s fucking hilarious, she thought. Luckily, Cathy was too surprised to notice.

“Well, that’s a first…” Cathy said softly. She quickly retrieved her shirt and put it back on. After a few moments of awkward silence, her expression transformed into one of anger. 

“What, does your dick not work?”

Brian looked down at his penis for a moment, as if he was inspecting it. Looking back up at Cathy, he shrugged. At that, Allison laughed out loud, before immediately covering her mouth with her hand. Cathy looked at Allison, and her face darkened even more. 

Fuck, Allison thought, she thinks she’s being made fun of. 

Looking angrier than Allison had ever seen her, Cathy looked back at Brian.

“You little…” she snarled, before suddenly reaching for Brian. Allison had a bad feeling about what was about to happen, so she decided to interject.

“Chill out, Cathy,” Allison started with a laugh, “he’s obviously not right in the head. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

Cathy stopped her hand

“You think?” she asked, a surprising amount of vulnerability in her voice.

Is she secretly super self-conscious? Allison wondered. Actually, it’s probably the wine. I never should have given her alcohol. I’ll add it to the list of ways I’ve fucked up today.

“Yes, yes, Cathy,” Allison said, patting her on the shoulder, “you’re very pretty. He’s obviously just crazy. I mean, come on, he’s a child murderer, right?”

Brian’s eyes widened.

“True…” Cathy said softly, her anger placated for the time being. At that moment, though, the two women noticed something strange about the one-inch man on the table.

He looked disturbed. His eyes were wide, and he was slightly trembling.

What the fuck? Allison thought. Cathy noticed this change as well. Her playful and sadistic attitude returned at this unexpected development.

“Oh, what do we have here?” she asked slowly, leaning in to get a better look at him. “Looks like something finally got to you, eh?”

She grinned  as she sensed an opportunity to torment him.

“I wonder what it was…” she said playfully, enunciating every syllable.

“Could it be… when I almost snatched you up?” she started. “Or perhaps… when we called you crazy?”

Her grin widened.

“Or maybe… was it when Allie called you a child murderer?” she asked.

Brian snapped to attention, his gaze piercing into Cathy’s blue eyes as his face twitched.

“I see…” Cathy said slowly, before leaning back into the sofa.

Wait, what? What’s going on? What the fuck? Allison thought frantically, a crushing wave of dread washing over her.

“Seems you found his weak point, Allie,” Cathy said. “He doesn’t like being reminded of what he did.”

Allison’s confusion only increased.

Huh? Why would that bother him? Why would he not like to be reminded of a crime he didn’t commit?

“Yes, he doesn’t like to be reminded of how he murdered a child,” Cathy said, really emphasizing her last word. “He doesn’t like to hear that he’s a terrible, disgusting, child murdering scumbag.”

Brian’s gaze intensified, his expression morphing into one of anger.

“Ha! Looks like the little one is all fired up,” Cathy said gleefully. “Go on, Allie, you try.”

“I don’t know, Cathy…” Allison said. Although she didn’t understand why, her instincts were screaming not to go down this road of torment. Cathy angrily sighed.

“For fuck’s sake, Allie, we finally discovered something that actually bothers the robot child murderer Brian Bentley, and now you don’t want to do it? Do you want to torture him or not?! Come on, do it, before your bullshit timer rings!” she exclaimed.

Despite her intense foreboding, Allison realized that she couldn’t afford to refuse if she was going to keep up her persona.

“Y-You heard her, little one,” she started. Brian’s gaze snapped to her direction. She felt an unbearable pressure radiating out from his miniscule green eyes.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child,” she continued coldly.

Brian stumbled backwards, as if he had been shot.

Like a light had been switched, his intense anger morphed into a deep, refined sadness.

What the fuck is going on?

“Go on, Allie, keep going,” Cathy said feverishly, “he seems to only respond when you say it.”

No, no, no, no, no, no, this isn’t good.

“You… you’re really the worst of the worst, y-you know that?” Allison continued reluctantly. Cathy’s feverish gaze compelled her to keep going.

Whatever’s going on, he has to know that I don’t mean it, right? He has to know!

“You killed an innocent child for no reason.”

Brian closed his eyes, his face contorted into a grimace.

“That’s right,” Cathy interjected, “you killed that adorable kid for no reason, and now the whole fucking world hates you. Your own mother said she didn’t give a shit that you had been executed, did you know that? Miserable piece of shit,” she continued, the venom spilling out of her mouth. Now that she had discovered a seemingly effective method of torment, she was jumping on it.

“Alright Cathy, why don’t we try somethi-”

“Did you know that Timmy Osment’s funeral was one of the most watched television events in the last decade? Hundreds of millions of people cried because of what you did, you fucking child murderer.”

Brian continued to stand there with his eyes closed, trying and failing to take deep breaths. Allison began to internally panic as Cathy continued her sadistic rant.

“Meanwhile, you just got to sit there in prison, using up our tax money as you continued to waste oxygen. Honestly, they should have made an exception for the age requirement and shrunk you down immediately. That way we never would have had to see your disgusting face ever again. Why should you get to survive after you murdered a child?!” she continued, her voice rising in volume.

“Honestly, everybody thought that you had no emotions at all, you worthless robot. Every now and then the news would report on what you were like before you committed that horrific murder. Your mother said that you were always an expressionless freak. Turns out you’re actually quite expressive under the right circumstances, so I just have one question for you, bug,” Cathy said, before leaning in so her face was right before the helpless convict.

“Do you feel bad for what you did to Timmy? Hearing about it clearly upsets you, so does that mean you regret it? Is there any trace of a soul in that child murderer body? Are you guilty about it? Well, are you?! Are you fucking guilty?!” she shouted, the force of her voice causing Brian’s hair to flutter as Allison watched on in horror.

Brian slowly opened his eyes, his breathing having steadied. What Allison saw thoroughly disturbed her. Even Cathy seemed slightly taken aback.

Brian’s face was eerily neutral, drawing into question if he was aware of his surroundings in any capacity, let alone the fact that he was the size of a bug in the presence of two enormous women. His eyes were completely empty. What once were striking green might as well have been swirling pits of darkness.

That’s… exactly like… when we first met, Allison thought. Indeed, his expression at that moment was a perfect match for his expression when Brian had first arrived in Allison’s SPAR. Before she had known his innocence. Before she had decided to help him. Before she brought him home. Before they spent a long weekend together. Before they watched his favorite movies together. Before she had kissed him. Before she had fallen in love with him. It was as if all of their progress had been wiped away, and the charming young man named Brian that Allison was so fond of had been replaced with the infamous robot child murderer named Brian Bentley.

After a small eternity of eerie silence, Brian Bentley answered Cathy’s question, his voice neither high nor low pitched.

“No, I’m not.”

Cathy’s face darkened in anger.

“You really are cold blooded, aren’t you? You feel no guilt after murdering a child?!” she said, her voice rising near the end.

Brian Bentley did not respond.

Cathy sneered.

“Well, looks like he disassociated, Allie. That can happen if you push them too far,” she explained matter-of-factly. “That usually means it’s time to take it up a notch.”

Allison did not respond, as she was still shell-shocked by Brian’s expression.

“Let’s see…” Cathy started. “You murdered Timmy Osment by strangling him, right? How about I return the favor.”

At that, she extended her index finger forward, roughly shoving Brian Bentley onto his back. Then, she put her finger to his exposed throat, and began pressing down.

“Let’s see how you like it…” Cathy muttered, totally entranced by her sadistic actions.

She continued to increase the pressure on his neck. For a little while, Brian Bentley did not respond. He simply stared ahead, his expression unchanging. Once Cathy reached a certain point, though, his body began to react instinctively. He grasped her finger with both hands, and began to weakly flail about. Still, the pressure increased. Cathy was well beyond the point where she should have stopped if she wanted to honor Allison’s conditions, but she was too absorbed in the torture to care. Still, the pressure increased.

Allison snapped back to awareness. She heard a weak thumping sound coming from the direction of the table. Looking at the source of the noise, she saw a one-inch man, his neck pinned down by an enormous finger as he desperately thrashed around. Allison’s heart stopped as she realized what was going on.

“C-Cathy!” she shouted, before roughly grasping Cathy’s arm and tearing it away from Brian Bentley’s neck. His airway restored, he began to alternate between taking deep breaths and coughing his lungs out, his whole body exhausted from the enormous stress.

“Allie, what the fuck?!” Cathy shouted, enraged that her torture had been cut short. Allison quickly grasped her phone, before showing Cathy the screen.

“T-Time! Time is up! You promised!” she exclaimed. Indeed, the timer on her phone was reading zero. Cathy quickly turned off her anger and replaced it with a sickly-sweet pleading tone.

“Oh, come on, Allie, do we really-”

“Yes!” Allison cried, “We made a deal, and you already broke it by nearly choking my toy to death. There’s no way in hell I’m letting this continue.”

At that, she scooped up the limp man from the table and curled her fingers around him protectively. Careful not to jostle him around so much, she got up and dashed to her room. Along the way, she frantically whispered to the unseen figure enclosed in her palms.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it, I promise I didn’t mean it, please forgive me, I should have stopped her, I’m so sorry, please forgive me, I didn’t mean it…”

Soon, she found herself in her room, gently laying Brian Bentley down on her nightstand.

“I… I n-need to… get her out of here… I’ll come b-back right away,” she whispered, before sprinting back out into the hallway. She couldn’t bear to look at his face. When she returned to the living room, she saw Cathy reclined into the sofa with her legs crossed, a look of mild annoyance on her face as she drained the rest of her wine. Allison desperately tried to keep her true anger hidden, only expressing an air of annoyance that her toy was almost broken.

“I’m so~ sorry~” Cathy drawled. “I got a little carried away there, Allie. What did you think overall, though? Pretty fun session, right?”

I want to rip her face off.

“Yeah, it was pretty fun. We really, uh… got to him.”

Cathy gave a shit-eating grin.

“Told you! Anyway, now that that’s over, let’s go out to dinner! I’m famished.”

At that moment, though, Allison’s phone chimed. She looked at the screen.

About fucking time, she thought.

“We’re not going to dinner, Cathy. Your cab is here,” she said firmly.

“My… cab?” Cathy asked questioningly, her head lightly swaying.

“Yes, your cab. Remember, you asked me to call you a cab after you had your second glass of wine?” Allison continued.

“I did…?”

“You don’t remember? Yeah, you’ve definitely had enough to drink. He’s right outside, time to go,” Allison replied, before roughly grabbing Cathy by the arm and pulling her to her feet.

“But Allie, I don’t want to-”

“I know, I know, but you have to go home now, drink some water, eat some food, go to bed, all that jazz. See you later, Cathy!” Allison exclaimed, before practically shoving Cathy out the door and slamming it. She pressed her back to the door, letting out an enormous sigh as she heard Cathy drunkenly stumble away towards the waiting cab.

“Those were the longest seven minutes of my life,” she declared to the empty room. “The power of gaslighting never fails.”

If you recall, Allison had fiddled with her phone prior to the session. While under the guise of checking an email, she had actually ordered a cab through an app. She figured that Cathy would be more willing to leave if she believed that she had asked for the cab and drunkenly forgot it. Allison simply needed to do some small gaslighting, a skill that she had learned as a result of her previous relationship. As for the timer, Allison had shown Cathy the screen before she started it, letting Cathy think that the timer was then counting down from ten minutes. In reality, though, Allison had actually reset the timer, setting it to zero. That way, in case of an emergency, she could show Cathy the timer and simply claim that the time passed quickly. In a pure coincidence, these two safety precautions paid off in close proximity, and Allison had finally achieved her goal of getting Cathy out of the apartment.

The weight of the evening caught up to her at once, and Allison brought one hand to her mouth. A few tears raced down her face, before she abruptly stopped herself from giving into her sadness. She slapped her face a few times.

No, Allie, no. This isn’t about me. I need to be there for Brian, she thought. Giving herself a resolved nod, she began to walk towards the hallway. Suddenly, though, she stopped in her tracks, as if she had stepped in cement.

How am I supposed to face him? She thought. This is all my fault… What could I possibly say to fix this? 

Despite her fears and overwhelming guilt, she found the strength to continue forward. Turning down the hallway, she watched as her door got bigger and bigger in her field of view. Soon, she was standing right outside, her hand grasping the doorknob.

I’m going to make this right, she thought. No matter what, I am not going to let all this work have been for nothing.

 

With that declaration, she pushed forward, ready to face the innocent man within.

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

A woman sat alone in a small cubicle. Directly in front of her was a thick transparent screen, and to her left was a phone. This was a prison phone booth, and she was about to have an important meeting with a criminal. Due to the circumstances regarding this particular criminal, the other phone booths were all unoccupied. There was one guard on the woman’s side of the room, and two on the other side. Her breathing was slightly labored as she waited with great anticipation for the criminal to arrive.

Suddenly, a harsh buzzing sound rang out across the room, causing the woman to flinch. On the side of the room behind the screen, a door opened. The guards in the room stiffened, and soon a figure came through the door, roughly pushed by another guard behind him. This figure shambled over to the cubicle, and flopped down on the chair.

The woman took in his features. He was moderately tall, and somewhat skinny. His long arms clung to his sides, his prison jumpsuit showcasing their lack of definition. He was rather pale, and his face was hiding a layer of frantic energy behind a mask of neutral indifference. He had messy black hair, and striking green eyes. This man was Brian Bentley, age 18, and the woman he was meeting with was his mother, Laura Bentley.

They stared at each other for a minute. Brian’s face slightly relaxed in the presence of a familiar face, and his eyes softened. His mother, on the other hand, simply looked at him with cold eyes, her expression troubled and unchanging. After a moment, they both picked up the telephone on either side of the screen. Brian spoke first.

“…Hi, Mom,” he said softly, his voice neither high nor low pitched. His mother flinched at the sound of his slightly fuzzy voice through the telephone, a wave of emotions washing over her. This was the first time they had spoken in two days. 

“Hi, Brian,” she replied. Her voice was soft, yet tired, showcasing both her age and the tremendous amount of stress she had been under.

“Are you… eating okay?” she asked. Brian’s eyes slightly lit up at the mild concern she was showcasing for his well-being. He took that as a good sign.

“Not really,” he said with a soft chuckle, “everything they have is pretty gross.”

Suddenly, a stern voice cut in from behind him.

“Be grateful you get anything at all,” said a guard. Brian closed his eyes in frustration.

“Don’t provoke them, Brian,” Laura said firmly. 

Brian looked at her, his eyes saying “are you serious?” but he decided not to press it.

“Anyway,” he started, “they’re keeping me alive. Reluctantly, but still.” Laura softly nodded in response. At that, Brian decided it was time to move on.

“So… did you watch my trial?” he asked sadly. Indeed, his trial for the murder of Timmy Osment had concluded earlier that day. To his great surprise, his mother shook her head.

“Y-You didn’t…?” he asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion. “Why not?”

“It wasn’t televised, Brian,” she replied. “The news reported on what happened after the fact. So no, I didn’t watch it, but I do know that you were sentenced to life in prison after only two minutes of deliberation.”

Brian’s head was pulled in multiple directions. Confusion and shock from the apparent fact that nobody actually saw his trial, and hurt from his mother’s cold declaration.

“W-What? Why didn’t… but… I thought…?” he stammered, trying to form the words. He took a deep breath.

“Mom, the trial was a joke. That must be why they didn’t televise it. It was insane, the jury wasn’t even paying attention,” he said, his temper rising at the memory.

Laura sighed, putting one hand to her forehead.

“Brian, please…” she started. “It wasn’t televised to protect the privacy of the families. That includes me, so maybe try being a little sympathetic.”

“No, no, no, Mom. I knew that people would understand the truth if they saw how nonsensical that trial was. I thought that’s why you came to see me. Didn’t you, like… get a new lawyer, or something? To help prove it?”

Laura narrowed her eyes at Brian.

“Prove what, Brian?” she asked slowly. 

“What…? Prove that I didn’t do it!” he exclaimed incredulously. The guards in the room all prickled in anger, while his mother deflated in disappointment.

“I was hoping they were lying when they told me you were claiming to be innocent,” she said sadly.

Brian’s heart quickened as a sense of dread began to wash over him. His understanding of the situation was changing rapidly.

“No, no…? You don’t believe me? I thought… isn’t that why you’re here? All the evidence from my trial was supposed to be released, right? I thought people would realize!” he said, his voice becoming strained as he began to panic.

Laura shook her head once more.

“I came to say goodbye, Brian. Nobody is going to visit you once you're permanently moved. Hell, I was the only one who even wanted to come today. I’m not here to help you.”

“No… no!” Brian exclaimed. “W-What about… what about the evidence?”

“What evidence?” his mother asked exasperatedly.

“You know… like, my testimony? The autopsy report? That fucking officer’s body cam footage?”

“No, Brian, none of the evidence related to your case was released to the public.”

Brian’s eyes widened.

“What? Fucking what?!” he shouted.

“Settle down, boy,” cut in one of the guards. Brian regained himself, his heart still pounding.

“What about that transparency law for high profile cases? Shouldn’t have all the records been released because of that?” he asked, trying to control the shakiness of his voice.

“Timmy Osment’s legal team requested an exception due to the graphic nature of the crime,” Laura said plainly, “they did it partly to mitigate the outrage that your sister and I have been facing. They did us a favor.”

Brian stared at her in disbelief.

“But… that evidence would have shown…” he said weakly.

“What?” his mother asked frustratedly, her temper rising. “What exactly would it have shown?”

“It would have shown that I didn’t fucking do it! I testified that I tried to help him, he was already dying when I found him! T-The autopsy would have shown the gashes in his neck! They say I s-strangled him, but that’s not true! The autopsy would have shown it! He died from the neck wounds, a-and I didn’t have a weapon! The body cam footage would have shown that, too! It would have proved that I didn’t do it!” he exclaimed, trying and failing to keep his emotions in check.

Laura simply stared at him, her face growing angrier and angrier.

“Brian, that’s enough. You know damn well that none of that is true, or else they wouldn’t have convicted you after two fucking minutes. Can’t you at least take responsibility? Is it not already bad enough?!” she said angrily. Brian put his head in his hands for a moment.

“That’s why the trial wasn’t televised! Literally nobody cared when the evidence was presented! They just wanted to convict me no matter what! Don’t you understand?!” he said frustratedly.

“Listen to what you’re saying, Brian. You’re saying that dozens, hell maybe hundreds of people all worked together to convict you for this. You’re talking like there’s some crazy conspiracy going on. Do you realize how pathetic you sound right now?” she said.

“Mom! It’s true! You seriously think I could k… you seriously think I could do that?” he asked.

“I don’t know what to think anymore, Brian,” she said sadly.

Brian put one hand on the screen. He started to tear up.

“Mom…” he whispered fearfully, “please… please believe me. I didn’t… I didn’t do this.”

His voice became strained as he begged with all his might.

“Please… help me…!”

At that, his mother exploded.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” she shouted. “You seriously want me to help you after what you did? Do you not realize how bad it is for me already?!”

“Mom, what-”

“The whole fucking country is outraged right now, Brian. You think they’re satisfied going after just you?! Do you know what your sister and I have had to deal with?! I got fired yesterday, Brian. Your sister is being bullied, and we’re all receiving death threats. Do you have any idea how much worse it would get if I publicly decided to help you?!”

“Doesn’t that mean you want to find out the truth, then?!” Brian asked angrily. “If you prove my innocence, then the harassment will stop!”

Laura closed her eyes, trying to steady her breath.

“The truth is already out there, Brian,” she started. “The truth is that you murdered a child, and now you’re being punished for it.”

Brian flinched.

“Don’t say that, Mom,” he begged quietly, “don’t tell me that I did that. It’s not true. Please don’t say that.”

“Brian, look at you!” his mother spat in anger. Brian teared up once more.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child,” she continued coldly. Brian shut his eyes, he looked like he had just been stabbed.

“No, stop saying that. Please. Stop saying those words!” he pleaded, tears now running down his face. “How can you not believe me?! I’m your son!”

Laura shook her head.

“No, you’re not. You stopped being my son the day you decided to murder a child. Frankly, you deserve the Shrink Penalty,” she said angrily, the floodgates of her rage having been opened.

Brian recoiled in shock.

“What…?” he asked.

“You heard me. You deserve to be fucking squished like a bug for what you did. Age requirement be damned, I would even do it myself.”

Brian saw red.

“How could you say that?!” he screamed, jumping to his feet and slamming the transparent screen. The guards immediately began storming towards him. Laura rose from her seat.

“Goodbye, Brian,” she declared coldly, before making her way towards the exit. Brian slammed the screen again.

“Fucking stop! I didn’t do it! Don’t leave! You have to believe me!”

His mother did not turn back, and the guards surrounded him and began to drag him away. Brian continued to scream and flail about.

“Stop! Get the fuck off me! I fuck- I fucking didn’t do it! Get away from me! Get off! I tried to help him! I tried to fucking help him! I didn’t kill him! I didn’t do it! I DIDN’T FUCKING DO IT!”

Brian continued to scream at the top of his lungs, desperately begging his mother to believe him. She did not turn back, though, and the last he saw of her for three years was her back as the door closed behind her. Soon, the guards forced him through the door they came from, and it slammed shut as he was dragged away screaming. Silence overtook the room. 

Brian Bentley was convicted for the murder of Timmy Osment when he was 18 years old. After the meeting with his mother, he resigned himself to the fact that nobody would ever believe in his innocence. He accepted the apparent reality that he would have to carry the pain of his conviction completely, and devastatingly alone. His striking green eyes slowly became swirling pits of darkness, and the charming young man named Brian that had existed for 18 years was replaced with the infamous robot child murderer named Brian Bentley. Three years later, he was re-sentenced to death via the Shrink Penalty. The world celebrated.

~~~

Allison opened the door to her bedroom, emotionally preparing herself for whatever mental state Brian was in as a result of the session. She decided to take the initiative.

“Brian, listen to me. So much happened to you today that was completely my fault. I can’t imagine how upset you are right now, but I promise to do whatever it-”

She abruptly stopped a few feet away from her nightstand. As she looked upon Brian, what she saw shocked her into silence.

He was fine.

While she expected him to be rocking back and forth, his eyes completely empty, what she found instead was him calmly tying a piece of cloth around his waist with some string. He looked up at Allison, a slightly tired but calm expression in his eyes. He gave her a gentle smile.

“Allie, I’m fine,” he said softly. “I’m not hurt, angry, or upset.”

Allison’s brain short-circuited.

“You’re… you… what?” she stammered. “But… you got tortured!”

Brian chuckled.

“Hardly. Your conditions really neutered her. Plus, you made sure to stop her when it went too far, and you pretended to hurt me worse than you did. All things considered, I think that went pretty well,” he said.

“Pretty well?!” Allison exclaimed. “You got pulled in opposite directions! You screamed!”

“Allie, Allie, please,” Brian soothed, “that scream wasn’t real. Like you said, screaming was an indication that I was reaching the limit. I figured that faking a scream would stop her before it got actually bad. Which it did.”

“B-But…” Allison said, “you had to go kiss her… kiss my…”

“Allie, please listen to me,” Brian said gently. “We don’t have to go through a play-by-play of what happened. I was never in any serious pain, and we just did what we had to do so we could get her out of here. I could tell you were always looking out for me. Also, you were lying about how much time had passed, right?”

Allison nodded, still shell-shocked. Brian smirked.

“Nice one. How long did the session actually last?” he asked.

“Seven minutes…” she said, as if in a trance.

“Ha!” Brian chuckled, “that’s brilliant. She was too drunk to notice. What was that about a cab that I heard?”

“Well… I, uh, secretly ordered a cab before the session started,” she said.

“Really? How did you convince her to get in it?” he asked. Allison fidgeted.

“I, er, well what I did… I convinced her that she asked for the cab but forgot since she was so drunk,” she said. Her face turned red in embarrassment, and Brian laughed out loud.

“Allie!” he exclaimed jovially, “when did you get so devious?”

Allison put her head in her hands. Brian could practically see the steam rising off her head. After a moment, though, she raised her head. Despite herself, she was smiling. She trotted over to the bed and sat down.

“Don’t you talk to me about devious, Brian,” she said slyly. “Which one of us came up with an elaborate lie about me kidnapping and torturing you?”

Brian looked over his shoulders a few times, before pointing to himself in mock surprise. Allison giggled, Brian’s playful attitude slowly soothing her troubled heart.

“Hey, that isn’t all on me, sister,” he replied, “you were pretty quick to pick up that role convincingly. Are you sure you’re not secretly sadistic? Is this something I need to be concerned about?”

“Shut it!” Allison said playfully, before reaching forward and lightly poking his chest. She poked with a little too much force, however, and he stumbled back a few steps. Allison quickly retreated her hand with a small gasp, before drawing it to her mouth. At this display of his fragility, all the guilt came crashing back down on her, and tears started to run down her face.

“Brian… Brian, I’m so sorry…” she choked out, trying not to break down. Brian’s face twisted in concern, but he couldn’t get Allison to stop.

“I… I was so stupid… I never should have let her in, or given her alcohol, or left my door open, or told her where the bathroom was, or agreed to t-torture you, I fucked up everything,” she cried, closing her eyes as her shoulders started to shake. “Now she knows, and she’s going to want to do it again. I f-failed you… I don’t know what to do!”

Once again, Brian was lamenting the limitations of his size. It was physically impossible for him to calm Allison down, so all he could do was wait as he watched his giant protector break down. After only a few moments, though, Allison abruptly regained herself, sitting up straight and wiping her eyes.

“No,” she declared resolutely, “this isn’t about me. This isn’t the right time. I need to make sure that you’re okay.” At that, she put on a brave face and looked back at Brian. He sympathetically sighed.

“Allie, I’m really okay. We worked together, and it went a lot better than it could have. I don’t blame you for anything. It was an honest mistake, and I know that we can figure out what to do together,” he said. Allison’s eyes softened.

“I’m going to say this once, okay? This is going to cover every apology you’re carrying in your heart right now, and I mean it with everything that I have. You ready?” he asked. Allison nodded.

“I forgive you,” he said. Allison’s eyes briefly teared up again, but she pushed it back.

“Thank you, Brian,” she said softly. They both let out a huge sigh.

Allison moved off the bed and sat down on the space between the bed and the nightstand. Her face was roughly at Brian’s level. She wanted to hold him, but she was still slightly scared to touch him, so she didn’t ask. Despite Brian’s statement of forgiveness, there was still one aspect of the session that she needed to ask about.

“I know you say you’re okay, Brian,” she started, “but what about when Cathy forced me to say that you… you know, did that thing? You seemed genuinely upset, and… well, you had a scary look in your eye. It was like when we first met, you looked completely empty. What happened?” she asked gently, hoping not to upset him again. Brian sighed once again, and sat down on the edge of the nightstand, his legs dangling over the edge. He looked resolutely into Allison’s giant brown eyes as they radiated concern.

“I could tell I really scared you with that one. I’m sorry. Honestly, though, that was another fake,” he said.

“A fake?” Allison replied incredulously. “It seemed so real, though…”

“I take that as a compliment,” he said with a grin.

“But… why that particular issue?” she asked.

“Well, think about it. If I showed her a ‘weak point,’ then she would divert all her attention to that. If I made it a mental weak point, then she would stop tormenting me physically. From there I just chose something that seemed realistic to get upset about. It almost worked, since she ended up choking me, but it at least distracted her for a bit, right?” he explained.

Allison leaned against the wall.

“Wow…” she said quietly. “I was wondering why you would get so upset about a crime you didn’t commit. That’s super genius Brian for you.”

“I think we both qualify as super geniuses after what just happened, Allie. We should join an improv group,” he replied. Allison grinned, before her face became serious.

“So… you’re really, really okay, Brian? You promise?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing I can’t handle,” he answered. Allison smiled.

“I am exhausted, though,” Brian admitted.

“Yeah, I bet,” Allison replied. “Anything I can do for you? Fair to say that you deserve to be spoiled rotten for the next week at least.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to look forward to that. For now, though, do you think I could just lie down in the dark for a while? I need to rest my eyes,” he asked.

“Really?” Allison said, “you don’t want some company?”

“Just for a little while, like maybe an hour?” he replied.

“But… are you sure you’re okay to be alone? I want to be there for you, you know.” she said. Brian’s eyes softened at her kind statement.

“Allie,” he said softly and earnestly, “I just really need to lie down for an hour. Please.”

Allison looked at him concernedly for a moment, before sighing.

“Yes, of course. Your phone is in the carrier, so just let me know if you need anything. I’ll come back in an hour, and then maybe we can order some food?” she asked.

“Sounds good. Thanks,” Brian replied.

At that, Allison gently pinched Brian between her fingers and transferred him to the inside of the pet carrier. He landed on the shirt-and-towel combo with a small thud, and Allison made her way to the door before turning off the light.

“Brian?” she asked. He made a questioning noise from the carrier.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” she said, before leaving and shutting the door. Soon, Brian was completely alone, the room illuminated only by a small blue nightlight in the corner.

~

Brian took a deep breath. Once Allison was out of sight, his face was overcome by an eerily neutral expression. Slowly, as if all the energy in his body had evaporated, he shambled over to a corner of the carrier, before sitting down with his back to the corner. He drew his knees to his chest, before wrapping his arms around them. Putting his head on his knees, he began to tremble.

“Why… why did she have to say those words?” he whispered, his voice strained. Despite himself, he felt an ever growing heaviness behind his eyes, and his heart rate began to increase. Suddenly, his mind was assaulted by the memory of the session.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child.”

“She didn’t mean it, she didn’t mean it…” he said, trying to reassure himself.

Another memory pierced him, causing him to flinch. It was a memory that had long been repressed, one from two days after the death of Timmy Osment. He could hear the voice of his mother, as if she was standing right next to him.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child.”

“Why did she have to say those words?” he repeated, his voice breaking as the heaviness behind his eyes turned into tears.

“Those exact words, why those exact words?” he continued, the first tear streaking down his face.

 “The truth is that you murdered a child, and now you’re being punished for it.”

“Stop it,” he whispered. Allison’s words had triggered his most painful memory, and he couldn’t stop it from flooding his mind and drowning out every other thought.

“You stopped being my son the day you decided to murder a child.”

“Stop crying.”

“You deserve to be fucking squished like a bug for what you did.”

“Stop remembering!” he said frustratedly, gritting his teeth. 

“Age requirement be damned, I would even do it myself.”

“Shut up!” he cried, before covering his mouth with his hands.

If I let Allie hear this, she’ll only blame herself, he thought. She’s already close to breaking down, I shouldn’t make it worse.

He took a deep, shaky breath.

Stop crying. Stop crying. Stop crying. Stop crying. Stop crying.

Despite his repeated instruction to himself, the tears continued to fall with ever increasing intensity. His mother’s cruel words began to intertwine with Allison’s as they endlessly repeated inside his head.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child.”

“You killed an innocent child for no reason.”

“You stopped being my son the day you decided to murder a child.”

“I mean, come on, he’s a child murderer, right?”

“You’re really the worst of the worst, you know that?” 

“I was hoping they were lying when they told me you were claiming to be innocent.”

“I’m not here to help you.”

Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, Brian desperately thought to himself.

Allie didn’t mean it, she didn’t mean it, she believes me.

Brian couldn’t stop himself, and he let out a sobbing gasp. He instantly put both hands over his mouth and gripped tight. As he had done hundreds of times before, he continued to cry while making absolutely no noise. He curled into an even tighter formation as his shoulders began to shake with increasing intensity. He shut his eyes tight, frantically willing his mind to stop remembering the meeting with his mother.

Stop remembering, he thought.

The words echoed once again.

Stop crying, he begged.

He continued to cry soundlessly.

“You seriously want me to help you after what you did?” the voice echoed.

I didn’t do it!

At this declaration, his mind shut down. The words continued to assault his consciousness, a flood of repressed trauma drowning him, triggered by the stress of the previous day. Hearing the one person he was coming to completely trust call him a child murderer, even facetiously, was too much for his already stressed mind to bear.

No longer able to form thoughts louder than the sound of his mother and Allison’s words, he gave himself over to the darkness. The sobbing was now frantic and violent, although somehow still completely silent. Brian simply sat there, broken and one-inch tall, as he felt the happiness that had grown during his time with Allison begin to fade away. Unable to call for help, he resigned himself to the fact that nobody would ever believe in his innocence. He accepted the apparent reality that he would have to carry the pain of his conviction completely, and devastatingly alone.

~

However…

The bedroom door flew open, the light turned on, and Allison came storming into the room.

“Brian, I’m sorry but I can’t let you be alone right now. There’s no fucking way you’re actually fine after what happened, and I want to-”

She stopped with a soft gasp once she realized what was going on inside of the carrier, and her heart immediately shattered as her mind went into overdrive.

There, huddled in a corner, was Brian. He was violently sobbing. He was shaking so much that he practically looked like he was having a seizure, and his face was a mess of redness and tears. Strangely enough though, he was making absolutely no noise. His hands were clasped over his mouth in a dead man’s embrace, and his whole body was so tense it looked as if it would break should someone touch it wrong. Allison realized that it was exactly like when they had first met, after she had almost executed him.

Brian recognized the sound of her voice, and he opened his eyes in shock. He saw his friend, his guardian, his savior, Allison. He looked like a deer in headlights, his hands breaking away from his face as he stared at her in terror. He felt like he had been caught committing a crime.

“Oh, no, Brian…” Allison whispered, her voice breaking in pure concern.

Hearing her voice, Brian couldn’t take it anymore, and for the first time in three years he began to cry out loud. It was a primal expression of pure, overwhelming sadness, and it overwhelmed Allison’s instincts. She sprinted towards the carrier, practically teleporting, and frantically took Brian in her palms- knocking the carrier to the floor in her haste.

She dropped to her knees, and desperately tried to comfort the sobbing man in her grasp. 

“Brian! Brian, it’s okay, it’s okay!” she cried.

She moved one thumb towards his chest, and he wrapped both arms around it and held tight. He clung to it as if it was his last lifeline, and he refused to let go lest he fall into darkness. With her other hand, Allison tried to wipe the tears from his face while stroking the back of his head. She had no idea what to do, so she simply provided some verbal and physical reassurance.

Brian buried his face in the skin of Allison’s thumb and began to scream. Allison could feel the vibration from his voice, and she began to panic. She didn’t know what was going on, and she worried about what would happen if she couldn’t calm him down from his apparent panic attack.

“Brian, please calm down! Please! I… I don’t know how to help you!”

Brian removed his face from her thumb, still clinging to it with his arms. He tried to take deep breaths, but each one was overtaken by another sobbing gasp. Allison couldn’t contain her own tears at the sight, and she began to softly cry as her mind was overtaken with confusion, stress, and concern. After a moment, she began to make out some words.

“I-I d-didn’t do it!” Brian shouted. “I didn’t fucking do it! Why does everyone say that I did it?! I didn’t fucking do it! I tried to h-help him! Why won’t people stop saying those words?!”

At that, Allison suddenly had a rough understanding of what was going on. 

He was actually bothered when I said those things, she thought as her mind raced. It must have triggered something. But… what the fuck am I supposed to do?!

Brian continued.

“My own m-mother! She said I deserved to die! She d-didn’t believe me! Why won’t anybody fucking believe me?!” he screamed.

“Brian, I believe you!” Allison cried, trying to sound as reassuring as possible through her own sadness. “I’ve always believed you! I promise I didn’t mean what I said- I was pretending!”

“I don't deserve this! I tried to fucking help him! I don't deserve to lose my family! I don’t deserve the entire world hating me! I don’t deserve to be small! I don’t deserve to die! I didn’t fucking do it! I DIDN’T FUCKING DO IT!”

“I know, Brian, I know! You didn’t do anything wrong! I believe you… please listen to me!” she continued, frantically trying to reach him.

Brian could barely make out the words through his panic, but Allison continued relentlessly. Without stopping her physical attempts at soothing him, she endlessly repeated that she believed in his innocence. She was determined to say it as many times as needed until it got through to him. She held him close to her chest, protectively surrounding him with her fingers. She lifted him to her face, and tried to comfort him with small kisses. Through it all, Brian continued to cry.

He cried for his mother.

He cried for his sister.

He cried for Allison.

He cried for himself.

At some point, Allison had moved to the bed, lying on her side as she continued to hold him. She drew her hands to her stomach and raised her knees as she curled into a ball. Soon, Brian was completely surrounded by her warmth, her concerned face gazing down at him.

“Brian. Brian, it’s okay…” she soothed. “Everything’s going to be okay. You’re safe with me. I believe you. I believe you…”

They continued like this. Allison wasn’t sure if it lasted for ten minutes or five hours. Ever so slowly, though, Brian began to calm down. His sobbing became less violent, and he stopped convulsing with as much intensity. Having lost his voice long prior, he stopped shouting, soon only making small, gasping, raspy noises.

Allison found that his tears were slowing down, and his face would stay clean for longer periods of time after she wiped it before a new stream of tears would stain it once more.

Soon, Allison no longer needed to raise her voice to get through to him. He was now only lightly crying, slowly coaxed to restfulness by his enormous friend’s reassuring voice and gentle touch. Once Brian was able to form coherent thoughts again, he began to whisper in a winded raspy tone.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” he repeated endlessly.

“Shhh… everything is going to be okay, Brian, I promise. I’m here for you. I'll never abandon you. I'll keep you safe. Forever and for always,” she replied softly. 

Her words wrapped around him like a warm blanket, and his death grip on her thumb began to loosen. His apologetic whisperings became quieter and quieter, until his mouth was moving but no words were escaping. He lay completely limp in Allison’s soft, warm hand, and she could practically see the energy leave his body as he succumbed to pure exhaustion. She refused to stop softly speaking to him for a single moment, even as her own voice became laced with raspiness. Then, Brian became entirely limp, his face completely still. Allison had finally calmed him down, and he was in a deep sleep.

Allison let out a colossal sigh, closing her eyes as the last of her own tears streamed down her face. She covered the hand holding Brian with her other, leaving only his head exposed as he fell into his much-needed rest.

“I’m so sorry, Brian…” she whispered. She knew he was carrying pain, but not to that extent. “Why weren’t you just honest with me…”

She felt herself succumbing to her own exhaustion, but she was determined to stay awake for Brian. Extremely careful not to jostle him around, she slowly raised herself from her prone position. She sat on the bed with her back to the wall, and held Brian close to her heart. A million things were running through her mind.

How can I stop this from happening ever again?

How can I stop future sessions with Cathy? She’ll torture him again.

How am I supposed to help him?

What do we do from here?

What do I do tomorrow? I can’t take another day off of work.

What am I supposed to do?

Allison shook her head, clearing these thoughts and questions from her mind.

No. I only need to do one thing right now. I need to be here when he wakes up. Like he said, we can figure it out together.

 

She nodded to herself, having made a decision. So, she waited. Keeping her eyes on Brian, afraid to look away for even a moment, she simply waited for him to wake up. Once he did, they would decide what to do as a team. The silence continued. Only this time, the silence was peaceful.

 

 

 

~

Still holding Brian, Allison got off her bed and walked over to her closet. She quietly opened it and looked to the very back. There, with a considerable layer of dust, was a perfectly ordinary briefcase. It was brown and leather, the kind of briefcase that a future lawyer might be gifted for their graduation. It looked that way because that’s exactly what it was. 

Long before Allison had ever been called into the fateful meeting where she was offered a very peculiar job, she was but a simple political science major with aspirations of a career in law. On the day of her graduation, one of her professors had gifted her that briefcase. This professor was not only her mentor, but one of her closest friends. Allison took the advice she gave with the greatest consideration, unless it was advice about love. It was love that caused Allison’s path to diverge from what she and her professor had planned out, in fact. Regardless, this professor always held out hope that Allison would someday return to her original path, and proceed towards being the brilliant attorney she knew Allison could be.

With this in mind, just as the divergence was taking fruition, Allison was gifted a briefcase and a note. The briefcase served as a visual reminder of what she was walking away from, and the note served as a written invitation to come back. For the first time in six months, ever since she had walked out of that fateful meeting, Allison was inspired to open the briefcase again, and read the note. Doing so, still refusing to let go of her shrunken companion, she felt an indescribable mix of emotions begin to wash over her.

My Dearest Allie,

 

Congratulations on graduating! I am, so, so, SO proud of you! You worked so hard and did so well, and I was fortunate enough to see it happen every step of the way. It was one of the greatest pleasures of my life to be your advisor and mentor, and I can only hope that we will stay friends for a long, long time.

Now, you might have noticed that this letter is resting atop an ugly brown briefcase. I’m sure you’re overjoyed to learn that this ugly brown briefcase is now yours! Normally, a briefcase is a traditional gift for when one graduates from law school, not undergrad, but I simply couldn’t wait. Call it a prediction for the future! I know that you’ve been re-thinking what you want your future to look like, as is your privilege as a promising young woman, but I know that you would do amazingly well in law school. I hope this briefcase will serve as a reminder of the promise I see in you, no matter what you choose to do in life.

I don’t want to drag down your congratulations letter with one of our many discussions regarding the “L” word, but allow me to say this. You deserve someone amazing. You deserve someone who believes in you just as much as you believe in him, and supports you in your dreams rather than drives you away from them. You deserve someone who makes you laugh, not makes you cry. Most importantly, you deserve somebody who you can watch movies with! That’s the key to any successful relationship.

So, if you truly believe that you have found someone like that, then I will happily support whatever form your future takes. However, if you ever feel like you are with someone not like that, and that person is keeping you away from your dreams, I hope you FUCKING LEAVE HIS SORRY ASS! Sorry, my pen slipped. Anyway, if you ever find yourself in such a situation, please reach out to me. I will always be here for you, and it’s never too late to continue down the path we had planned.

Just remember- plant your feet, stand against the current, and decide how things truly are. Always believe in your own conviction.

With all my love,

Elizabeth Dawson.

A tear fell from Allison’s face, staining the letter. At that moment, though, the one-inch man in her hand began to stir. She quickly put the letter aside and wiped her face with her free hand. She needed to be ready and focused for the conversation she was about to have. She moved away from the closet, and once again sat down in the space between the bed and her nightstand.

~

…

…

“I believe you.”

Brian opened his eyes. He was instantly comforted by an all-encompassing sensation of softness and warmth, and his confusion was quickly soothed. He soon realized where he was, and what had happened prior to him falling asleep. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, resigning himself to the conversation he was about to have. He opened his eyes and sat upwards. His whole body was afflicted with a nearly unbearable sense of exhaustion, but he somehow managed to push through it. He looked into the worried brown eyes of the one person on earth who truly believed in him- Allison Starr. He decided to skip any pretense and speak first.

“Um…” he started, before clearing his throat and swallowing a few times. He found that his voice was nearly gone, having been abused by his recent breakdown.

“When you said what you said during the session,” he began, his voice tired and raspy, “it brought back some bad memories from right after Timmy Osment died. I couldn’t stop myself from remembering, and it hit me all at once. I scared you, and I’m sorry. But… thank you… thank you for coming back.”

“I thought it was probably something like that,” Allison replied, her own voice battling traces of exhaustion. “Why did you tell me you were fine? Why weren’t you just honest with me?”

Brian hung his head.

“I was scared you would blame yourself,” he said quietly.

“I definitely blame myself, but that doesn’t mean it was okay to hide that kind of pain from me,” she replied sadly. “I thought you were going to stop being so afraid to tell me what you think.”

“I know,” Brian said, “but it’s hard to ask for that kind of help after being alone for so long. It feels like… it feels like… I don’t know what it feels like.”

It feels like he’s opening himself up to be attacked, Allison thought.

“It’s okay, Brian,” Allison said comfortingly. “I understand. It’s just… you helped me when I broke down after I came back from the facility. I want to be able to help you, too. If you ever start remembering again, or it all comes back at once, please tell me right away. I don’t want you to ever be that upset again. Not if I can help it.”

Brian gave a small smile.

“Okay,” he said quietly. Nothing else needed to be said. Allison curled her fingers around him protectively, and gently hugged him to her chest. She could feel him lean slightly into her skin in response.

“Do you… do you want to talk about what happened any more?” she asked hesitantly after drawing her hands back. Brian shook his head.

“Not today,” he replied.

“Does that mean you will another day?” she said.

“…Sure,” he answered after a brief silence. Allison gave a small smile in response.

“I think that’s a good call. Today has been one of the most eventful and stressful days of my life,” Allison said exasperatedly. “I’m ready for it to be over.”

“Me too,” Brian admitted. “Unfortunately, though, it’s not.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“We need to figure out what to do about Cathy,” he answered.

“Shit,” Allison said, “you’re right. We also need to decide what to do about work tomorrow. Safe to say I probably can’t handle another session.”

They both sighed heavily.

“Dinner first,” they both declared simultaneously. At that, they gave each other a small grin. 

~

After dinner, Brian and Allison were resting on the sofa. She had made sure to clear away any traces of the mini-session that had just occurred. Brian was snugly perched in her hand, using her upturned fingers as a back rest. 

Allison had been holding him nonstop ever since he woke up, incidentally, only reluctantly letting him down so he could eat dinner. 

“You don’t have to keep holding me, you know,” he had said at one point.

“Do you like it?” she asked in response. Brian paused, before averting eye contact and slightly blushing.

“Yeah,” he replied hesitantly.

“Then I’m never letting you go again unless I absolutely have to,” she declared. That was that.

“I have a question,” Allison said after they had been silently sitting for a few minutes.

“What is it?” Brian asked.

“How did you come up with that story that you told Cathy? About me keeping you to torture you?” she replied.

“Ah. While you were at the facility today, I ran through some simulations of what would happen if somebody ever found me. That was one story I came up with in case another Chevalier ever discovered me,” he answered.

“Huh,” Allison said appreciatively. “How did you know Cathy was a Chevalier?”

“I matched the voice when she came here to the voice I heard when you smuggled me out,” he said plainly.

“You don’t say. Impressive,” Allison praised. Brian shrugged.

“Alright, now I have a question,” Brian said.

“What is it?” Allison asked.

“Do you want to keep being a Chevalier?” he asked. Allison was taken aback at his directness. After it wore off, however, she thought carefully for a moment.

“No, I don’t,” she admitted quietly. Saying it out loud brought forth a number of mixed emotions.

“Alright. So, what’s keeping you from quitting?” Brian asked. “I mean that literally. What are the issues preventing you from leaving? Let’s list them out.”

“Oh, I see…” Allison said softly, slightly nervous that the focus of the conversation was now on her.

“I’ll help. Issue one goes into our other main problem. Cathy now knows about me and expects to have another session with me. Quitting would be really suspicious. We can come back to that one later. What else is there?” Brian said.

“Um… well…” Allison started.

“Don’t worry, Allie,” Brian said reassuringly. “No matter how silly or nonsensical it seems, just tell me. We’ll figure it out together.”

Allison smiled in relief.

“I feel… I feel like I’m stuck,” she admitted. “It’s been six months. It’s hard to imagine going back to a ‘normal’ job after this. Also… also, I don’t feel like I deserve it.”

“Deserve what? A normal job?” Brian asked, trying to tease out the real issue.

“No… a normal life,” Allison replied, closing her eyes sadly.

“I see. Well, let me tell you one thing, Allie,” Brian said. Allison looked at him questioningly.

“You’re never gonna have a normal life. Not so long as I’m around. Normal is out of the question. Sorry not sorry. With that in mind, there’s no issue! Next problem?” he said plainly, breaking out in a small grin at the end. After a pause, Allison laughed out loud, accidentally jostling her tiny friend around in her palms.

“I guess you’re right,” she said with a giggle. “That really isn’t an issue.”

“I guess the next thing is… I’m scared that people would find out that I used to be a Chev. It’s a pretty controversial job, after all,” she continued.

“Hmm. Well, that shouldn’t be an issue so long as you don’t tell anybody, right? It’s virtually impossible to find out the identities of Chevaliers,” Brian asked.

“Yeah… I’m just paranoid,” Allison admitted, “I just worry too much about what other people would say. I’m scared of arguing with the entire world.”

“Allie, it doesn’t matter what everybody says. That’s the court of public opinion. Take it from me, the court of public opinion is fucking worthless,” Brian said, the anger in his voice palpable at the end. “The only one you need to argue with is yourself, and decide what you believe is right.”

Allison smiled thoughtfully.

“You know, my mentor said something like that to me once,” she said nostalgically.

“Your mentor sounds very smart,” Brian replied. “So, anyway, try not to worry about it. Nobody would find out, and even if they did you have no reason to care about what they think.“

“Yeah…“ Allison said, “I suppose it isn’t a big deal. It kind of goes into my last issue, though.”

“What is it?” Brian asked.

“Well… it’s my family. They cut me off because I took the job. I just… don’t know how I could ever approach them again. I don’t know if they’d even accept me,” she continued quietly.

“Look, Allie, I have very little sympathy for parents who choose to cut off their own kids. No idea where it comes from, but I just don’t,” Brian said with a sly grin. Allison returned it. 

“As far as I’m concerned, they should be the ones apologizing to you. With that being said, it’s entirely up to you if you want to reconnect with them. In regards to that, I’ll just say this: the longer you keep being a Chevalier, the harder it will be to reach out to them,” he continued.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Allison said.

“I’ll also tell you this,” Brian said. “Even if they don’t accept you, I will. You once said that you’d never abandon me. The same goes for me. You’ll always have at least one person on your side.”

Allison’s heart filled with warmth, and she smiled gratefully.

“T-Thank you, Brian. That means more than you know,” she said.

“So, is that it?” Brian asked. Allison nodded.

“Yeah… yeah, it is!” she said jovially. “After saying it out loud, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal.”

After running through all the issues and solutions, Allison felt an unfamiliar sense of excitement. It felt like she was finally seeing a way out of the dark cave she had been lost in for six months. However, there was still one enormous boulder blocking her escape.

After a moment of shared happiness, Allison’s face fell.

“Cathy,” Allison said sullenly. Brian nodded.

“Well, before you get too depressed, I actually do have an idea,” he said.

“Really?” Allison replied, her eyes lighting up.

“Yeah. Another thing I thought of during my simulations while you were at work,” he continued.

“Okay, what do you mean by simulations? Are you a computer?” she asked playfully.

“Put a sock in it!” Brian replied. “Do you want to hear my idea or not?”

Allison dropped her teasing attitude.

“Yes, please,” she replied quietly.

“Alright. This is the kind of thing that will only work once, so we need to absolutely make sure that she never finds me again,” he said firmly.

“Got it. What’s your plan?” Allison asked.

“It’s time for me to die again.”

~

Allison pulled into the parking lot of a supermarket two blocks away from the Silver Strip. Exiting her car, she began the long walk towards her place of employment. Her heart was pounding with an intensity rivaling the first time she ever approached the criminal death chamber known as the Silver Strip. She was gripping two things in either hand. The first thing was a folded piece of paper. The second thing was her phone. Each one had an important role to play in the upcoming event, and Allison knew that nothing would ever be the same by the time she walked back out.

Soon, she approached the device used by Chevaliers to clock in. She stared at it for a moment, before walking right by it.

Time to see Cathy, Allison thought. She briefly wondered if she would have to search through the various waiting rooms, but a feeling in her gut told her to instead enter the long hallway that housed all of the SPARs. She did so, and found herself once again in the long, metal hallway from which the Silver Strip got its name. Seeing as how there was no scheduled SPAR session, the hallway was nearly empty. There was a cold reverberance hanging in the air, the kind that could only be created by pure metal.

In front of the SPAR next to Allison’s, as she suspected, was a gorgeous woman. Her long, curly blonde hair framed a stunning face with meticulously applied makeup that perfectly accentuated her sky blue eyes and vibrant red lips. It was Cathy, the only person who Allison had evenly remotely considered a friend since she became a Chevalier. Her expression was calm, and her eyes slightly lit up when Allison entered the room.

“Hi, Allie,” Cathy said cheerfully, yet softly. Allison was too nervous to fully notice the change from her usual disposition.

“Hi, Cathy,” Allison said, trying to sound normal. She expected one of Cathy’s bear hugs, but it never came. Cathy simply stood there, facing Allison with a gentle smile on her face.

“Did you get home okay?” Allison asked.

“I did, thank you very much for ordering that cab for me,” Cathy replied.

Good, she still seems to think that she’s the one who asked for the cab. Here we go, Allison thought as she took a deep breath.

“So, Cathy, about my ‘friend’ that you met last night,” she started.

“Yes?” Cathy asked.

“I, um… I decided to ‘evict’ him, if you know what I mean,” Allison continued. Cathy frowned.

“Oh, why’s that?” she asked.

“Well, he was too much of a risk to keep around. You met him pretty quickly after he moved in, and I realized that if somebody less agreeable found out, then I could end up in real trouble. Besides, frankly, he was exhausting his use to me anyway,” Allison explained with a nervous grin.

“I see,” Cathy replied.

Is she taking this super well, or is it just me? Allison thought.

“A-Anyway, I know that you were wanting to ‘hang out’ with him again, but I started to panic a little after you left and kicked him out. I hope you’re not too mad at me,” she continued, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes as she pleaded for forgiveness. Cathy simply chuckled in response.

“It’s fine, Allie,” she said softly, “there are plenty of other people to hang out with. You have to do what’s best for yourself.” 

Allison was relieved.

“I… I’m really glad to hear that, Cathy. You seemed to have so much fun, I thought you’d be mad at me,” she said with a guilty smile.

“Please, Allie, I’d never get mad for something like that. What did you have to do to get him to leave?” she asked.

Alright, this is it, Allison thought. This is the crucial moment.

“Well, he was really resistant, obviously, since I was housing him for free, after all,” she started. Cathy nodded.

“Eventually, I just had to get firm and put my foot down. I told him to get the fuck out, and he finally left,” she said.

Cathy laughed in response.

“Well, I suppose it’s only right. You did what you know best,” she said.

“That’s not all,” Allison said. “I took a picture. Wanna see?”

“Of course!” Cathy replied. Her heart pounding, Allison opened up her photos app and showed Cathy the screen.

The picture was of Allison’s kitchen floor. There, contrasted against the cold, white tile, was a horrifying red stain. It looked as if a water balloon filled with ketchup had been dropped on the ground, red liquid splattering in every direction. In the center was a nondescript lump of organs and bone. Stained red by the blood that had erupted from it, one could hardly tell what it used to be unless they knew it beforehand. Both Allison and Cathy, of course, knew exactly what it was.

“Wow,” Cathy said after staring at the image for a few moments, “Not bad, Allie. That looks really impressive.”

“Thanks!” replied Allison joyfully, internally freaking out that Cathy had seemingly accepted the picture. She drew her phone away and slipped it into her pocket.

Glancing at the folded piece of paper, Allison decided it was time to move on to the other important subject.

“So, one other thing, Cathy…” she began nervously. Before she could continue, however, Cathy raised one hand to stop her.

“Hold on, Allie,” she said, “can I say one thing first?”

I have a bad feeling about this, Allison thought, although she didn’t let it show.

“Of course, what is it?” she asked.

Cathy’s face slightly darkened, and her voice became soft.

“Once I sobered up last night, I remembered what we had talked about before your session yesterday,” she said.

Allison’s blood turned to ice, and she began to nervously sweat. Somehow, though, her face remained neutral.

“What, the breathing technique?” Allison asked, desperately hoping to redirect the conversation again.

“No, you asked me about if it was possible for a convict to be innocent,” she continued quietly.

Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Allison thought.

“O-Oh, yeah, I did,” she said nervously, trying to remember her previous excuse. “Like I said, I saw some Anti-SP propaganda. I’m over it now.”

“I thought it was interesting,” Cathy said, ignoring Allison’s excuse, “that five days after you get a new roommate, your first day back to work has you asking about innocent convicts, and you borderline have a panic attack after your first session.”

This is over, Allison thought, a cold sense of melancholy drowning her senses. She knows. We’re dead.

Allison dropped her persona, her face becoming deadly serious. An agonizing silence fell across the empty hallway as she deliberated how to respond.

“…What about it, Cathy?” she finally asked, unable to completely hide the trembling in her voice.

Cathy stared at her for a moment, her stunning blue eyes going to war against Allison’s browns. Her face was completely unreadable, even to Allison. After a small eternity, though, her eyes softened. Her eyebrows lowered, and her face took on an expression of soft, resigned sadness.

“Must be a coincidence,” she whispered sadly.

Wait, what? Allison thought. She can’t be serious. What the fuck is going on?

“What…?” Allison couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“You have to be careful,” Cathy continued, her voice becoming deadly serious. After a brief pause, she continued.

“…With what you read on the internet. There’s some dangerous stuff out there.”

Oh… oh, I see, Allison thought. Her heartbeat slowed, and her expression softened.

“I will, Cathy,” she replied quietly. Finally, Cathy moved in for a hug. Her long arms wrapped around Allison’s frame tightly, and she squeezed with all her might. For the first time, Allison truly reciprocated her embrace. When she pulled back, Cathy had small tears in her eyes.

“You are one of the most perceptive and discerning people I’ve ever met,” Cathy said, wiping her eyes. “If you make a judgement, I know it wasn’t made lightly. That doesn’t mean I think you’re right, but I trust that you wouldn’t put yourself in danger over something you don’t truly believe in.”

“That’s right, Cathy,” Allison replied. “I wouldn’t do something like that unless I was absolutely sure.”

“In that case,” Cathy said with a resolved huff and a smile, “there’s nothing I could say to convince you anyway.”

Allison gave her a gentle smile in response.

“What’s that piece of paper you’ve got, sweetie?” she asked.

She already knows. At least I can skip the bullshit excuse.

“It’s my resignation letter. Once I walk out of here I’ll no longer be a Chevalier,” Allison answered.

“I see,” Cathy said sadly, unable to stop a tear from streaking down her beautiful face. “I think that’s what’s best for you. I will so, incredibly, unbelievably miss you, though.”

Allison took on a troubled expression.

I need to make this clear, she thought.

“Cathy… Cathy, I don’t know what path I’m going to go down,” she started, “but there’s a really good chance that you and I will end up walking in clashing directions.”

Cathy nodded.

“I know, Allie,” she replied softly, her face colored with regret.

“Okay,” Allison said firmly. “Goodbye, Cathy.”

With that, she turned and moved towards the door. When her hand was on the handle, though, she looked back.

“Cathy?” she said.

“Yes?” Cathy replied.   

“Do you truly believe in the Shrink Penalty, or do you just like being a Chevalier?” she asked. Cathy gave a thoughtful, sad smile.

“Goodbye, Allie,” she said quietly. Allison nodded, and exited the hallway.

~

“I’m home,” Allison declared, happy that she finally had someone there to answer her.

“Welcome home, Allie,” replied a small voice. Allison smiled brightly and turned towards the source of the noise- the small table next to the front door, now empty after the potted plant had been broken. There, leaning against the wall, was a one-inch tall man with messy black hair and striking, cheerful green eyes. Brian Bentley had once again welcomed Allison Starr home.

She tossed her bag aside and cheerfully scooped Brian up in her palms, relishing the feeling of his delicate body well protected by her upturned fingers. She trotted over to the sofa and plopped down, ever careful not to jostle her companion around too much.

“Well… did she buy the picture?” Brian asked nervously.

“No,” Allison replied, her smile slightly darkening.

“Well, shit,” Brian said. “Did she connect the dots?”

“Yeah,” Allison said.

“Fuck!” Brian exclaimed. “So, what’s the deal? Are we fucked or are we fucked?!”

Allison gently shook her head, causing Brian to adopt a confused expression.

“No, she’s not going to bother us. I don’t think she believes in your innocence, but she trusts that I wouldn’t believe something like that lightly. So, she’s going to leave us alone,” she explained, her tranquil expression calming Brian’s nerves.

“Well, that’s surprising. And you believe her?” Brian asked. 

“I do,” Allison answered.

“Huh. So, does that mean you successfully quit?” he inquired with a nervous expression.

Allison showed Brian a bright smile- one of the brightest he had ever seen from her.

“I did,” she said joyfully. “I am no longer a Chevalier.”

Brian broke his usual neutral expression to reciprocate Allison’s smile, and he hugged her nearby thumb.

“Allie,” he said emotionally, “I am so proud of you.”

“Me too,” Allison replied, holding back tears. They stayed like this for a few minutes, simply basking in their shared happiness and Allison’s newfound freedom.

~

“So, what now?” Brian asked later that day, after they had allowed themselves to goof off for a few hours.

“Right,” Allison said. “I think I want to contact my old mentor, Professor Dawson. I’m gonna see if it’s not too late to work towards my original career choice.”

“Oh, and what career is that?” Brian asked.

“D-Defense attorney,” Allison answered, suddenly embarrassed.

“Huh. Defense attorney turned Chevalier. Not bad,” Brian muttered, appreciating the irony.

“Wait…” Brian said, suddenly realizing something. “Does this mean you’re going to try and prove my innocence?”

“Is that not something you want?” Allison asked, slightly surprised at his apparent hesitance.

“Well, I don’t know…” Brian admitted. “I stopped thinking about it, since I figured it would never happen.” Allison nodded thoughtfully.

“I mean, the shrinking process is permanent, so I’m not too concerned about ever returning to normal… I don’t really care about my reputation…”

“What about your family?” Allison asked. “Don’t you want them to know the truth?”

Brian’s face darkened.

“My mother can go to hell,” he said angrily. “After only two days she was unwilling to even entertain the thought that her son was in fact not a child murderer. She told me that I should get the Shrink Penalty, and that she’d be willing to squish me herself. Fuck her.”

Wow, sore subject, Allison thought.

“Yeah, t-that’s… that’s pretty rough,” Allison said. “I remember that your family was getting quite a bit of hate after the murder. Do you… do you think she only acted that way because she was trying to protect herself?”

“If so, that means she was willing to sacrifice her relationship with her son to protect her public image. Not sure that’s any better,” Brian replied plainly.

“Yeah, true…” Allison said. “What about your other family?”

“I had nobody else. Well, except for…”

Brian’s face softened.

“Except for my sister,” he said quietly. “I suppose it would be nice for her to learn that her big brother isn’t a murderer.”

Allison smiled sympathetically.   

“Well, listen. That’s something we can decide another day. Either way, though, I would like to reach out to Professor Dawson. Maybe set up a meeting.”

“You think she’ll still help you after everything?” Brian asked hesitantly. “You said that she was privately against the SP.”

“I think she will,” Allison said, thinking back to the letter.

I will always be here for you, and it’s never too late to continue down the path we had planned.

“I think you’d like her, Brian,” Allison said. “Not only is she Anti-SP, she was openly critical of your conviction. She noticed right away all the bullshit they put you through. I probably never would have noticed had she not planted those seeds in my head.”

 

“Huh,” Brian said, “well that officially makes her my second favorite person on earth.”

“Who’s your first?” Allison asked teasingly. Brian looked up at her for a few moments.

“Myself,” he replied plainly.

“Asshole!” Allison cried playfully, before moving her hand and dropping Brian from a few inches above the sofa. He fell with a yelp, and bounced upwards once he hit the soft fabric.

“I’m lying, I’m lying!” Brian called out with a laugh. “You’re my most favoritest person, Allie!”

Allison broke out in a triumphant grin, before scooping him up once again.

“That’s more like it,” she said, before giving him a light squeeze with her fingers.

“So… are you wanting to tell this Dawson person about me at some point?” Brian asked, a small amount of trepidation in his voice.

“Don’t worry,” Allison said reassuringly, “absolutely nobody is going to know about you unless we both decide it is the right thing to do.”

Brian nodded, relieved.

“Besides,” Allison said softly, a small blush overtaking her face, “I don’t ever want to have to share you again, anyway.”

“Huh?” Brian asked, his own face colored slightly red.

“Like I told Cathy,” Allison continued, finding her confidence, “you’re mine, and mine alone.”

Brian turned away, embarrassed. Allison giggled at his bashful reaction.

Is this the real him? she wondered.

“That… kinda reminds me,” Brian said, his back still turned. Allison made a questioning noise.

“Before Cathy showed up, you told me you had set a new goal for yourself. What is it?” he asked.

Allison’s heart began to race, a panicked look in her eyes. After a moment, though, her heart slowed, and her eyes softened. A small, adoring smile formed on her beautiful face.

Fuck it, she thought.

“My goal is to get Brian Bentley to fall in love with me,” she said softly. 

Brian instantly stiffened, as if he had been struck by lightning. He then began to slowly face his giant companion, a shocked expression on his face. 

“But… but…” he started, trying to find the words.

“Brian Bentley… is small,” he said quietly. “He’s damaged. He has a hard time being serious, and he’s scared of opening up. I don’t know if he could make you happy.”

“Well…” Allison responded slowly. “Brian Bentley is also kind. He’s smart, and funny, too. It’s okay if he has a hard time opening up, because that’s something we could work on together. And I can tell you right now, he’s already made me very happy.”

“But… it’s just…” Brian continued, obviously scared.

“What is it, Brian?” Allison asked kindly.

“It’s just… I can’t fulfill all of your, you know, needs. Even if I wasn’t small, this would still be an issue. I just… can’t, you know, do those things,” he continued hesitantly. 

“Brian,” Allison said with a sigh as she reclined into the sofa, “in my last relationship, sex was used as a weapon. He used it as a bargaining chip, he used it as a threat, an incentive, an insult, everything. He made sex anything he needed it to be. The only thing it never became was fun.”

Brian looked up at her.

“I think…” Allison started. “I think I’m okay with a different type of relationship.”

They stared at each other for a few moments. Brian’s terrified green eyes were locked in an embrace with Allison’s serene browns.

“So,” Allison said softly, “do you think my goal is impossible?”

Brian fidgeted for a few seconds, before his own face turned a shade of red.

“No…” he said, once again turning so his back was facing her. “It seems like a pretty easy goal, to me.”

Allison broke out in an enormous smile. Her heart was practically on fire, and her face was a beacon of warmth and happiness. She gently brought Brian up to her face and lightly kissed his back a few times.

“Glad to hear it,” she said happily as she set her hands back down on her lap. Brian turned around to face her and sat down on her plush, warm skin. He was also showing an enormous smile.

“Thanks for saving me,” he finally said after a few minutes. Allison beamed.

“Brian, I don’t know what our future is gonna be. I don’t know where this path we’ve chosen leads. All I know is that it can’t be the wrong path as long as we walk it together,” she said, as if carving the words into her soul. Brian grinned.

“Allie, I couldn’t agree more.”

At that, Allison reached for him and placed him on her gigantic shoulder. He leaned against her neck as she reached for her laptop, ready to draft an email to her college mentor.

 

~

 

Brian Bentley was an innocent man destined to die. Allison Starr was the woman destined to kill him. She didn’t. As a result, they were both able to overcome past trauma and work together at creating a brighter future. No matter what would happen in the future - no matter what happened regarding Brian’s innocence, no matter what happened regarding the Shrink Penalty - they would be able to rest easy knowing that their bond was intact. Such was their nature. Together, they walked out of darkness and into the light, ready to face the world under the sun.

 

 

~

 

 

The End.