Aubreigh sat in the front seat of her mom’s SUV. Her window was down, air blowing through her hair, as she played music from her iPhone on the vehicle's Bluetooth system. They left at 7am that morning and were 6 hours into their road trip. The drive on I-95 toward Port St. Lucie, Florida was a boring one, but Aubreigh was excited. Her little brother and sister, as well as some of her friends were along for the week as well. But these friends of Aubreigh’s were nothing like her or her mom. Instead, they were tiny like her shrunken siblings, standing a little under an inch all. 

Aubreigh primarily had tinies for friends, often preferring them over her normal sized peers. A part of her felt sorry for the tiny people, and so she liked doing things for them and helping them out. And that was why Aubreigh wanted to major in “Tinies Studies” at school. To help build a better, more integrated, and safer world for the tinies. Since the shrinking pandemic that took place over 30 years ago, it was becoming more common for tinies and regular sized people to live, work, and play together. 

But things weren’t always that way. 

Chloe was Aubreigh’s best friend growing up. Chloe was one of the few regular sized people that Aubreigh liked and was friends with. Chloe had thought that she was immune to the virus that ravaged the world. But then, in middle school, Chloe succumbed to it, shrinking overnight to only an inch tall, joining the ranks of her already shrunken brother, Ben. Aubreigh was very sympathetic to Chloe and still wanted to stay best friends. And although Chloe hid it well, she was very jealous and resentful of Aubreigh. Why was Aubreigh so lucky, but not her? What made Aubreigh so special? Going over to Aubreigh’s house after she shrank just wasn’t the same either. Aubreigh’s mom, Natalie, who was usually so nice and inviting, became indifferent toward her, almost as if Chloe were beneath her. But why? Just because she shrank? How was that fair? Even now, at 18 years of age, Chloe still held that resentment against the Beaumonts, but for the most part, she kept her feelings to herself.

Nate was a handsome tiny from school that started dating Chloe a couple years ago. Nate liked the idea of hanging out and doing stuff with Chloe, because that usually meant going over to Aubreigh’s house, and Nate had a massive crush on Aubreigh, although Aubreigh had no idea. Even though Nate was 18, and technically an adult, it was a very rare thing for a tiny person to date a regular sized person, no matter what age. Even when the virus affected only one spouse but not the other, over half of those cases ended in divorce, or worse. Nathan’s crush on Aubreigh was obvious to Chloe and it was a major source of contention between the two of them. It was just yet another reason why Chloe resented Aubreigh Beaumont.

Ben was actually more of a friend of Aubreigh’s brother, Thomas, than he was of Aubreigh, actually. But Aubreigh desperately wanted to change that because she had a massive crush on Ben ever since she met him. Ben was Chloe’s little brother, and Aubreigh thought he was the most handsome coolest guy she’d ever met. And the fact that he was only an inch tall didn’t faze her at all. Being around him still gave her butterflies, even though he was only 16, like her siblings. When Chloe and Nate agreed to going on a vacation, Aubreigh had suggested that Chloe invite Ben along so that Thomas would have a guy friend to hang out with. Of course, Thomas thought it was a great idea, but neither he nor Ben realized that it was actually because of Aubreigh’s crush on Ben that she had suggested bringing him along. But Chloe knew about it, Aubreigh had talked about it many times before. However, Chloe wasn’t going to say anything about it to the guys because she already felt that Aubreigh had the upper hand in life. So why should she do anything to help? But unknown to Chloe, her fears of her little brother actually falling for Aubreigh were unwarranted. Ben actually had a thing for older women, and so to him, the beautiful Mrs. Beaumont was the ultimate fantasy in his eyes. He would take her any day over her over her 18 year old daughter. And the fact that the older woman wouldn’t give him the time of day was even more tantalizing, almost taking it like a challenge. But he was planning on getting Natalie’s attention one way or another on this trip. But of course, Ben was smart and hadn’t said a word to anyone because he was worried they might tease him about it.

Sophia was another one of Aubreigh’s friends. But instead of shrinking later in life, Sophia had been born tiny and met the gigantic Aubreigh in pre-school. Aubreigh was always so nice to her and the other tiny children in the classroom. Aubreigh always wanted to play with them and help them do stuff. Both of Sophia’s parents were tinies as well, and as tinies, they were often discriminated against. So it was refreshing for Sophia to be around someone like Aubreigh that was so tender-hearted and kind toward them. However, Sophia did not feel the same way about Aubreigh’s mom, Natalie. Natalie never really acknowledged Sophia or talked to her. Sophia’s parents worked as librarians, and when she lost her parents to a ‘book falling on them’ accident, she went to Aubreigh for comfort. But as she tearfully poured her heart out to her giant friend, all Aubreigh’s mom said when she walked by was to “keep it down” because she had a terrible headache. To say that Sophia hated Natalie Beaumont was an understatement. Sophia knew that Natalie was going to be on this trip and she almost declined. But then she thought about how much fun it would be to hang out with Aubreigh, and so she decided to come along and just ignore Aubreigh’s mom as much as possible.

Carmen was the last of the 7 tinies on this trip. She had been born small, but her parents were regular sized. At first Carmen’s parents didn’t even realize they were pregnant with her, and so when her mother felt her come out of her, they were completely caught off guard. They had briefly considered just flushing her down the toilet and being done with it. However, with their ultra religious background, they just couldn’t go through with it and decided to keep her. Carmen had brothers and sisters, all of whom were normal sized, and they were very clearly her parents favorites. All though Carmen was treated well, it was never anything compared to the other kids. While her brothers would get new cars and her sisters would get sweet 16’s, Carmen was gifted with relatively nice tiny housing complete with sound and video so she could watch movies and listen to music. But although she was physically very well taken care of, she was emotionally isolated. Her parents, as well as her brothers and sisters, never really paid any attention to her. It was mostly the housekeeper, Maria, that fed and took care of her. Maria felt like more of a mom to Carmen than her actual mother. Carmen’s parents, being politically conservative, also voted against the rights of tinies, or public funding for their integration into society. It was their belief that other people should not have to pay for the burdens of the tinies. Everyone’s families should take care of the virus victims themselves, like they had been doing for their own daughter. 

Carmen vividly remembered the last day she saw the housekeeper, Maria. The poor housekeeper had shrunk, almost instantaneously, while delivering Carmen’s fresh laundry to her room. When Carmen’s mom came in the room to see what was taking so long, she found the tiny maid on the floor, crying and begging for help. Carmen’s mom sighed and shook her head in disappointment. Maria had been the best housekeeper they had ever had, she’d been with them for over 15 years. But Carmen’s mom didn’t want her filing for unemployment against them, since they didn’t pay the unemployment tax required of employers. 10 year old Carmen would never forget the sight of her mom casually squishing Maria under her expensive house slipper as the tiny woman was reaching out for help. So much for religious conviction, Carmen saw the hypocrisy. It was illegal to kill a tiny, but a person could easily hide it, and so that law was difficult to enforce. So for Carmen, the casualness displayed by Aubreigh’s mom, Natalie, was nothing that she wasn’t already used to. And although Carmen really loved Aubreigh, she still didn’t trust her, even after all these years. After all, Carmen never expected to see her mom squish someone beneath her, so what’s to say Aubreigh wasn’t capable of flipping on a dime as well? Carmen was very distrusting and, aside from Aubreigh, she didn’t feel particularly close with anyone.

The world had changed so much in the last 30 years. The virus indiscriminately affected people of all races from all walks of life and political ideologies; rich and poor, good and bad, male and female, it didn’t matter. In the beginning, those who were affected were safe if they had friends or family who loved them and looked after them. Unfortunately, there were some people who were affected that ended up as victims, either as playthings, servants, or murder victims. It took so long to get protection for the tiny victims of the virus. It took hundreds of marches, protests, and political battles to get anything done. Government was slow to do anything about it aside from making it a crime to hurt them. But again, that was largely unenforceable. It wasn’t until the more extreme political voice kept growing and finally became a large enough power that public spending was directed toward equal rights for tinies. They forced businesses and other places to become tiny accessible, they even made it illegal to refuse service to them. They included tinies in the public school curriculum and redesigned schools to accommodate them. Trillions of dollars were spent on designing transportation and other practical services for them. But again, not everyone liked that.

Even with those victories, things were extremely rough in the beginning for tinies. Before there were standards for everything, tinies would mistakenly get bused at restaurant tables, regular sized people wouldn’t notice them on planes or buses and would mistakenly step on them or simply sit on them. Thousands of tinies died, and it happened so often that many of the tiny citizens didn’t trust the giant world for many years. It took quite a while for things to become integrated safely. But over the years, after many protests from both regular sized people and tinies, and after trillions of dollars had been spent, a new safe normal was created. But many people felt that the investment was not worth the return. Sure, there were a few things tinies were useful for, but was it really worth the debt that the nation incurred? 

Many felt not. 

Natalie Beaumont was one of those people. She felt that the benefits of tiny people in society were minimal. The only reason she tolerated them to the extent she did was because of her daughter and, more importantly, because of her husband's business of designing, building, and converting things to acclimate tiny people into society. Even after all these years, there was such a demand for services like his. After her husband got into that business, Natalie actually was grateful for the money and the comfortable life it allowed her to live. But as far as Natalie felt about the tiny people themselves, well, that was a different story.

Aubreigh however, was very pro-tiny, and it bothered Natalie. She tried not bringing up politics to her daughter. But still, Aubreigh would always talk excitedly about what new things some politician was going to propose and try to implement to better mesh the two society’s. But Natalie would just listen, smile and say, “That’s nice,” and leave it at that. She didn’t fight it too much. After all, if it weren’t for all those liberal socialists using taxpayer money to pay for her husband's services, the Beaumont’s wouldn’t have the money they had. How ironic, even though they made her family tons of money, Natalie still viewed them as expensive pests to civilization. 

And now she was on vacation with 7 of them…

Natalie drove over a pothole as she pulled off I-95 to find a gas station. The car bounced hard and the contents in the backseat violently shifted around. A couple duffle bags fell on top of the prototype transport  tank, covering up the breathing holes and any light coming in.

Aubreigh Beaumont turned around in her seat, “Are you guys okay?” she asked, very concerned about her friends..

“Aubreigh, sit down,” Natalie said in annoyance.

“But my friends are-,” Aubreigh said, before getting cut off.

“You can help them when we stop,” Natalie said as she pulled into the gas station. “There’s a cop over there and I don’t want to get pulled over for you unbuckling your seatbelt and turning around in the car.”

Natalie pulled up to a pump and put the gas guzzling SUV in park. Natalie got out to pump gas and Aubreigh got out to help her friends. Aubreigh moved the bags off of the transport tank and looked inside at them. “Is everybody doing okay?”, she asked. She got a bunch of nods and thumbs up from the tinies as they looked back at Aubreigh’s gigantic face. Aubreigh smiled, “Cool, well I’m going to buy a water, do you guys need anything?” They all gave her a thumbs up, letting her know they were all okay. “Alright,” she said, “I’ll be right back!” and Aubreigh’s face disappeared from view.

A few seconds later, Natalie’s gigantic form sauntered into view as she casually walked to the other side of the vehicle. She was dressed for Florida weather, she wore Birkenstocks on her tan feet, a summer dress that flowed along her gorgeous body, and dark sunglasses. Her arms were folded as she looked around in the backseat. With her sunglasses on, none of the tinies could tell where her eyes were looking, which made her presence a little ominous.

“Hi Mrs. Beaumont!”, said Ben, waving his hand enthusiastically. Natalie either didn’t hear him or simply chose not to respond to him. Her lightly tanned face had a plain, bored expression. Natalie Beaumont was the queen of ‘resting bitch face’. 

“Dude, shut up!” quipped Thomas, remembering his mom’s threat and the ordeal he went through in her slipper just the previous night. 

“What, why?” asked Ben with a perplexed look on his face.

“Damn it, Aubreigh,” Natalie said, shaking her head and pursing her lips. She reached in and shoved some bags around. “She knows this bag has my shoes in it. I sincerely hope she didn’t scuff any of them!” The giant woman situated the bag gently so the protective wrapping didn’t come apart and scuff any of the shoes inside. When she couldn’t get it situated right, Natalie pushed her huge fingers against the glass of the transport and shoved it out of the way. 

The 7 tinies tumbled and fell as Natalie violently handled their transport tank.

“Ow, what was that for, Mrs. Beaumont?” asked Chloe.

“Yeah, what gives?” asked Nate, holding his head as it throbbed from the pounding he just received from hitting the floor.

“Guys!” snapped Julia. “Just leave her alone, okay?”

Natalie, of course, just ignored them, making sure the bags around them were perfectly situated. The gas pump clicked and Natalie’s attention was quickly taken away from the tinies and the bags. She slammed the door shut, hurting their little ears.

“Geez, what’s her problem?” asked Ben, shaking his head in irritation. “And why are you guys defending your mom like that? You cool with her acting this way?” he asked the twins.

“That’s just how she is,” said Chloe. “You just have to get used to it is all.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain Thomas and Julia acting like we’re not even allowed to speak to their mother. Like, as if,, how dare we?” Ben looked at the twins for an explanation. Ben wasn’t used to hanging out with Aubreigh like his sister Chloe was. So this was a foreign concept to Ben.

“Mom talked to us and told us that she didn’t want to be bothered on vacation this week. So we’re just doing our best to make it a good week for her,” said Thomas. “I’m sorry if we came off rude.” Neither one of the twins wanted to tell them about what happened last night.

The front door slammed shut as Natalie got back in the driver's seat. She sat in silence and no one said anything. A moment later, Aubreigh hopped in the passenger seat and shut the door, holding her open Smart Water. She looked back at where the transport should have been and noticed it was moved way off to the side.

“Are you guys okay?” Aubreigh asked, scrunching her face.

“They’re fine honey,” said Natalie as she put the car in drive and drove off. “I checked on them for you.”

“Oh, thanks mom, I appreciate that.” Aubreigh said, taking another drink of water. Natalie only smiled as Aubreigh kept talking. “I really hope they have a good time on this trip. I’m looking forward to spending time with them.” Natalie only looked at the road in front of her and her expression didn’t change.

For the next two hours, the two giant’s conversation was dull and boring. Down below, the tinies were bored out of their minds. They had nothing to do in their transport that looked more like a fish tank than anything else. Some prototype...

“Do you think we could ask Mrs. Beaumont for a bathroom break?” asked Ben. The rest of the group looked at him in disbelief.

“Bro, why didn’t you just say something at the gas station? Aubreigh would have taken you inside,” said Thomas.

“Well, cause I didn’t have to go then,” Ben responded awkwardly.

“Ha!” laughed Chloe, “Well good luck getting Mrs. Beaumont to stop.” Ben ignored the others laughing at him for not having gone at the last stop.

“Mrs. Beaumont!” he yelled to no avail. “Mrs. Beaumont!” he yelled even louder. Still nothing.

“Looks like you’re gonna have to hold it in, man,” laughed Sophia.

“Mrs. Beaumont!” Ben yelled the loudest he could.

“Please don’t bother her,” said Thomas quietly. He was praying that his mom wouldn’t take this out on Ben later. Or worse…, him.

“Dude, just give it up already,” said Chloe, irritated from Ben’s yelling.

Then they heard the voice of one of the giantesses talking about them. “I think one of your little friends is asking for you,” Natalie said.

Aubreigh turned around and looked at the fish tank and saw Ben waving his arms. Aubreigh smiled at him, “Ben, is that you? Do you need something? What’s up?” Aubreigh fluttered at the chance to do something nice for her crush. Maybe this would get him to “notice” her, she thought. Ben screamed up, barely audible to Aubreigh. Aubreigh only smiled and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, little man,” she said, removing the lid from the transport tank. “May I pick you up?” she asked, looking directly at Ben.

He nodded and Aubreigh’s fingers came in and gently grabbed him between her thumb and forefinger. She set him on her open palm and brought him to her ear. Ben screamed into the giant girl's ear, it was dirty and he could see flakes of dead skin and wax. It would be imperceptible to a normal person that was Aubreigh’s size. But to the tinies, they saw everything magnified in much greater detail. “You have to go to the bathroom?” asked Aubreigh, trying to hear what the shrinkie in her palm was saying.

“No,” said Natalie, “we just stopped, he should have gone then. We only have an hour left, he can hold it.” Ben felt slightly embarrassed by Natalie’s cavalier attitude toward his predicament. Ben could sense the others in the tank below laughing at him as he begged to stop and go to the bathroom.

“Mom, please,” Aubreigh asked again. “I don’t think he can hold it for an hour.”

‘This wasn’t good’, the twins in the transport tank were thinking. Instead of staying quiet and out of the way, Ben was creating a huge scene. Their little hearts pounded as they watched everything unfold.

“Fine,” said Natalie, sighing. Aubreigh didn’t pick up on it, but her mom was extremely pissed off. “But we're only stopping on the side of the road, I’m not taking time to pull off the interstate and then wasting more time to look for a tiny accessible restroom.” That was more than okay with Ben, whose bladder was about to burst.

Natalie pulled the SUV to the side of the road and Aubreigh hopped out with Ben in hand. She set him down on the gravel of the shoulder of the road. From his perspective, Ben saw the four absurdly huge tires of the vehicle, the axle shafts, the incredible drivetrain... The car itself was literally bigger than his room. Ben loved cars and wished so badly that they could come up with a system for tinies to drive cars around. But aside from some domestic cars that tinies could drive around inside regular sized homes and buildings, there was nothing available. Probably because it would be too expensive to design a highway or interstate system for them that would be practical, yet safe. Ben was about to unzip his pants when he noticed the titanic teenage girl staring down at him.

“Um, do you mind?” Ben asked.

Aubreigh had a look of realization smack her face, “Oh right!” she laughed with embarrassment. “Sorry!” She turned around and looked the other direction, giving Ben his privacy.

Natalie saw what had just happened and was irritated with the tiny Ben. How dare he ask her daughter not to look at him? Who did he think he was? Natalie was also slightly disappointed that her daughter was so quick to concede to his wishes as well. 

“Is he done yet?” asked Natalie.

Down below, after what seemed like minutes, Ben shook and zipped up his pants. As he finished buttoning, a car drove past the parked Beaumont vehicle. The roaring sound deafened Ben’s little ears and the vibrations shook him off his feet. Little pieces of rock and gravel bounced all over the place as the car passed by.

“Uh, oh,” said Aubreigh, gently picking him up. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Ben said, embarrassed that a passing car was enough to knock him down.

“Aubreigh, hurry up!” Natalie said impatiently.

Aubreigh hopped back in the car, shut the door, and set Ben back down in the tank. Aubreigh buckled her seatbelt and Natalie stepped on the gas, causing the tiny passengers to fall backward. Aubreigh never noticed, if she had, she would have said something to her mom about it.

“See was that so bad, mom?” she asked her mom.

“I’m just so tired, honey,” Natalie admitted. “I’ve been driving for like nine hours now.”

“I told you I can help drive,” Aubreigh replied.  

Natalie smiled, “I’d like to live, Aubreigh. But thank you for offering.”

“Mom…” replied Aubreigh, laughing slightly. It was true, Aubreigh was a terrible driver. “Well when we get to the resort, you can take a nap while I unpack.”

Natalie nodded, “Thanks honey, but I think I’m going to get something to eat as soon as I get there. Not to mention my spa appointment this evening.” 

That’s when Aubreigh noticed her hungry tummy as well. “Oh yeah,” she said, “that sounds like a good idea, I’m starving!”

The check-in process wasn’t too bad either. The concierge pointed out where all the popular amenities were and answered some common questions. She asked what time the cleaning service should stop by, and got all the payment info from Natalie. As Natalie was signing the credit card reader, the concierge did make mention of the tiny accommodations they had around the resort and to watch out for the tiny tourists as well as the tiny employees of the resort.

Natalie stopped cold. “You mean there are tinies here?” asked Natalie, dumbfounded, “At the Emerald Palms resort?”

“Of course!” said the chipper girl working the front counter. “We welcome all sorts at the resort. We find that most people aren’t bothered by them. But we do try to keep most things separate here. I’m sure you’ll find the ones you do run into, pretty pleasant.”

“I doubt that,” Natalie said, setting the electronic pen down.

The concierge laughed nervously, “Well, let me know if you need anything, Mrs. Beaumont.”

Natalie glanced at the young girl and left the lobby. She just couldn’t get past the idea that the highest rated resort in Port St. Lucie had tinies running all over the place. Natalie looked around the ground as she walked back to the SUV. She couldn’t see any signs of tinies anywhere. For the price she paid for this place, Natalie didn’t feel it was fair to constantly be worrying about stepping on some sort of tiny. She wanted a carefree week.

Natalie got back in the SUV and shoved the papers in her purse. “Can you believe that they have tinies here? Of all places… here!” said Natalie out loud.

“Well, yeah…” shrugged Aubreigh, “what’s wrong with that?” She was a little perplexed as to why her mom seemed so upset.

“Oh, nothing honey,” Natalie said, catching herself. “I just didn’t expect it, was all. I meant it like, wow, can you believe there are OTHER tinies here?” Natalie laughed a little bit as she put the car in drive and drove toward their condo.

“Did you think that the twins and their friends were going to be the only tinies here?” asked Aubreigh.

“I don’t know,” Natalie admitted. “I guess I really didn’t think about it.”

Aubreigh looked around as they passed the other condos and apartments. She saw tiny doors next to the regular sized doors of all the buildings. “Oh geez, how lucky are we mom?” Aubreigh asked as she saw more and more of the tiny accommodations around the resort. “This will make things ten times easier for everyone!”

“So lucky…,” said Natalie as she pulled into the driveway.

The two giant Beaumont girls got out and started unloading the car. They walked through the condo, looking at each room, claiming “their” bedroom as well as which bathroom would be used by whom. Load by load, the giant women took everything inside, clothes, snacks, food, alcohol, everything they needed to enjoy the week. The last thing left in the vehicle was the transport tank that carried the tinies.

“Hey guys, I think you’re really going to like this place!” Aubreigh said as her giant hand grasped the handle of the tank. She smiled and lifted it up to her face. “Let me go get changed and then we can get you guys situated.” Aubreigh walked inside the front door and slammed it shut. Her careless actions caused the fish tank to swing around a bit, tossing the tiny people around inside. Aubreigh was oblivious to their irritated calls for her to be careful and watch what she was doing. Aubreigh set the tank on the counter in the kitchen. “Okay guys, I’ll be right back!” she called as she trotted to the main level bedroom.

“Haha,” laughed Nate as he stood up and dusted himself off. “Gotta love Aubreigh, right?”

“I bet you do love Aubreigh, don’t you?” Chloe said, shooting him an irritated look. She was hyper sensitive to anything positive he said about her.

“I just meant that she didn’t mean to be so careless with us is all,” replied Nate. “I don’t know why you gotta turn everything to that.”

“Whoa, turn everything to what?” asked Sophia, “You like Aubreigh, Nate?”

“Ha!” laughed Chloe, “I was only joking Nate, but it looks like you’ve outed yourself doesn’t it?”

“Dude,” Ben nodded his head, “I totally get it.”

“You like Aubreigh too?” asked Carmen. “But she’s a giant…”

“No, not Aubreigh,” laughed Ben, “Mrs. Beaumont is way hotter.”

“Dude, there is no way Natalie is hotter than Aubreigh,” Nate said, only realizing too late what he had just said.

“Yeah she is!” Ben made a duh face. “I’d take Mrs. Beaumont any day over Aubreigh.”

“Guys, they’re giants,” said Carmen. “Neither one of you can have either one of them.”

“Uh guys…,” said Thomas, grimacing, “that’s my mom and sister you’re talking abou!”

“I don’t know man,” said Ben nodding his head over confidently, “I bet I could handle Mrs. Beaumont.”

“What?!” the group collectively gagged from Ben’s comment.

“Ew, ew, ew!” Carmen said with a disgusted face, “Don’t tell me anymore! I don’t even want to think about that!”

“I’m just saying-,” Ben said before getting cut off.

“Dude!” shouted Thomas, “Just stop talking! It’s gross!”

“Alright, alright,” he relented. “So where are we supposed to sleep anyways?”

“Not with Mrs. Beaumont!” Sophia laughed.

“Guys, come on!” said Carmen, still not having recovered from discovering Ben and Nate’s crushes.

“I’m sure Aubreigh has something for us. She always does.” Chloe walked to the edge of the tank and looked out to the sprawling kitchen and living room. “At least it looks like this place is tiny accessible. It actually looks really nice.” 

Nate came up and put his arm around her, “Yeah I can’t wait to spend the week here with you.”

Chloe looked at him in mock surprise, “Oh I’m sorry? Am I your girlfriend? Cause I thought you were dating that Aubreigh chick.”

“Come on, babe,” said Nate in response. “Just let that go okay?”

There was a rumble from the top of the stairs and the tinies turned their attention that way. Natalie Beaumont was walking down the stairs. The stairs were hardwood and her Birkenstocks slapped loudly against them. Her summer dress flowed smoothly with her body movements. Her sunglasses were pulled up into brown and blonde hair, fully revealing her eyes.

“Oh look, it’s your girlfriend, Ben,” chided Carmen. Natalie’s eyes locked on the transport tank and she started walking in their direction. “Uh-oh, looks like she’s coming for you. Looks like she heard all the things you said about her,” Carmen continued to tease Ben. The others started snickering too.

Ben wanted to say something quick and witty in return but he was too distracted by the sight of the gigantic woman approaching them. Before they knew it, her shadow overtook them as she peered into the tank.

“Probably don’t need this anymore,” Natalie said as she unlatched the cover of the tank and removed it. She set it down to the side and gazed upon the tiny, one inch tall, people in the tank, her daughter's friends and her two children. Her eyes calmy scanned over each one of them. “You know,” she said, pursing her lips slightly, “I really don’t get what Aubreigh sees in you guys.” Natalie’s lips curled slightly into a look of disgust. “When I was her age, I used to step on tinies like you for fun,” she said plainly. The blood in the tiny people’s veins turned ice cold as Natalie continued leering at them. A few more seconds went by and the tinies couldn’t bring themselves to say a word, everyone was way too terrified. The giantess’s lips slowly twisted into a smile. “Haha,” Natalie laughed at them, “Oh my god, your poor little faces!” Natalie could feel a tear from laughing so hard. “I’m just teasing you!” Natalie said, but thought for a few seconds, “Well I mean, I actually did do those things,” she said, wiping the tear away. “But I’m not a hormonal teenage girl anymore and I’ve changed.” Natalie grabbed a nearby cookie and took a bite, letting the crumbs fall into the tank and all over the tinies. “Which is lucky for you, otherwise this would be a very awkward conversation.” Natalie talked with a mouth full of food, every once in a while a few crumbs would fall from her mouth. Natalie smiled again, “ I think we’re going to have fun this week.”

“Hey mom, watchya doing?” asked Aubreigh as she walked out of the downstairs bedroom.

Natalie turned toward Aubreigh and smiled. “Just talking to your friends, honey. I think they're excited for a week of vacation. I know I am!” Natalie shoved the last bit of cookie into her mouth and walked away.

“Cool,” said Aubreigh smiling, “me too. Hey, can you come help me try this swimsuit on?”

“You need help with a swimsuit?” asked Natalie, confused.

“Ya, just come here,” Aubreigh said and both the giant women walked into the bedroom.

Back in the transport tank, the tinies were mortified. They didn’t know if anything Natalie had said was true and they wondered if they should believe her. Or was that just her warped sense of humor? They didn’t know, but their little hearts were racing and just starting to calm down. Ben was the most confused because his heart was pounding, but he had the hardest erection of his life. He didn’t know what to make of it...

“Something tells me I’m going to regret coming on this trip,” Sophia said with a sigh. The others looked at her and nodded in morbid agreement. 

“What is her problem!?”, shouted Nate, “Like, for real, that’s messed up!”

“Can’t you guys do something about it?” asked Sophia. “Can you say something to her?”

“No… not really,” Julia muttered. “Like Thomas said, we had a “talk” with her last night and well… it’s just… I just… I don’t really want to say anything to her about it.”

“Well, I’m going to talk to Aubreigh about it,” Sophia said, “maybe she can do something?”

“No, don’t say anything,” said Thomas, “what do you want her to do? She can’t do anything about it. That’s just the way our mom is and she can’t change that, nobody can. Besides, it would probably just make Aubreigh feel bad.”

“Well, to be fair,” said Chloe, “it should make Aubreigh feel bad.”

As the tinies were deliberating what to do about Natalie, Aubreigh came back out, dressed in a black swimsuit with flip flops. 

“Try to keep your eyes in your head,” Chloe said to Nate, who was trying painfully hard not to stare at the titanic beauty walking over to them. Nate just looked to the ground with embarrassment.

“Hey guys,” said Aubreigh with a smile as she looked in the fish tank, “what do you think of my new swimsuit? Does it look okay!”

“Looks great!” Nate shouted at Aubreigh. He could feel the daggers coming from his girlfriend's direction.

“Yes!” the tiny group collectively said in unison. “Awesome!” said Aubreigh. “I can’t wait to wear this at the pool tomorrow! But what do you guys want to do now? Mom's going to her spa appointment now, so do you want to have a nice relaxing night in, and maybe make some dinner? Or do you want to check out the pool now with me?”

The tinies deliberated for a moment. They just wanted to be where Aubreigh’s mom was NOT going to be.