~~~

“Honestly, Brian, just fuck off,” said Laura, a middle-aged woman with jet-black hair and striking green eyes.

“Way to prove my point,” sarcastically replied Brian, her 18 year old son. “What kind of mother tells her son to fuck off? This is exactly what I’m talking about!”

“The kind of mother who has an asshole for a son,” she responded bitterly. “You act like I’m some failure, when all I do is provide for you and your sister.”

“I’m not calling you a failure! I’m saying that you’re not here for us! The second you get home, when you even do come home, you might as well disappear! You leave the cooking, cleaning, the fucking everything to me, like it has nothing to do with you!” Brian shouted.

“Because I work all day! What, you expect me to take care of everything for you?” asked Laura.

“Not everything, I’m just asking you to be here! Have dinner with us, take a fucking interest in our lives!” he replied frustratedly. “Did you know that Jen just fucking aced her math test? She’s doing amazing in school, and she just wants her mother to say ‘good job’ every now and then! It’s not that hard! And I’m graduating soon, and I’m genuinely worried that you won’t take care of her when I’m gone!”

This was an argument that had occurred many times before, and he knew how it was going to end. Even when she did promise to do better, the sentiment would fade by the next day. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from trying, no matter how painful it was.

“Brian, you have no idea how hard things have been for the last 14 years. Your father walked out on us, leaving me with two kids and nobody to help me support them,” Laura said exasperatedly.

“I know that, I was there! I lost a father too, remember? What I’m trying to tell you is that I lost a mother, too!” he exclaimed. Laura rolled her eyes.

“Oh please, don’t be so fucking dramatic. I feed you, I give you a place to sleep, I pay for your school-”

“That’s the bare fucking minimum!” Brian shouted. “That’s literally what you signed up for when you became a parent! If you didn’t do that, you’d go to fucking jail! I’m obviously grateful, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to just shut down and act like we don’t exist! Come the fuck on!”

“I can’t deal with this,” Laura sighed, holding one hand up and turning away. “This is so stupid. You are so fucking ungrateful. Your sister, too-”

“Don’t you fucking go there,” Brian growled, moving one step closer. “She has done nothing wrong. She loves you, and tries so hard to get you to love her back. Don’t you fucking say a single bad word about her.”

“No, you know what? Fuck you. You both can go to hell. You say this is what I signed up for when I became a parent? Fine then, I wish I never had. You happy? That’s right, I’m just as horrible and bad as you think I am. I don’t act like your mother because I don’t want to be your mother. Now that we’ve established this, just fuck off and leave me alone. I’ll continue to work and keep you alive, but I want nothing to do with either of you.” she spat.

Brian saw red.

“FUCK YOU!” he screamed.

“Yeah, yeah,” Laura sighed while rolling her eyes. Brian held his head in his hands, trying not to punch a wall.

“I can’t fucking do this. I’m going for a walk,” Brian said, before storming away.

“Feel free not to come back!” his mother called out after him. 

Brian huffed in anger as he reached the door, then crouched down to put his shoes on. A moment later, he heard a noise in the direction of the stairs. Turning towards it, he saw that Jennifer, his 14 year old sister, was sitting on the lowest step, looking at him with teary eyes. Brian’s heart fractured at the realization that their mother had broken his baby sister’s heart again, and his eyes softened in sympathy.

Standing back up, he opened his arms in her direction. Jennifer got up and dashed towards him, seemingly melting into his arms once they closed around her. Brian squeezed his sister tight, taking solace in the fact that she at least had him for comfort.

“I don’t like it when you shout,” she said in a small voice.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Brian replied softly. “Sometimes, I have a hard time controlling my emotions. I’m working on it.”

He felt Jennifer nod as she buried her head in his chest.

“She didn’t mean what she said about you,” Brian continued. “She was just saying anything to hurt me and get me to leave. She loves you.”

“No she doesn’t,” Jennifer whispered. She gripped her brother tighter, trying not to cry. Brian sighed, as he couldn’t bring himself to completely disagree. Still, he had to try.

“She does love you. She just sucks at showing it. She sucks at most things when it comes to being a mom,” he said, which elicited a small smile. “But you know that I love you, right? With everything that I have." 

Jennifer looked up at him, her green eyes carrying an ocean of love and adoration. Brian was her hero, and nothing was more important to her than hearing those words from him.

“I do. But… you’re leaving soon. I don’t know what to do without you,” she replied.

“We’re going to figure it out, I promise. I’d drive 100 miles every day to make sure that you’re okay. I’ll always take care of you,” Brian said firmly. Jennifer buried her head in his chest once again.

“I’m always asking too much of you,” she muttered. “You have your own life, I shouldn’t be such a burden.”

Brian gently pushed her away, his face showing a soft expression. After a moment, he reached up and flicked her forehead.

“Ow!” she squeaked, holding one hand to her forehead as she looked at him with questioning eyes.

“You’re not a burden. You’re my sister,” he chided. “You’re always allowed to ask too much of me.”

Jennifer smiled widely at his kind words. After a moment, though, her smile twisted into a sly grin.

“You spoil me too much,” she said teasingly, causing Brian to chuckle.

“I don’t hear you complaining,” he replied. “Anyway, I’m gonna go walk around for a while. I really do need to clear my head.”

“Can I come?” Jennifer asked hopefully, her eyes sparkling.

“Come on, you’re so close to being done with your homework. I’m just gonna walk to the financial square and back, it won’t take long,” he replied. Jennifer groaned.

“Fine…” she grumbled. “Listen, though, are you done with the next chapter of your book?”

“Basically, yeah. There’s just the last bit of editing left,” he answered.

“Will you read it to me when you get back?” she asked.

“Come on, you’re too old for bedtime stories,” Brian replied with a laugh, causing Jennifer to grin widely.

“I know. I don’t care,” she responded. Brian rolled his eyes.

“You’re the worst, Jen. Fine, I’ll read it to you. Go finish your homework, I just need some fresh air.”

With that, Brian patted her head and moved for the door. Once he opened the door, though, a hesitant voice stopped him in his tracks.

“You’re not gonna listen to Mom, right?” Jennifer asked. Brian turned his head back.

“Generally speaking, no, but what are you talking about specifically?” he responded.

“She said to feel free not to come back. You’re coming back, right?” she continued nervously. Brian smiled reassuringly.

“Of course. I’ll always find my way back to you.”

“You promise, Bean?”

“I promise, Jen.”

He left.

~~~

Elizabeth lightly knocked on the door, letting the inhabitant know that somebody was about to come in. After a moment, she took a deep breath and walked into the bedroom. Trying to move as quietly as possible, she closed the door behind her and stood in front of it. She then looked towards the front of the bed, where Allison had told her to. What she saw broke her heart.

Brian was curled into the fetal position, with his arms wrapped around his neck. They were pushing his head into his knees, which created a tightly wrapped ball of one-inch-convict. Most importantly to Elizabeth, however, was the fact that he was shivering in fear. His whole body was afflicted with instinctual terror, and it showed through his uncontrollable trembling. It made Elizabeth want to cry, but she was able to push it down. Once again, her motherly protective instincts went into overdrive.

“Brian?” she called out softly. Allison told her that he had reacted with panic to the sound of her voice, so she tried to make her own voice as light as a feather. They had deduced that his reaction had been due to the loud, booming quality of normal-sized voices to shrunken convicts, which further led them to the suspicion that he had forgotten why he was small. As such, they were operating on the assumption that Brian was experiencing his size for the first time again, and Elizabeth was determined to be as gentle and reassuring as possible every step of the way.

“Brian, I’m standing in front of the door. I’m not going to come any closer unless you want me to, okay?” she said softly. She waited to see if he would react at all to the sound of her voice, but he didn’t. He only continued to shiver, clearly scared out of his mind.

“I know that you must be so scared right now, but I promise that I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to help you, so please tell me how,” she continued. After a few more moments of unbearable silence, the tiny figure spoke up. His voice was barely audible.

“I-I don’t understand what’s going on,” he choked out. Elizabeth frowned in concern at his frightened words, wondering how best to reassure him. She couldn’t imagine the level of fear that would accompany suddenly waking up one-inch tall.

“I know, but I promise that everything is going to be okay” she said gently.

“I don’t understand why everything is so big. Why is everything so big?!” he asked, his voice rising at the end. Elizabeth closed her eyes in resignation, as he had just confirmed their theory that he’d forgotten about his size.

“I know you don’t understand, and I can’t imagine how confusing and scary everything must be right now. It’s all very complicated, but for now let me just assure you that you aren’t in any danger. You don’t need to be scared, because nobody is going to hurt you,” she replied soothingly. Suddenly, a harsh voice called out.

“No!” Brian exclaimed. “That woman was going to hurt me!”

Elizabeth was stunned into silence.

“She- what?” she stammered, before getting herself under control. “No, Brian, she would never try to hurt you. Why do you think that she was going to?” she asked calmly.

“She said it! She said I couldn’t get away from her if I tried! She said that I was helpless, and that she could do whatever she wanted to me! She said she wanted to fuck me! She was going to hurt me!” Brian continued, his thoughts spilling out all at once. Once more, Elizabeth was stunned. This time, though, her surprise was laced with anger.

“She said what?” she asked lowly. Brian flinched at the sound of her angry voice, and Elizabeth internally scolded herself.

“I’m so scared… I don’t understand what’s happening… What’s going on?! Where am I?!” Brian shouted, clearly starting to panic again. Elizabeth quickly threw her anger aside.

“Brian, listen to the sound of my voice…” Elizabeth started. Before she could continue, though, he cried out again.

“No! Your voice is too big! Everything is too big! I don’t understand!!”

At that, he curled into an even tighter position. His shoulders began to lightly shake, indicating that he was crying. Elizabeth’s face dropped even more, as she began to feel something that had not plagued her for a very long time: doubt.

What am I supposed to do? she wondered, tears of frustration forming in her eyes. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath internally, which stabled out her mental state.

“I know that you have no reason to believe me, but I’m sure that whatever she said was not meant maliciously. That woman loves you, and would never hurt you. She loves you, just like I do. I love you like you’re my own family, and I promise you with everything I have that I will never hurt you, and I won’t let anybody else hurt you. You are completely safe, sweetheart, and there is no reason to be afraid around me,” she said. Her voice was as light and fluttery as a butterfly, but her conviction was radiating out like starlight. She managed to pierce Brian’s tattered psyche, and he was miraculously reassured.

He slowly stopped crying, much to Elizabeth’s relief. After a moment, he turned his head and peeked out in her direction. His microscopic green eyes were more afraid and vulnerable than she had ever seen before, and it broke her heart. There was absolutely no trace of the infamous robot child murderer named Brian Bentley within his eyes, only a confused and terrified young man named Brian. Once more, his brain was overwhelmed at the sheer enormity of the woman before him, though, and he tore his eyes away immediately before burying his head back in his knees. He was still trembling, but decidedly not as much as before.

“Who are you…?” he weakly asked.

“I’m Elizabeth. Elizabeth Dawson. Does that name sound familiar?” she replied.

“No…” Brian answered.

“That’s okay, Brian. Can you tell me what the last thing you remember is? Before you woke up here?” she continued. Now that his memory loss had been established, Elizabeth needed to figure out how much he had forgotten.

“I was in my house… I’d just had a fight with my mother, and I was going to walk around the city to clear my head…” he replied quietly. Suddenly, these details resonated within Elizabeth’s mind.

That sounds like… is he talking about right before the murder? Does he have no memory of the last three years? she wondered. Brian wasn’t done, though.

“It was just before I left, and I was talking to… to… wait, where’s Jen?!” he exclaimed, suddenly uncurling himself and sitting up. It was as if all his fear had evaporated, and he was momentarily possessed by fierce determination. The enormity of his new environment crashed down on him all at once, however, and the fear came rushing back. He pushed himself backwards into the pillow and closed his eyes, his face twisting into a grimace. Still, Elizabeth was glad that he was at least no longer curled up in a ball.

“W-Where’s Jen?” Brian repeated. “I need to make sure she’s okay. Where is she?!”

“Jen is fine, Brian, I promise. She’s not here, but she’s completely fine,” Elizabeth replied reassuringly, and Brian sighed in relief. After a moment, though, he furrowed his brow.

“Why did you ask me that? What’s going on?” he asked.

“Right… Brian, some time has passed since that happened. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but you’re having some kind of episode that has caused you to forget some things,” she answered unsuredly. She didn’t want to overwhelm him with information, and she didn’t want to phrase it in a way that might cause him to panic again. As such, she tried to frame it as gently as possible. Brian finally opened his eyes in response, and he hesitantly looked at her. Elizabeth could tell that it was taking a lot of effort to maintain eye contact, and she smiled reassuringly.

“What are you talking about? You’re saying I have some kind of amnesia? Well… how much time has passed?” he asked incredulously.

“Listen… obviously a lot has happened that you’re not remembering right now, and I really don’t want to overwhelm you. I think, right now, your focus should be on calming down. Maybe, if you do that, you’ll start to remember things on your own, yeah?” Elizabeth suggested, maintaining her gentle smile. Brian’s eyes softened in response to her reassuring tone.

“Okay… but, if I don’t, you’ll tell me more, right?” he asked.

“Of course, sweetheart. I just want to move slowly. I need to make sure you understand that you’re completely safe, first and foremost. I’m sure you’re still awfully scared, but are you feeling any better?” she asked kindly. Brian thought for a moment.

“Yeah…” he replied hesitantly. “It’s just… everything is so big. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Elizabeth nodded sympathetically.

“Very few have, I’m sure. But, once again, I promise that nothing is going to hurt you. I’ll keep you safe. You believe me when I say that, right?”

After a moment, Brian nodded.

“I believe you,” he answered softly. Elizabeth’s heart was soaring, but she was careful to keep her expression muted. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling a little wider.

“Um… is it okay if I come a little closer? I’d like to make sure you’re not injured,” she asked. At this, Brian visibly stiffened in fear, so she changed her tune.

“Actually, how about I leave you alone for a little while? Now that you’ve calmed down a bit, maybe you should just take a moment to breathe and get used to your surroundings. How does that sound?” she hurriedly asked again, which caused Brian to relax somewhat.

“Okay,” he said. “Thanks.”

“Of course. Is there anything I can get for you before I go, though?” she asked. Suddenly, she went into “mom” mode. “I’d have to bring it to you, but I could get you some water, if you like. I could also get you a small blanket or something, in case you’re cold. I could also grab some food for you, if you want. We have-”

“I’m okay,” Brian cut in. Although she pretended not to notice, Elizabeth could tell that he had the smallest hint of a smile.

“If you say so, sweetie,” she said, with a small wink. “Oh! We also have some red velvet cake, if that sounds good.”

Brian slightly perked up.

“…you do?” he asked quietly, which caused Elizabeth to grin.

“We sure do. Maybe a little later, huh? For now, though, how about I come back in half an hour?” she suggested. Brian nodded.

“Okay. We’ll talk soon. And just so you know, the woman who was in here before is extremely worried about you, and I know she’d love to come and say hi. I completely understand if you don’t want to see her, at least right now, but maybe just give it some thought. I promise that she means you no harm.”

With that, Elizabeth left the room, not wanting to make Brian feel like he had to respond.

Once she closed the door behind her, she leaned against it as she let out a huge sigh. Then, after a moment, her face hardened. Brian’s earlier words flashed through her mind, and she decided it was time to get some answers.

~

Allison hurriedly rose to her feet.

“Is he okay?!” she asked frantically. Her extreme worry caused her to not notice Elizabeth’s expression, which was as cold as ice.

“He’s okay, but he has no memory of the last three years. Like we thought, he forgot that he was small. He’s slightly calmer now, and I’m going to leave him alone for half an hour before going back in,” she explained. Allison closed her eyes and let out a sigh, part relieved that he was calming down, and part distressed at the confirmation of his memory loss.

“What the hell is going on…?” she whispered. Suddenly, a hand on her shoulder snapped her out of it.

“Allison, what was the last thing you said to Brian before he entered his trance?” Elizabeth asked slowly. Allison looked up at her, and saw that her eyes were fierce. She couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

“Uh… l-like I said, I was trying to get him, well, aroused…” she replied quietly. Elizabeth retracted her hand and sighed angrily.

“Enough of this,” she said frustratedly. “Apparently, Brian has some memory of what happened, because he’s convinced that you were going to hurt him. He said that… did you actually tell him that he couldn’t get away from you? That he was helpless, and you could do whatever you wanted to him? That you wanted to fuck him?! Please tell me you didn’t actually say those things!”

Allison was shocked, and took a few steps back subconsciously.

“He remembers that…?” she whispered fearfully, her face darkening in guilt.

“Allison!” Elizabeth exclaimed, causing her former student to flinch.

“Look, look, I didn’t mean anything bad!” Allison hastily replied. “I was just playing around! He obviously knows that I would never hurt him, a-and…”

“Apparently not!” Elizabeth interrupted. “Did he ask you to play around like that, or were you doing it because that’s what you enjoy?”

Allison took a breath, looking like she had just been caught committing a crime.

“Uh… i-it’s what I enjoy, kinda… but, but, it’s because we don’t know what he enjoys! So I was just trying a few different things, to see if he had any reactions!” she explained, trying not to crumble under the pressure.

“You were trying? You were trying?!” Elizabeth asked angrily. “This was supposed to be Brian’s first sexual experience, right?” 

“Yeah…”

“Tell me, then, at any point did you try asking what Brian wanted to do? Did you ever let him take the lead? Because it sounds to me like you were using him to get off, and just hoping that he would enjoy it too!” she continued.

“No, no!” Allison cried. “I was only… I just didn’t think he would know what he wanted to do, so I was trying to help! But I didn’t… I didn’t mean to…,” she stammered, as she started to realize the error of her approach.

“Well, congratulations,” Elizabeth said bitterly, "your actions apparently reminded him of a time he got raped. Do you understand that? I’m going to say it again, because I don’t think you understand.”

She took a step closer.

“You reminded him of his rapist. You did, Allison.”

Allison was pale, and slightly trembling. All of a sudden, she understood what it felt like to be one-inch tall.

“I didn’t mean to…” she whimpered.

“I just can’t fucking believe this,” Elizabeth said, turning away in anger. “I warned you about this! I told you about the power dynamic in your relationship, and you promised to tread carefully! And now I find that not only did you lie to me, you exploited that power dynamic to get off sexually!”

Allison sat down on the couch, as the full weight of her actions crashed down on her. Elizabeth wasn’t done, though.

“You know what, Allison? You were exactly right. He couldn’t get away from you if he tried. He is helpless, and you can do whatever you want to him. If you wanted to fuck him, there is absolutely nothing he could do to stop you. But, instead of realizing this and taking 10,000 extra steps to make sure that he doesn’t feel pressured into sex, you brag about it during sex! Do you not realize how fucked up that is?!” she shouted, suppressing the urge to slap her.

Allison was now staring at the floor, her face overtaken by pure and overwhelming shame. There were no words to describe how horribly she felt at that moment.

I’m just like him… 

Suddenly, Elizabeth stormed back over to her.

“You don’t deserve to be in a relationship with him,” she said. “From everything I have seen and heard, you are nowhere near as careful as you should be. Allison, I understand that you’ve been through a lot. You’re obviously still feeling the effects of your previous relationship, and you spent six months as an executioner. There must be some things that you need to work through right now, and that’s okay! You can do that, and I can help you find the resources. But you cannot, you absolutely cannot, be taking those things out on Brian. If you can’t separate that part of yourself from your relationship right now, then you need to walk away until you’re confident that something like this will NEVER happen again. Do you understand?”

Allison’s shame had transformed into a deep, refined sadness. Every word had pierced her psyche like a javelin, and she was completely defeated.

“I understand…” she said weakly. Elizabeth closed her eyes and let out a deep, angry sigh.

“Half an hour. That’s when I’m going back in. For now, I need to clear my head. I told him to think about letting you in, but I wouldn’t count on it,” she said, before walking away. 

Allison heard the sound of the other bedroom door closing, and silence overtook the room. She fell to her side on the couch. She wanted to cry, but there were no tears left. There was only shame, guilt, sadness, and an unbearable sense of dread. Faced with all these destructive emotions, her mind shut down as she came to a terrible decision.

The silence continued.