When we arrived in the kitchen, Emily was there already. She leapt up excitedly when she saw us and ran over to us. My younger sister now stood over three times taller than me.

“Wow, is that really Ben?” she exclaimed. “Mom, he’s so little! Look at him, he’s like a little baby now! Can I hold him, please? Please?”

“Of course, you can!” my mom said, laughing. “Just be careful, okay? He can easily get hurt now, at this size. And please don’t remove the scarf he’s wrapped in – he’s not wearing anything underneath!”

My twenty-foot-tall little sister took me eagerly in her arms. I was turned upside-down and around in every direction as she examined me. She seemed completely spellbound by the fact that her big brother was now smaller than a new-born baby.

“This is the coolest thing ever!” she exclaimed, easily throwing me up in the air and catching me in her hands. “Hey, Ben – how do you like being the little one for a change?”

“Could you put me down, please?” I begged her. “I don’t like being thrown around like this! And I’m still your big brother, okay? That means you have to listen to what I say!”

“Whatever you say, ‘big brother’!” she said, grinning at me. “Oh, Ben, we’re going to have so much fun together now! Mom, can I keep him for the rest of day?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “Mom, don’t let her do this!” I really didn’t like the idea of being my giant sister’s plaything for a whole day – especially when I still didn’t have anything to wear!

“It’s okay, Ben!” Mom said, laughing. Emily had put me down on the kitchen table in the meantime. “There’s no need to yell like that! If Emily wants to have a little fun with you, that’s nothing to get upset about. I know she’ll look after you and make sure you don’t come to any harm – isn’t that right, Emily dear?”

“Uh-huh, you bet!” the little girl said mischievously. “I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to him. You’re safe with me, little bro…oops, sorry – ‘big brother’, I mean!”

I trembled at what she had in store for me and looked up at my mom for support. But she was still busy fixing breakfast, so I turned my attention back to Emily. She giggled again and grabbed me, then hugged me tightly against her chest. My face was pressed into the fabric of her jacket and I struggled feebly against the pressure of her powerful embrace.

“Aw, don’t look so scared, you little baby!” she said. “I’m not going to hurt you; you know I’ll never do that! You’re still my brother and I’ll take good care of you. You’ll be my little playmate for today and I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. If you don’t want to play with me, that’s fine – but you might get bored really quick! I mean, there’s not much you can do at this size, is there?”

“Sure, there is! I just need to find some clothes first, that’s all! Mom said she’d help me with that later today…right, Mom?”

“All right, breakfast’s ready!” Mom interrupted, apparently not having heard me. “Emily, put your brother down on the table, please. Let him get used to all of this first, before you plan on doing anything too spirited with him.”

Emily lay me down on the table. I was still wrapped up in Mom’s scarf and my legs were totally immobile. It was quite humiliating for me to be so powerless, but I hoped it would only be temporary, until I had some proper clothes to wear. Mom took me and sat me upright against her arm on the table. I was then given a little saucer with some bacon and scrambled eggs on it, as well as a miniature plastic cup filled with juice. The food would have been barely enough for one bite, had I been normal sized, but it was more than enough to satisfy me now. Mom told me that, since I had been reduced in size to only 22% of my original height, I only needed one-ninetieth my usual intake of food and drink.

“This’ll actually help me save a lot on groceries,” she joked. “You always did have a big appetite, Ben. I might have to keep you at this size indefinitely!”

“Hey Mom, can I take Ben up to my room after breakfast?” Emily interrupted as I was busy eating. “I could give him some of my dolls’ clothes to wear, since he’s about the same size now. Then he won’t have to stay trapped in your scarf all the time.”

“Hmm…that’s actually not a bad idea, Emily!” Mom said. “That’ll save me the trouble of having to make him something myself immediately. What do you think, Ben, does that sound good to you? If you don’t like it, I can always go back to the original plan.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” I said, sighing. I didn’t think things could get even more humiliating for me than they already were in any case. I also didn’t want to start an argument on my very first day of being shrunk, and it’s not like anyone besides my family would find out about all of this. After breakfast I would’ve liked nothing better than to go back to my room, but Emily had other plans for me. She picked me up and held me up to her face.

“Ready to come with me, little guy?” she asked sweetly.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun! You’ll see!”

Emily practically ran up the stairs to her room, her miniature brother tucked firmly under her arm. I realized that I only weighed a couple of pounds now and that even a little girl like my sister could easily pick me up with just one hand. Initially I hated being carried by her like this, but gradually I began to feel that I kinda liked it. Once we were in her bedroom, she sat down on her bed and lay me down on top of her pillow. I really was just like a doll to her now and I could see how much fun all of this must be to her. She loosened the folds of the scarf I was wrapped in a little bit, exposing me down to the waist. This made me really uncomfortable and I began to protest, but Emily shushed me.

“Relax, little bro!” she said, giggling. “I don’t wanna see what you look like naked either. I’m just helping you get out of that cocoon you’re trapped in. You don’t look strong enough to do it on your own.”

“I’m strong enough!” I argued. “I did it before in Mom’s office just now! I’m not completely helpless, Emily!”

“You look like it, though,” she teased me. “Aw, Ben, you look so cute when you’re frowning like that!”

I wanted to get her back, but I realized that trying to stand up for myself would just make her tease me even more. Even though she was annoying me greatly, she was still my sister, and I knew that she in actual fact really cared about me. She was just having some fun, that’s all, even if it was at my expense. I also knew she’d never tell anyone else about all of this, so I decided to relax and just go along with whatever she was planning for me. My pride and manliness had pretty much disappeared the moment I woke up this morning anyway. Emily gave me a gentle hug, then sat me down next to her on the bed. I felt so puny, sitting next to this preteen giant, but I no longer felt afraid. I was in a new world now, and I wanted to enjoy exploring it.

“I’ll go and see what clothes I have for you,” she said. “Just stay here and wait for me.”

“Thanks, Emily,” I said. “Sorry for being so difficult earlier. This…well…this is actually a really cool thing you’re doing for me.”

“Really? You mean it? Does this mean I can call you ‘little brother’ from now on?”

“I…yeah, okay…big sister.”

She knelt down next to the bed, still looming over me, and gave me another hug. This time it actually felt really good, to my surprise: she was careful not to crush me too hard in her strong arms, hugging me just hard enough to let me know how devoted she was to me. She then began looking around her room for any dolls whose clothes would fit me. Most of them were too small however, and in the end, she only found one that was the right size. It was a doll of a little girl, wearing a fancy blue dress and a blue bonnet. Of course, I didn’t want to wear girls’ clothes, but Emily had already made up her mind. She undressed the doll, then held the blue dress next to me and made sure it was the right size for me.

“Here, put this on,” she said, putting the dress by my side. “I can’t wait to see what you look like!”

“Um…Emily…you know that’s a dress, right? Only girls wear dresses, and I’m not a girl.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So? I’m not wearing that! I’ll look ridiculous if I wear that! Don’t you have any boys’ clothes somewhere?”

“Nope! Looks like this is it, little bro! Oh, Ben, don’t look at me like that! Come on, just try it on! Just for today, please! I wanna see what you look like in a dress!”

“No, I’m never…okay, fine, I’ll put on your stupid dress! I’m not wearing the bonnet though – you can forget about that!”

Emily just giggled even more. I reluctantly agreed to wear the dress, but only until Mom made me some proper clothes. I also asked her (politely) to leave the room and give me some privacy while I put it on. She grinned down at me and patted me on the head, clearly relishing her newfound power over me. But she did at least agree to leave the room while I got dressed. I climbed out of my scarf cocoon and looked at the dress Emily had given me. It was a fairly simple long gown, with long sleeves, made out of some kind of velvety fabric. I slipped it on, and to my surprise it was really comfy to wear. It was slightly too big for me and the fabric felt a little cumbersome, but I didn’t care. I had something to wear, at least for now. When I was done, I called Emily’s name as loudly as I could, and she re-entered into the room. She cried out in delight when she saw me dressed as one of her dolls and scooped me up in her mighty arms.

“Oh Benny, you are so totally adorable right now!” she cooed. “You look so pretty! Here, come and see what you look like!”

She walked over to a mirror on the other side of the room and held me up in front of it. I looked at my reflection, stunned by how miniscule I looked in my baby sister’s hands, and my face grew red from embarrassment. But Emily looked so pleased that I decided not to let it bother me. Let her have some fun with me, I told myself. She’ll never have this opportunity of having her big brother as a doll again. She flung herself back on her bed and held me above her head.

“This is so awesome!” she said. “I wish I could keep you like this forever, Ben! You’re so much cooler now than when you were big!”

“If you say so…”

“Ha-ha, you look so sad! Don’t be sad, my little baby brother. I promise I won’t tease you from now on…too much.”

“Hey, as long as no-one else except you and Mom sees me like this…you can have as much fun with me as you want, big sis.”

“Really?! Ben, you’re the coolest brother ever! I won’t tell anyone about you without asking you first, I promise. Not even…no wait, we have to tell her. You have to tell her, Ben!”

“Tell her? Who are you talking about, Emily?”

“Why, Kara, of course!”

Kara was a girl a year younger than me whom I had been on a couple of dates with. I had met her at a school sporting event – she was in a different school than I was, a girls’ school – and we have become quite close, having even gone on a couple of dates together. Of course, I would love to take our relationship further than that – I found her really attractive and nice, and she seemed to really like me as well – but that was out of the question with me being in my present state. Besides, she still had a couple of weeks of school ahead before her holidays began, so I hadn’t really planned on meeting up with her that much before the end of the year.

“Are you crazy?” I asked Emily. “I can’t let Kara see me like this! It’ll be over between us immediately!”

“Really? I thought you said there was nothing between the two of you! You’re just friends, right?”

“Yes, we are friends…really good friends, to be honest…and there isn’t anything serious between us, not yet at least. But I really like her and would like to take things further…but if she sees me when I’m like this, there won’t be anything between us ever again!”

“How do you know? Maybe she likes cute little tiny guys…”

“Drop it, Emily! I’m not gonna call her or anything like that until I’m back to my normal size again! Now put me down! I’m getting sick of you holding me like this…”

“Okay, if that’s how you feel…” Emily said, sighing. She sat up again and put me down on the floor in front of her feet. I looked up at her and felt incredibly small and pathetic. I regretted shouting at her just now, so I mumbled an apology. She looked down at me with a clear look of superiority.

“I think we should do something together another time,” she told me. “I’m feeling kinda tired right now.”

“Okay,” I said. “I guess I’ll go back to my room then. See you later…and, uh, thanks for the clothes. You’re right, they are better than wearing nothing, or being wrapped in Mom’s scarf.”

“No problem!” she said. “You look really cute in a dress, you know. But I’ll ask Mom if we can go shopping tomorrow, then I’ll look for some boy dolls that are your size. Maybe we can find something that fits you then.”

“Thanks, Emily. That’s really nice of you, to do that. Oh, and please don’t tell Mom I said this…but I kinda like having a big sister for a change.”

She smiled down at me. I walked up to her and hugged the lower half of her leg, which made her giggle. Then I left her bedroom and walked down the colossal hallway to my own room. Walking around in a long skirt took some getting used to and I almost tripped over the fabric a few times before I got the hang of it. My door was open, thankfully, and I went inside. Everything around me was so overwhelming now. I wasn’t completely trapped on the floor, though. I found it possible to scramble up the side of a chair at my desk, and from there I could hoist myself up onto my desk itself. My laptop computer was lying before me, its screen now nearly as wide as I was tall. I could still use my computer, though pressing the keys now required a bit of moving back-and-forth on my part. I browsed around on the Internet for a while, then got bored and took a running jump down from my desk onto my bed. I sat down on my pillow and tried to come to terms with my new size.

“It’s not so bad, being small,” I thought. “I do feel way more helpless than I’d like, but Mom and Emily are here for me, so I guess it’s not that big a deal. It’s going to be tough living like this for a whole week, though – and after that I’m going to be shrunk down in size even more. Just how small does Mom plan on shrinking me eventually? I wish I knew…”

I also thought about what Emily had said about calling Kara. She and I were getting along very well, and I’d actually gotten the impression that she really enjoyed my company. If she saw me like this, would she freak out and refuse to see me again…or would she think that what I was doing was pretty cool and interesting and stick around? It was only a temporary thing, after all. By the time her school holidays came around I would be back to my normal size in any case – but I would like to see her again before then. Maybe I should risk it and see what happens…