The machine whirred to life with an electrical buzz, basking the closed off garage with bright blue light that made me squint. I cursed myself for not thinking of eye protection, but a shine of the apple’s surface took my mind off it. 

“Shit, wax,” I huffed as I turned to the divider to shut it down, but when I touched the metal casing, I was shocked bad enough to force me to withdraw my hand. 

I barely had time to glance back at the target before a condensed beam of energy shot from the divider and crashed into the fruit, but the waxy coating of the preserved fruit deflected the light, spraying it throughout the room like a disco ball. I remember getting caught in the chest with a stray beam… then nothing. 

I woke up cold, and on a hard metal surface. I was laid flat against the hood of my mom’s car, but something was off. That was easy to tell, but my vision was so blurred that I couldn’t make out my surroundings. I vaguely could make out the colors around me, and it looked like I was still in my garage, but it wasn’t the same. My eyes started to focus and I could see the walls getting farther and farther away than I thought they were. 

Suddenly, I came to a couple realizations. First, I was two inches tall. Secondly, the divider worked. Thirdly, there should be a second me somewhere if everything had worked how it was supposed to and, judging by my size, I was guessing that clone had most of my matter. 

Speaking of clones, I was laid out on a miniature version of my mom’s car. The big one looked like it didn’t change much, there was certainly a toy sized version of my mom’s car under me. It was too small to use, but the concept that the matter distribution was random fascinated me. I glanced around and noticed a bellow of steam drifting into the air from behind a knocked over chair. A sudden thought crossed my mind. I had no idea how the divider would work on organic matter. 

Nerves overtook me as I slowly inched my way towards the chair. Just beyond that veil was a steaming pile of biowaste. The rest of my matter. Not assembled like everything else, but pulped and piled up like a mound of ground beef. 

I stumbled backwards and landed on my ass. I-I… I couldn’t fix this. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a knock at the garage door. 

“Sam?” Piper asked, “Are you home? You said you’d leave this thing open!” 

Piper! Piper would help me! She had to. Shaking the sight of my… matter piled up, I ran back to the miniature version of the car and pulled open the door. I crossed my fingers and pushed down on the horn. 

Outside, Piper heard the smallest of beeps and cocked an eyebrow. 

“Um…” She muttered, taking a step back and looking over to the door, “Is there an intercom or something…?” 

The beeps continued and Piper frowned before deciding to take matters into her own hands. She flipped open the small panel next to the garage door and looked over the keypad. With three button presses, the door opened and she chuckled as she stepped inside. A plastic bag with two sodas in her hand. 

“Hey, Sam?” she asked looking over the room, “I let myself in. I… um… Sam?” 

Nearly every item in the room had a duplicate of varying sizes. Exact copies of tools and papers sat next to each other, random garage junk had been thrown around. It looked like an explosion had gone off in the small space. As she scanned the room, her eyes suddenly locked onto the pile of what used to be me. 

The bag fell out of her hand and crashed to the floor, spilling the drinks, as Piper stood there. Her mind obviously trying to process what she was staring at. 

“S-Sam…?” she stammered before taking a step back and covering her mouth. 

Her shoulders bobbed up and down as she gagged, but stopped as she turned her back to me and planted her hands on her knees, staring into the pavement. 

“Holy shit,” she whispered, her voice quivering and shaking. 

I pressed down on the horn again and Piper slowly looked over her shoulder to the site of the noise. Relief washed over her face as she saw me leaning out of the tiny car. With every bit of skill you’d expect the captain of the soccer team to have, she jumped over an awkwardly sized spare tire before sliding on her hip, stopping just next to me. 

“Fucking christ!” she exclaimed in a quiet huff, “What the shit happened, Sam!? Wh- Who-”
I interjected as loudly as I could to get her attention, “It’s okay! No one’s dead! That’s just… That’s… um… well, the rest of me.”
“The rest of you!?” she asked, panic overtaking her hushed voice, “Are- What are you missing? Can you breathe okay?”
“I’m not missing anything!” I assured, trying my best to keep the situation simple, “It’s just extra matter that I don’t need at this size.” 

Piper dropped her face into her hand and rubbed her temple before changing position into a kneeling position and hesitantly reaching for me. 

“Um…” she started, “Do-Do you mind?” 

I just shook my head and looked away as she gently picked me up. I was no taller than her pinky finger. 

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath, “How do we fix this? Should I call someone?”
“No!” I shouted, but reeled myself back, “I mean, the divider isn’t exactly legal.”
“Well, turn it on reverse!”
I sighed as I stared at the lifeless chunk of me on the ground, “I… I can’t.” 

She stared down at me. Empathy heavy in her eyes. 

“O-Okay,” she started, “I’ll go get your parents and then we’ll work from there!”
“You can’t do that either,” I admitted, pinching the bridge of my nose, “My parents abandoned me two years ago.” 

Her face blank and jaw slightly slack, she cocked her head to the side and enticed me to continue. 

“Okay, that’s a lie,” I admitted, “But seriously! You cannot tell them! They can’t get a chance at me like this. I won’t survive it.”
Piper stared at me quizzically, “What the fuck are you talking about?” 

I looked down at the ground. A moment of silence passed before Piper nodded. 

“I see…” she said before pausing. 

I looked back up at her face. Her hazel eyes looked so much deeper now and thoughts passed behind them. 

“Well,” she said with a sigh, “I can’t leave you alone. And I can’t leave you with your parents. I know for a fact you don’t have friends.”
“Thanks, I really needed an ego check right now,” I huffed sarcastically.
Her soft lips curled into an innocent smile as she shushed me, saying, “Relax. I’m kidding. Seriously though, I’m not leaving you here like this. Can-... How do I say this?” 

A silence passed. 

“Um, wanna have a sleepover?”