He showered, got changed and then went back to the kitchen for dinner, but it was awkward. As soon as he sat on the table, he could feel the mood just wasn´t right, he could feel something it the air. He wasn´t sure whether to look at Maddy or not, so he just stared at his plate the whole time. Once he was done eating, she just picked up his plate without looking at him and started washing the dishes on the sink.

He knew he messed up, the only thing he had to do was to check on his phone, and he couldn´t even do that; therefore, his girlfriend was terrified in vain. He stayed there, in his sit, wondering what could´ve crossed her mind when he wasn´t there, what could she thought that made her so afraid?

He was sure she cared for him, else, she wouldn´t have worried, she wouldn´t have called. He would´ve preferred for her not to worry so much, but she was right; what´ll happen if he shrank out of his clothes and got stepped over? No one was sure at what rate he was shrinking, but they had some records, and never before he had shrunk so much. Since they didn´t know what was causing it, it was better not to push his luck.

Maddy finished with the dishes and went straight into their room, he only heard how she shut the door. Now he was alone in the kitchen, just thinking, regretting all he had done. “I should´ve called…“ he started thinking, “I should´ve told her I was going to buy clothes, but I didn´t. I didn´t wanted her to stop me from it, to tell me that she´ll go with me” he didn´t wanted her to tell him “No”, he didn´t like the fact that she was going to tell him what to do and what not to. That´s why he didn´t told her, but he wasn´t expecting to spend so much time shopping.

He stood up, turned the lights off and headed to his room, never before he had been so afraid of being in a room alone with Maddy. He knew she was still mad, but he didn´t know what to do; could he be sincere and tell her what was going on? Could it be that easy?

He decided not to, he´ll carry all this sorrow on his own, at least for now. It´s not something he should do, but he felt this wasn´t a good time to do it. He sneaked inside the room and closed the door behind him trying not to make any sound at all. Maddy was in bed, turning her back to where he normally sleeps. He got under the covers and laid facing the ceiling.

“Don´t you think that not talking is going to save you from this” Maddy said, he was sure she was asleep, but apparently, it wasn´t the case. “Things are going to change from now on, but that´s something you´ll see tomorrow, good night” she said in a dry way.

Those words stuck on Nick´s head, what did she meant? He watched the ceiling until he felt his eyes shutting and he fell asleep. He was thinking that he may have some dreams, or maybe nightmares about this, but he didn´t; he slept like any other day without any dreams at all, at least that he could recall.

Since it was Saturday, his alarm was off, he could wake up at whatever time he felt like. But today, it was not the case, when he knew it was morning, he just opened his eyes in shock. Maddy had said the night before that thing´s where about to change, but how? Everything was normal, except that Maddy was not in bed next to him.

He checked and it was now 8:04 a.m. normally, he would wake up by 10:00 or 11:00 sometimes, but he didn´t had such a great night yesterday. And he also went to sleep earlier than usual. He stood up and headed to the bathroom to wash his face.

He disliked the fact that now the sink was level with his chest, and he couldn´t see his face on the mirror. He just sighed and followed his morning as usual. He walked into the kitchen and saw Maddy fixing some breakfast. “Good morning” he said.

“Morin´” she replied not turning to look at him.

He knew he must say something, whatever, so he tried to start a conversation.

“How did you sleep?” he asked.

“Fine” it was all she said.

“I slept good too” he replied, he wasn´t sure whether to talk or not, he just wanted to be noticed. Every morning she will just kiss him or hug him; today, he felt as if it would be better if he wasn´t there.

“D-did you dream about anything?” he asked, not knowing what else to ask.

“Not really” she answered with a mad tone.

After that, Nick said nothing more. He just tapped his fingers on the table, the silence was killing him. Then, Maddy turned and placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him, she didn´t even look at him. “Thank you” he just said, she didn´t reply.

Now they were sitting on the table in front of each other, in a deep silence. Nick just watched as Maddy started eating, all the while she was looking at her phone, not a single time she glanced at him. Nick felt uneasy, he disliked the idea that he could´ve hurt his girlfriend in such a way, never before she had acted like this. He needed to say something, break the silence, maybe if he opened up to her, then she´ll forgive him; at least not ignore him this way.

He took a deep breath to talk, but before he could say anything, she stood up and left her dishes on the sink. Then she just left, and so did his chance to speak to her. All the while, Nick had not taken a single bite of his food, it smelled delicious, but he just couldn´t; all the regret inside of him just didn´t allow him to. He had to apologize in a proper way to Maddy, else, guilt will eat him away.

He left his breakfast on the table and went to talk to Maddy. He saw she was resting on the couch, he took a deep breath and approached. His heart was pounding right now. She was lying with her face looking at the ceiling, checking on her phone; Nick stood next to her and took a deep breath to encourage himself.

“M-Maddy, can I talk with you?” he said shyly. There was no answer from her, she just continued looking at her phone. But he decided to keep going anyway.

“I… I know I did wrong, and I´m sorry. I should´ve called, I should´ve texted.” She hasn´t turn at all, Nick was starting to feel anxious, but he continued, “I know you were worried and I… I just… I know it´s my fault, I know I caused you too much pain. It was my fault that you were so worried, and… and… I-I… “ he was bad with apologies, and the fact that she wasn´t paying any attention to him just made him feel more nervous.

He felt unwanted, he felt as if she´ll be better off without him there, he was just wondering if she may want to be alone, but that only remind him that he was the one who wanted to be alone in the first place. But now, now that he was “alone”, now that she was ignoring him, he didn´t liked it.

“Can you look at me… please” he said, his eyes began to fill with tears. The truth was that he didn´t wanted to be alone, he just wanted to be as independent as he had been before, but he had to understand that he couldn´t; his life was going to change, and the way people treated him was also going to change. Now, he was begging Maddy for her attention.

“I… I know I did wrong, and I´m sorry… but please, please don´t ignore me… I-I need you” he said between sobs. “Everyone´s been treating me different, and I didn´t want to say this but… “ he knew that it was now or never, so he said it, without thinking twice, “I know… I know that if things are bad… if… if I´m having a bad day, you´ll be there. You are the only one who has always been there for me. P-please Maddy, I can´t withstand all this by myself” he said dropping some tears on the floor.

“Y-you think you can´t… “ said Maddy with a tearful look, “What about me? What about all that time I was just sitting here trying to figure out where were you? What about all those tears I shed because I thought I was not going to see you anymore? What about that Nick?” she said with a heartache.

Nick just rose his head, shutting his eyes hard as tears began to flow from them. “Don´t think that crying will make it easier” she continued, “I care for you Nick, don´t think for a moment that I don´t, but you´re just being selfish, you´re just… just… augh” she said harshly, she was mad at Nick, she really was, but seeing him there, standing so small and with tears on his face, it just abated her anger. She felt the need to embrace him and relieve his pain.

But she couldn´t, she was sure that if she showed her soft side, he will always plead for that side. She was going to show him, show him that he couldn´t just do as he wished, he couldn´t just wander around town all by himself; at least not anymore, at his current size, she feared that something could happen. She needed to be strict, set the rules, he couldn´t just do whatever he wanted without even telling her. Their relationship was about to change, and the sooner he accepted that, the better.

She just grabbed his chin and look at him in the eye saying: “Now, listen to what I´m going to tell you, ok?” Nick paid close attention at her, he felt better, at least now she was talking to him, and what´s more, he could feel her soft fingers on his chin.

“I love you Nick, you´re the person I love the most in this world, there´s no one else for me; but you need to understand that I cannot tolerate this, you hurt me Nick, I was here for over two hours, just begging for you to come back, for you to be safe” he was speechless now, he knew he had messed up.

“I´ll forgive you… but under one condition, from now on, you´ll do as I say. The only way I can forgive you, for real, is if you leave all that ego of yours, all those ideas that you´re still the big man you used to be… “ she said as she rubbed his shoulder.

Nick was petrified, his face had turned into one of deep harrow. What his girlfriend was telling him was that, from now on, he was supposed to let go of the little freedom he still had; he was not going to be able to maintain any bit of the independency he used to have. His mind focused on one thing, she was going to dictate the rules from now on, for everything he wanted, everywhere he needed to go, she was the one who was going to have the last word. It wasn´t right, he was an adult, he was supposed to take his own decisions, not her.

He stood there, seeing how she was waiting for his response, but he couldn´t answer; the answer she was expecting was not the one he wanted to give, she basically wanted to sovereign over him, and he didn´t like the idea.

“You don´t have to answer right now” she said in a low soft tone, “I know it´s not something easy, so I understand you may need to take some time to think” she felt a great pain in her heart, but if she wanted this relationship to still work, she must set some rules. “But please, just understand that, this is all for your own good” she said placing her hand on his head.

Nick´s heart sank on his chest, he had a bitter taste on his mouth, why do people constantly feel the need to diminish him? He was in complete despair now, just staring at Maddy´s face. She had a little smile on her face, but her eyes showed the heartache in which she was on. He needed to think, was this really what he wanted? He turned and walked away as he got inside his room, he closed the door behind him, leaving her alone in the living room; Maddy laid back down on the couch and covered her face with her hands as a pair of tears ran down her cheeks, she regrated all this, but if Nick loved her, then he´ll take the right decision.

Nick sat on the floor next to his bed, as if he was hiding, trying not to be seen by whoever entered their room. He sat with his knees bend and his arms resting on them; his head was lying over his arms. This was a hard decision for him, to let go of everything he had worked for, all his independency will be gone, and he´ll depend on his girlfriend for every choice he made from now on.

He rubbed his eyes with a hand and thought to himself: “What if she´s right, I mean, maybe not about asking her for permission; but, wouldn´t it be better if she knew where I am?” he tried to negotiate with himself, maybe she was not going to do this forever, just for a while, until she completely forgives him. Maybe then, things can go back to normal. “But how normal can things be?” he knew that he´ll keep shrinking, and the smaller he got, the less she´ll trust him to be alone.

“Why!?” he asked, “why is this happening to me?” he needed an answer, he knew that all this only meant one thing, he was going to depend on Maddy for everything; he didn´t mind her company, in fact, he loved being with her. But, sometimes, he wanted to be alone, just wander around town, do whatever he wanted. If he chose to do as Maddy said, then those days will be gone forever.

He will depend on her to get out of the house, to visit places, maybe even on how he spends his money. He didn´t like the idea, but he knew that if he wanted to make amends with her, then he needed to accept her conditions, show her that he´ll be willing to change, that he´ll accept whatever she said, as long as he´s with her. He decided to accept, still wondering what´ll happen in the near future.

Nick stayed there for a while, in the meantime, Maddy appeased herself, she decided to give Nick a second chance. She knew that she may have over reacted when he wasn´t answering, but what else could she do, there´s a few things they knew about his shrinking, so she didn’t like it for him to be alone so much time. She took a deep breath and headed towards their room, to see if he had already made a decision. No matter what he chose, she´ll listen; she could´ve been mad, but no matter what, in the end she will always look for him. She knew that now, he needed her more than ever, even if he couldn´t admit that.

“Nick, honey?” she said as she opened the door, “where are you… oh, there you are” she saw him as she walked in, he was still hiding next to the bed, Maddy bent down and caressed his shoulder, “Have you made a decision?” she asked, Nick rose his gaze and, even though she was kneeling on the floor with her back arched, she was still a head taller than him. He saw how she looked at him from above, reminding him how small he truly was.

“Y-yes” he said.

“Ok, what have you decided?” she asked waiting for him to speak.

After a couple seconds of silence, he spoke, letting out his answer: “I… I choose… “ all the while he saw how her eyes were full of hope, he knew what answer she was waiting for, and even though that wasn´t what he truly wanted, he gave in. “I… I´ll do whatever you say” he said feeling defeated, he was allowing her to make the decisions, all the decisions, including his. It will be no longer the relationship they had where each of them had a say, now, she´ll be the one in charge; whether he likes it or not, she´ll be in charge of him from now on.

She knew he was sad, that he didn´t want this, so she needed to be kind with him. “It´s ok honey, don´t be sad, I won´t force you to do things you don´t want” she said ruffling his hair, “I assure you that I´m going to take good care of you, this will only allow me to do it better, remember, I´m doing this for both” he felt as if she was only doing this for herself, but if this decision was going to make things easier for him, he needed to do it.

He just gave her a smile, even if he still felt some sorrow on his chest, but he´ll pretend everything´s fine. “Now… “ she started, “why don´t we go measure you, it´s almost 11 o´clock and we haven´t taken your measurements” she said as she rose from the floor. He followed her, only that now, he was looking straight at the middle of her back. The top of his head didn´t even reach her shoulder level.

He followed her from behind, all the way to the kitchen, and he couldn´t help but to stare at her butt a couple times; it was immense, she had always had a curvaceous figure, but from this angle, at his height, she was stunning. He realized that, as time went by, he´ll be closer and closer to her butt, and it´ll also mean that it´ll be bigger and wider. As if she was expanding, but in reality, he was the one shrinking.

“4´6”… “ she said checking on the tape measure, “well, actually a little taller than that” what else could he expect? Everything was changing except the fact that he was still going to shrink. He wondered if this couldn´t stop, at what point will he be able to maintain the same measurement in two days in a role, he wasn´t even sure if he woke up that tall in the morning or taller. Whatever it was, he will just move on, the only constant thing in his life was the shrinking.

Maddy wrote it down and seeing him so depressed she decided to sheer him up. “Why don´t you come with me… I have something I want to show you” she said beaming at him. He couldn´t lie, the fact that she was now talking to him like usual, it made him happy. So, he followed her as they went down the stairs, he didn´t remember the steps being so distant from each other, he wasn´t even half way thru and he already felt as if he needed a break, he was tired of having to hurry, she was easily leaving him behind.

They exit the building thru the back door, where the parking lot was. “Why would she want me to come here?” he asked himself. The only reason why they have gone there was to get a short cut to the minimart on the other block. “Come on” she said excited. He walked behind her, seeing how her steps were so much longer than his now. “Ta da!” she said as she stood there pointing her hands towards a car.

He was confused, so he asked: “Uhmmm, what´s with the car?” he said, he wasn´t catching it.

“Well, it´s our car dummy, I bought it yesterday” his eyebrows just rose, it was a white sedan, a simple car, but it was better than not having a car. “I… I wanted to tell you last night, at dinner, but… uhmmm… never mind” she said as she cut her sorrow with a smile. He knew there was still a wound inside her for all that she went thru last night. But he´ll fix it, in time, he´ll make it up to her; in some way.

“Starting Monday… “ she cheerfully continued, “I´m going to drive us to work, I´ll drop you first and then I´ll head to my job. Although, when I come to pick you up, well, you may wanna stay inside for a little while, remember that sometimes I get a little busy… but I´ll call you as soon as I´m outside.” Well, he had to see that coming, now, he´ll leave the house with her in the morning and come back with her. At least he could save some money not paying cabs or buses.

Another good thing is that they had the same schedule, they both worked on a none to five jobs, which meant that she´ll drop him early and pick him up a little later than usual. But he couldn´t complaint, it´ll save them both a lot of time, but hold on; “Maddy, how did you pay for the car?” he asked.

“Well, I had a little loan from the bank, but don´t worry, the car wasn´t that expensive. We´ll pay for it in a sec, you´ll see.” Where had he been the whole time she did this? He must admit that she was a proactive person, and she was on vacations, so she had a lot of free time. But he couldn´t help to think: “Ok, so, this may be one of those changes, but, what else can she have in mind?”