It felt so good to be back to normal size, that he decided to go on a holiday around the world. He cut some of the gold loose, was able to sell it discretely, and booked his passage on the first cruise boat that he could organise.

He was away for the best part of a year, seeing the world with all of the best things that his gold revenue could buy to be enjoyed on the way.

He didn’t know how he felt about Colleen. His infatuation was stronger than ever, but he knew, that if she had succeeded, she would have swallowed him whole without the slightest regret. He had been reduced in size against his will and forced into a life of underground seclusion for months, thinking it would always be that way. He had never stopped pining over his massive crush on her, and yet been acutely aware the whole time that he was on the run from her.

When the cruise was over, he had seen the best that the whole world had to offer, but he still felt empty inside. He decided that there was only one thing to do. He had to see her.

Stanley returned to his home, and walked out of the village, through the low forest, up the hills, through the meadow, up the hills further and came to Colleen’s property.

He was too late. Her house was gone, and the land overgrown with long grass.  His only hope now was to go and see her at the school. She had told him where she taught. He went in on Monday, arrived shortly before lunch break, and asked if he could be directed to her classroom and wait outside for her, so that he could talk to her during her lunch break, explaining that he was an old boyfriend who wanted to catch up.

He was told that she hadn’t worked at the school for some time.

No wonder she had moved away, he thought. He had just travelled the world, and she could be living anywhere in it. All of the gold in his shed wouldn’t have paid for an effective way to find her. He realised just how much of her happiness in the meadow and surrounding area had depended on having her machine, the machine that he had destroyed beyond repair.

He knew he wanted to be with her, knew that she had wanted to swallow him whole, knew that he could never hope to find her, and yet still he couldn’t help thinking about her. He realised why that was the case. When someone found out that a crush wasn’t reciprocated, he’d purge the woman from his life quickly and get on with looking to the future.

Colleen HAD reciprocated his feelings. The only problem was that she had done it with another hidden agenda that definitely didn’t work in his favour. That didn’t alter the fact that she was as infatuated with him as he was with her. She’d always been interested in eating leprechauns and reduced humans, but as well as that she still had the same passion for him that he had for her, and he’d never be able to share that passion with her again, not even now that it was finally safe to do so.