[part 4]

Sophie had never felt so powerless in her life. Even thought she knew she had nothing to fear from the younger girl, being with her back against the wall while she was literally hundreds times smaller than her made her legs shake. She had wanted to say so many things, but words seemed to be stuck in her mouth. The smile on Celeste's face was not particularly menacing, but Sophie could feel her gaze going straight through her. For at least five, interminable seconds, the two stared at each other. Then Sophie gathered the courage to explain the situation "Look, i for-" her words were interrupted by a sudden movement. Celeste's hand, moving faster than anything Sophie had ever seen, was aimed straight towards her direction. Before she could even understand what was going on, Sophie found herself trapped in what seemed to be a glass prison of some sort. She was surrounded by a single piece of rounded glass in every direction, like she was in some kind of cylinder. It took her a few seconds to connect the dots: she was inside the jar that she had used as a penholder for the last few months, which explained the noise she had heard when Celeste was touching stuff on her desk. What she really couldn't explain, though, was the reason why the girl had put the thing on top of her. "Celeste? Celeste?" she screamed, her voice echoing along the glass surface around her. The colossal woman had the palm of her hand still on top of the jar, and the moment she released it, she pulled her face closer to it, looking straight at a frightened Sophie. "Yes?" she said, her tone sounding sarcastically casual. "Why did you do this?" The shrunken woman asked her, obviously implying her imprisonment. "Oh, you mean this?" Celeste asked, casually waving her hand at the upside down jar. "It's a science experiment. I've read about this thing online, and i've always wanted to test its safety features. Then i saw that you bought one, and you know, here we are". For some reason, Sophie didn't fully accept her explanation. For starters, she had not asked her any kind of permission to do anything like that. And most of all, she was having troubles accepting her new found bossy attitude, especially now that she was the size of a mouse. "Look, sweetheart. You can't just put a jar on me and call it a science experiment, can you?" Sophie treaded lightly. The last thing she wanted was to upset somebody capable of crushing her in her fist.  "You have to let me go". Celeste looked puzzled. "I mean, you can go whenever you want, can't you? Just use the voice activation!". Voice activation! Sophie felt so stupid. How come she had not thought of it earlier. "Abort!" she yelled as loud as she could, and immediately felt her body growing. But her joy was short lived. As soon as her body began the resizing process, it stopped abruptly and returned to its current size. "What the hell?" Her anxiety started resurfacing. A mechanical voice came from the shrinking device [Critical space requirement. Please move to a bigger area to be restored]. Sophie's jaw dropped. That damn safety lock wouldn't let her grow back! On one hand, she was glad it had stopped, since growing in that moment would have meant going through the hard glass she was into and basically die horribly. She shivered at the thought. On the other hand, Celeste's smile seemed to have become even larger, like she was fully expecting something like this to happen. "You see? this works!" The giantess exclaimed triumphantly. "Ok, but i need you to take this thing off of me now" Sophie said, her voice trembling. "Sure, sure. I just need try another thing first". Sophie didn't like the events unfolding, but she didn't have much choice. She sure dind't feel like begging, but the urge of leaving her makeshift prison was growing stronger each second. She decided to wait some more, to weight the intentions of her client, but she could feel anger rising along with her general sense of discomfort. To make things worse, Celeste had taken her position back at the desk, and her sandaled feet were once again close to Sophie's position. At least she wasn't able to smell them now, but the sight sure wasn't pleasant. Celeste seemed to have read her mind, since after a few seconds she said "Oh, sorry. I have my shoes so close to you". Sophie didn't have the time to rejoice, because as soon as she had said that, the girl had bowed and had started unlacing her sandals. She removed them, and put them away. "There, much better now" She said, wiggling her toes practically in front of the jar where Sophie was. Of course, the shrunken woman's perspective wasn't any better than before, and for some reason she thought that the girl had made that on purpose. "Just some more patience" She thought, and she decided that no matter how well Celeste paid her, the moment she woud grow back to size she would kick her out of her house for good.

A few minutes passed; Celeste was back at her phone over Sophie's desk, and didn't seem to pay her much attention. Sophie came up with an idea that would leave her a small window to grow back immediately. "Look" She said, catching Celeste's attention. "Whatever you're waiting for, i'm sure you know that air won't pass in a closed jar. After all, that's the reason why you're supposed to make holes for air". Celeste laughed out loud. "Oh, don't worry! It won't take that long, but i love how you basically just compared yourself to a bug". Sophie blushed, ashamed at what she had just called her. "But if you insist" The giant grabbed the jar containing her, and turned it upside down. The simple movement rocked Sophie's world. She felt like she was riding a transparent roller coaster, but it didn't last as much. "There. Happy now?" Celeste slammed the jar on the ground "Now you have a big hole for all the air you want." Sophie sighed. Nothing had changed. The hole was too high for her to reach, so there was no way she could leave the jar at that size. She sat down, determined not to speak to Celeste anymore. Then something awful happened [Low battery. Automatic unshrink in -10- minutes] the mechanical voice said. And Sophie finally realized how in danger she was. "Abort!" She yelled "ABORT!" But the device gave her the same response as earlier. She then started pushing around in the jar, first using her hands, then slamming her whole body against its glass walls. The first time she felt the jar budging, so she slammed two more times to tip it over. The jar almost fell on its side, giving her way to escape, but Celeste didn't let it happen. She simply pushed her toes against the tip of the jar, and it stood perfectly still. "What's the big plan?" She asked from above, without even looking at the scared woman under her foot. "Look, Celeste. You need to let me out of here. I think i'm having a panic attack". Celeste put her other foot on the side of the glass, much closer to Sophie. "Sure, sure. You just need to wait ten minutes or so". Sophie was distraught. Was this the safety feature she had wanted to test? She couldn't be serious! What if the machine wouldn't work afterwards? And why in God's name was she playing so much with her gross feet around her? "Celeste, this is not funny. Get me out of here now!" She said, slamming her fists on the glass wall, but the giantess simply ignored her. Sophie tried to climb the glass, but there was just no way. It was too slippery, and to make things worse, even if she had managed to reach the top, she would run straight into those toes that were bigger than her head. There was just no way to leave without Celeste noticing. "Abort!" She yelled in a rush of panic. But the device wouldn't give a different answer. Who the hell allowed a device to be exploited like that? 

Sophie wanted to grow back before the battery drained, and she tried a number of strategies. First, she threatened the younger girl, but she laughed in her face. Then she tried to bargain. She even told her where she kept her money, so she would take it and leave. She promised not to even report her to the police. When the girl simply stopped answering, she entered full begging mode. She had no idea how long she had left, but with tears flowing from her eyes she pleaded to be let go. She couldn't believe how humiliating this was, especially since she had no way to look at the girl's face, only at the dirty sole of her foot; but her priority was to grow back to size before the device would turn off. Celeste actually bowed at some point, and grabbed the jar where she had been imprisoned. She took it in her hand, and put it on the desk in front of her. Sophie felt so stupid for begging, and tried to regain her composture. "No, no, i liked that." The irritating girl said. "Your begging makes me feel like a queen". Sophie didn't know what to think anymore. "Will you let me go now?" She asked once again, like it would really change something. And just before Celeste could answer, the mechanical voice spoke once again [Low battery. Shutting down]. 

[continue...]