“Okey, everything seems to be fine… send.” Says the man as he double checks the attached files on his email and then sends all the previously requested information to his boss. It´s late already, but he can´t leave until everything´s send. Even if it´s way passed his regular hours.

“Ok so… as soon as I receive the receipt confirmation, we´re done for the week… and I´m looking forward to this weekend.” He said with a singing tone as he pulls out his phone and unlocks it to check the profile of the “fortunate” woman who´ll date him tomorrow night. But before he does, someone steps knock´s at his office door.

*knock* *knock*

“What? I don´t have any appointments… shit I just hope this is not Lexie with some other stupid question of hers… come in.” he says as he puts his phone away. Sort of pissed.

The door slowly opens to reveal a woman, but unlike any others, she´s got a certain glow on her. Her hairs are golden and her eyes are of a deep blue. Her lips are thick and red. She´s so pretty that our guy here sits straight and accommodates his tie while she says: “Evening…”

“Oh, hi, evening to you too…” he says.

“My name´s Evangeline, and I´ve been looking for you, Lawrence.” She says with a serene look on her face.

“Well, I´m right here, and you can call me Larry” He chuckles. “What can I do for you… Evangeline.” he says pronouncing her name gracefully, trying to let her know she´s got his attention.

“Oh, what a gentleman, I actually have a request for you.” She declares.

“Ok… and it is…?” he says, now starting to feel quite odd.

“It´s really simple.” She says as she walks in and approaches to his large wooden desk.

She´s so graceful as she walks. And she´s wearing a long elegant white dress. A bright one. She said nothing as she walked closer, meanwhile, he tried to guess who she was. For sure, she was not one of the women who worked at his department. He couldn´t even recall seeing her before at the building.

Whoever she was, he had never seen her before. But one thing was for sure, she was pretty, radiant even. He scanned her with his eyes as he realized she was about 5´7” wearing no heels. Her boobs were also quite nice. Maybe a pair of double d´s held on her enwrapping dress. And her butt, well, he slipped to the side aiming to spot it, but he could see nothing.

She stopped right in front of her desk and, after a moment of silence, she continued.

“My request is for you to change…” she said.

“Heh, change?” he asked, looking straight at her blue eyes.

“Yes dear, change, I guarantee you already know what I mean.” She declared, trying to see if he was getting it.

Larry narrowed his eyes, trying to actually guess what she meant, but he had no clue. “I´m… I´m not getting it, change? Like… my clothes?” he laughed, turning a bit at her boobs.

“No dear, not your clothes. I mean for you to change yourself, the way you act, the way you think. Listen, I´ve been watching you and, I´m sorry to tell you but, you have many many flaws. And that´s not good.” She spoke.

“Ok ok, flaw… I mean, I have flaws, for sure, but listen, who doesn´t? And what´s more, who sent you? Is this some sort of prank… Oh I know, it was John, the guy from upstairs, that jerk… did he hire you or…?” he said with a smile, but she was not laughing.

“No Larry, John didn’t send me, and I´m not getting paid either. I´m here just to fulfill my divine duties.” She stretched her arms to the sides and turned her head up as she finished.

“You´re kidding right, divine… fuck, why are pretty chicks like you always crazy? I´m gonna call security…” he said as he was about to use his desk´s phone to call, but suddenly, he couldn´t more.

“What the…” he said as he felt some sort of force retaining him. Stopping him from moving. He turned at her, but she was too far to get a hold of him.

"Confused?" she said, "let me explain you, but make sure to listen to what I´ll tell you, cause I´ll only say it once.”

Larry stood there, immobile, he had no other choice but to listen, maybe that´ll explain why he can´t suddenly move.

“As I said, my name´s Evangeline, and I´m an angel.” She said, but he broke into laughter as she spoke.

“Come on, an angel? Seriously, I don´t know how you´re doing this, but whatever they´re paying you I…” and she cut him off.

“QUIET! Listen, I came her and decided to give you a chance, ask you politely, but you seem very arrogant, and unwilling to listen. So this is what´s going to happen.” She explained while he decided to shut for a moment and listen. Mad, but he´ll listen.

“My job here is to make sure that you humans live in harmony. Or, as you´ll say, be polite, helpful, overall, a good person. BUT YOU… you´ve been so arrogant, so misogynous, so… bad. I decided it´s time for you to learn a lesson, Lawrence.”

He frowned, “Oh, come on! What? Should I help old ladies crossing the street? Or do you want me to start a fundraising? If you want money, I´ve told you I…”

“Shut it… listen, you are making me mad, this will be the last time I ask you to shut it, or… I´m going to start with the punishment right now, is it clear?” she declared.

“Sure thing boss, please… continue” he said in a sarcastic way.

She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself and then started once again.

“Now, I´m going to be your guardian angel for as long as it takes for you to learn your lesson. But when I say guardian, I don´t mean that I´ll be here to make sure you´re safe or things like that. My duty as your angel will be to witness your progress, make sure you´re actually learning. If not, well, I´m going to have to penalize you.” She spoke.

“Penalize me? Like, how exactly are you going to do that? And how are you holding me like this?” he asked, feeling desperate to move.

“Well, that´s part of the things I can do. And, to answer your first question, the way I´m going to penalize you is actually very simple, ironical if you please. Whenever you fail in any of the duties that I give you, I will take some of your height.”

“I don´t get it.” He spoke.

“So that everyone can see how least of a man you are, I´ll shrink you. I´ll take away as much as I think you deserve. And if you don´t learn anything, I´m sorry but, you´ll be diminishing away. Is that clear enough?” she said as she snapped her fingers and allowed him to move.

“Oh, that´s better.” He said now moving his fingers, “but, shrink? ME? I´m sorry but that doesn´t sound good, now if you excuse me,” and he stood up and passed her by as he grabbed his briefcase. “It is time for me to leave.”

He didn´t care what she did, or even how she was able to stop him for so long, he just walked away and decided to forget about the whole thing, but when he opened the door, there she was, waiting for him outside his office.

“What the… how?” and he turned to where she used to be and saw no one there. The room was empty.

“I told you, I´m an angel, and being omnipresent is part of what I can do. You won´t get rid of me that easy honey, I´ve set my eye on you, and you´ll do as I say, or else…”

“Yeah yeah, the ehm, punishment. Listen, I´m tired, and I have a date tomorrow, can´t we do this on… Monday, maybe?” he was trying to negotiate with her, still, not realizing the magnitude of the whole thing.

“I can´t believe how least you care for this. If that´s not prof enough, then, I´m gonna have to show you the consequences.” And once again, she snapped her fingers.

Larry still believed this was some sort of magic trick or something. Even what she did to “paralyze” him could be explained as some sort of hypnotism. He let out an incredulous smile, but then, he felt something odd.

“Ughh…” suddenly, he felt a small headache, his body felt as if it was tensing. Everything turned blurry for a second, and then… nothing.

“Uhmm… what was that?” he asked her.

“That, was the first of many if you don´t stop to listen to what other people tell you. I´ve shrunk you.” She spoke.

“You? Shrank me? Haha, I don´t see any difference.” He said looking around, everything seemed the same.

“Oh, I was kind this time, it was only an inch, something imperceptible, but if you don´t listen to me, the next time, you´ll lose TWO inches.” She menaced.

“Fine fine, I´ll listen, but you´ll agree that I had a long day. Now I need some rest. Maybe we can talk again later, ok?” he said as he stepped back.

“I can grant you that. I´ll meet you at your place tomorrow morning, then we´ll discuss more about it.”

“Sure, sounds great… se ya´” and he walked away.

Larry went to the parking lot downstairs thru the elevator. Once inside his car, he sat for a while to mentalized what had happened.

“How did she… who is she?” he wondered as he tried to find a logical explanation to what happened to him when she said she´ll begin with the punishment.

“Pfff, I´m getting too paranoic, that must´ve been just some tiredness for being too much time in front of the computer. That´s right, just my eyes getting used to a different light… I guess.” He said trying to convince himself things were alright. But they were not.

Larry drove all the way back to his apartment at these late-night hours. He was a single man. Standing at 6´1” and with an athletic body, he thought he´ll have every woman he wanted kissing his feet. It didn´t help that he was the supervisor, at least of his floor.

The building where he worked had seven stories, not counting the top floor, the basement or the ground floor. In each of them, there was a supervisor who received orders from the main boss. That´s right, together with other seven people, he was the “second in command”. Of course, he never counted the rest and chose to believe he was his boss´s second hand.

What he did was receive straight orders from upstairs and give deadlines to his “crew” to have the work done. Then he had to revise all of the paperwork. Make sure everything was what they requested him, and send the information. Of course, he had to make sure new employees received their respective trainings, and there were times when he had to stay until late hours to have work done.

Still, he felt like the big boss himself. That woman wasn´t lying when she said he was arrogant. Nowadays, he thought his time was more valuable than others time. That, in a way, he was superior. He made good money, but he wasn´t rich. And not that good looking either.

He felt like the big man, and treated everyone as he pleased. Not respecting anyone but his boss. Not even the other supervisors. He felt like a king, and everyone else where just pawns on his game. He wanted to triumph, get higher, be the boss… someday.

Now, he parked his car at his apartment. It was actually a full house. In some fancy but not too fancy neighborhood. Some people owned their house, but he was just renting it. He felt as if he deserved a nice penthouse in some rich people´s neighborhood.

He walked in, going straight to the kitchen. He poured himself some whiskey on a glass and drank it all down.

“Aahhhh, nothing like a nice glass of whiskey after a long week of work.” He spoke as he placed the glass upside down over the counter. Then, he head straight into his room. But there was something bothering him.

He showered and change into some pajamas, but there was something he couldn´t get out of his head.

“Who the fuck was that woman?”

He couldn´t get the image of Evangeline out of his head. And what´s more, the fact that she called herself an “Angel” bothered him. Was she crazy? Was it some sort of twisted prank? Maybe some of the other managers wanted to mess with him.

“Those fuckers, I bet they´re jealous. I got the bono last trimester and they just couldn´t get over it, that´s right, they´re just trying to annoy me, mess with me…” he thought, but that wasn´t it.

They disliked him, that´s for sure, but not because they were jealous. Larry thought he was above them. He always made sure to point that out, in a sarcastic or constructive way. For some reason, he thought he was the boss´s favorite, and that his floor was the best one on the building.

Maybe they were, but if that was the case, it wasn´t because of him. He was lazy. At first, he gave all of him to ensure a productive environment. But since a couple years back, he became dull. He still wanted to become the main boss, but his reasons where not as pure as they once were.

Now, as he laid his head on his pillow, he remembered those woman´s words. “I´ve shrunk you…” and she said it was only an inch. He pondered if it was a good idea to get up and measure himself. He was 6´1” on his bare feet, it wouldn´t take long to make sure about it.

But he just let out a soft laugh and closed his eyes. He thought he was being too paranoic and giving that woman too much attention.

“Let´s see how she get´s here… I never gave her my address… and no one at the office can give it to her… I think that´s against our policies… whatever, I should focus on my date tomorrow with Tina… nice big boobed Tina…” he said as he pictured her round breasts on his mind.

He thought about her and on ways to get laid with her and then felt into a deep sleep.

“helloooooOOOO! Wakey WAKEY sleepyhead.” Said a woman´s voice. But, why was there a woman in his room?

He woke up and sat straight as he turned towards her. It was Evangeline, the so-called Angel.

“What the… who…? How? What the fuck, how did you get into my house? My room?” he said, not fully awake.

“You said we´ll talk tomorrow morning… and that´s today.” She declared. She was wearing a white jumpsuit with short puffed sleeves. And her hair, long, thick and shiny, just like yesterday´s.

“I… how did you get in?” he asked, “And what time is it?” he felt strangely tired. He turned just to realize it was 6 am, sharp. “Holy sh… you trespassed into my property and woke me up at SIX! Oh no, no no no.” he was pissed.

“I told you, I´m an Angel, I can go anywhere I want to, and YOU said we could talk about this today in the morning.” She declared.

“There you go with the “Angel” thing again, listen, even if I wanted to see you… I didn´t mean you were supposed to come at my house with the first beam of sun light, are you stupid?” he spoke.

“There you go again, insulting people, I think we should start working on that.” She said.

“Oh no, no, what WE should do is this, I will call the police and you can go with them on the back of their car, with handcuffs. Now, where´s my phone.” He said as he searched for it.

“You still don´t believe me, do you?” she said crossing her arms beneath her breasts.

“Nope, anyone can force a lock, my main question is WHO gave you my address and… shit, where´s the stupid phone…” he added.

“Ughhh, did you even measure yourself last night? I was going to make sure on that, but I decided to give you some alone time, you know, to reflect…” she genuinely thought that small “intervention” will be a good start, but he just proved her wrong.

“Yeah sure, measure myself, what? Did you mess with the measuring tape too?” he stood up and headed to where she was. “Well, this is your lucky day, cause I can´t find my phone. Even if you´re crazy I´ll give you a chance, step out of my house and never come back, ok?” he said putting both hands over her shoulders and aiming to kick her out in a “nice” way.

“I´m afraid I can´t do that.” She said, not even moving an inch, he pushed harder and harder, used all of his strength, but she wasn´t moving. “There´s things we need to do, like I tried to explain on my first visit, YOU need to change.” She declared, immobile.

“Sure, “change”” he said as he wondered why wasn´t she moving? She didn´t seem heavier than 130 pounds. He worked out, he was a fairly tall man, and he weighed around 220, why wasn’t she moving?

“Quit trying Lawrence, I won´t move.” She spoke.

He gave one last try before he stopped, “Fuck, I don´t know what you´re doing, but whatever it is, I don´t care, just go away before I call the…” and then, she cut him off, more like, no words came out of his mouth, and even if he ignored the reason why, it was her doing it.

“Now you´ll listen. I didn´t want to do this in that way, but you, oh, you´re very stubborn. Even if you want me to leave, I won´t.” Then, he involuntarily sat on the edge of his bed and looked straight to her as she explained.

“Like I said before, I´m an Angel. Which means I´m a divine creature with certain powers. One of them is keeping you still, that´s the only way you´ll listen.” He really couldn´t move.

“So, this is my mission. For years, I´ve watched you, Lawrence, I´ve seen how you turned from a nice man into a bitter, corrupted and, even if it hurts me to say it, a disgusting man.” He was starting to get worried.

“This is what´s going to happen, I will make sure to, let´s say… train you. Educate you to become a better man. A gentleman even. There will be tests you´ll have to pass if you want to prove to me you´re changing. And if you fail, in any of them, there´ll be consequences.” She said, really meaning the last part.

“I know you didn´t measure yourself last night, but you, mister, you´re already an inch shorter than you ever were. Which means that, as soon as you get up to check, you´ll be six foot even.”

Larry couldn´t believe it, how was she doing this? He was still and listening. Whatever she was doing, there must be a logical explanation. Maybe she drugged him while he was still sleeping. But the truth is, that “Angel” thing, was starting to feel real.

She allowed him to speak, and move. He got up, and the first thing he said was:

“Fuck you, fuck this, I… I don´t believe anything you say.” He declared.

“Oh my… before we move on, and trust me, you´re taking too long to understand, why don´t you measure yourself? Go ahead, prove me wrong.” She was annoyed, but she still contained herself.

“Fine.” He spoke, about to prove he wrong. Deep inside, he was afraid she´ll froze him again, so he searched for his phone as looked for the measuring tape.

He grabbed it, double check it to make sure there was nothing strange on it. He pulled it and stood with his back at the wall.

“Let me help you.” She declared as she grabbed the tape for him.

She was starting to piss him off, but he allowed her, and also accepted the pencil she hand him. Made a mark and stepped away from the wall.

He took the tape off his hands and pulled it out, but he didn´t like what he saw. Six foot even, just like she said. He couldn´t believe it, so he made another mark, and another, then another. Every time he got the same result. Six feet in height.

“Fuck, how is that…?” he said as he turned to her, “How can you…?”

“I already told you, I´m an Angel. Listen, my mission is to make sure all people live in harmony in this world, and for that, we have to make sure humans act in a pure way.” She said.

“Pure… wh… but why me? I mean, there´s people who have done terrible things, and me… I just, I just don´t get it.” He was puzzled.

“Listen, you were a good man, but you´re… corrupted, my mission is to turn you back to the man you once were… else, well…” she pointed at the marks on the wall.

He turned at them and then back at her, “Listen, I-I haven´t broke any laws, I´m a good citizen, I…”

“It´s not the laws honey,” and she approached, “It´s your moral that´s wrong, and the way you treat people, especially women, that has to change. Believe me, I´ll do my best to help you, but you won´t comply unless there are consequences. I´m not a bad Angel, but you need to be a good man too, what do you think?” she asked.

“I think… this is stupid.” He spoke, choosing to deny everything she just said and trying to think on a way to get out of this. Larry still couldn´t believe she was an angel. But she was going to prove it, again.

“There you go again, that´s it… *snap*” Just like that, she snapped her fingers again.

Once more, he felt dizzy for a second, his head hurt and then, nothing.

“I´ll prove you this is real, look at the tape, it´s still in your hands. Now, measure yourself again.” She declared.

He stood in front of the wall and drew a new line. He stretched the tape and his jaw dropped when he saw it. Now, the measure was not standing at six foot even, but at five-foot eleven.

“No… no no no no no… you´re fucking kidding me.” He said as he turned at her.

“There you go, another inch. Trust me, I´ve been good, I told you it´ll be two the next time. But take this as my way to…”

“Why are… how are you doing this?” he said, desperate. This woman held a certain power over him. It was not something on his mind, no trick, he truly lost two inches. His question was, what´s going to happen next?