Larry fell to the ground, right in front of the door.

“No, not again.” He placed his hands on his face and turned at the floor.

“What´s the matter?” asked Evangeline. Her voice came from in front of him.

“YOU! That´s the matter. Why did you shrink me again?” he asked, feeling desperate.

“I told you, you didn´t check if she was single.”

“But she´s the one who teased me, besides, I´ve seen no other men there…” he argued.

“Sure, her husband left a long time ago.” She said back.

“What? You knew about it? She´s divorced and you still shrank me!”

“Hey, she´s still a married woman.” She replied.

“You just said her husband´s gone.”

“Your neighbor Grace hasn´t seen her husband in years. But she´s not divorced.” They went on their separate ways but never got divorced, no papers had been signed. Deep inside, she has the hope that he´ll be back. Still, she likes to have fun” She winked.

“Are you serious!” he yelled at her.

She frowned and from above, since she was standing, she said: “Hey, don´t you raise your voice at me. You could´ve asked. It´s your fault.”

“What? MY fault. Come on, he´s gone, divorced or not, she´s single now… I think…”

“See, doubt. You´re not sure.” She always had to find a way to be the one who´s right.

“Fuck. And what am I supposed to do now, ask women every single detail of their lives, do I have to make a survey? Like, hey, can you fill down this form for me? That´s stupid!” He stood up, to meet her face, just to witness she was taller, still by an inch. But when he turned down, she was wearing no heels, she was on her bare feet.

The now towering angel turned at him and said: “That wouldn´t be such a bad idea.”

He grunted and turned away. Even her face annoyed him by now.

“Who does she think she is?” he said between his enraged thoughts. “Just cause she´s a hot angel, she thinks she can do whatever she wants with me?! I´m no damn puppet.” He went upstairs to be alone

“HEY, I can read your mind… remember? Now, unless you want your thoughts to have consequences, you better watch that attitude of yours… which is also another lesson.” She said from downstairs.

He went inside his room and locked the door behind him. Which was of no use, she could be or appear anywhere she wanted, lock or not. But that gave him some feeling of authority, although there wasn´t much left in him.

He could see the changes. Clear as water. The ceiling was higher, the room seemed wider. His clothes, he had to somehow hold them, stop them from hanging, from falling. This was awful.

If Evangeline was there to teach him, then why couldn´t she wrote the lessons down so that he could know what to do, what to avoid. He felt lonely, for the first time in years, he felt vulnerable.

He just let himself fall over his bed, landing over a pillow. What had he done to deserve this? Why him? From all the people in the world, why is she haunting him? Or, is it that she´s also tormenting other people and he has not noticed before?

“If she´s everywhere, then there´s at least another person my age suffering from this… I wonder if she´ll be doing the same to anyone else? Maybe there´s another shrinking man, or a shrinking woman…” he wondered for a second, looking for a way not to be alone in this awful punishment.

He sighed. He still had a life to live and work to do. Today, he got out of the office earlier because Mrs. Davis allowed him. Kind of the good side of this, but he still had something to deal with, starting tomorrow, busty Lexie will be set away and in exchange, his new assistant will be the amazonic Violet.

He had never said anything before about her being too tall. But tomorrow, this tall woman will be working close to him. Before, he may have found a way to try and flirt with her a little, but now, he feared how things will be.

“Shit, how am I going to deal with this, she´s… huge, at least to me. And she hates me… ugh, well, I need to send a text to Lexie, to let her know about the change on her duties… else, Evangeline will find an excuse to shrink me. I can already picture her…” then he said, trying to imitate her voice, “It´s your duty as the boss to look after your employees… *snap* another inch goes away…” he was pissed.

He wrote the message, trying to explain the changes to her as easy as possible. To avoid over explanations.

“Hey Lexie, what´s up. So, Mrs. Davis called me to her office today and, it seems there will be a minor adjustment in your duties. Starting tomorrow, you´ll be her assistant, while Violet comes down to be my assistant. I know it’s a sudden change. But there seems to be a little drop on productivity, and Violet will make sure to check on that.

I´m not sure when things will be back to normal, just make sure to be on time and give your very best while working with Mrs. Davis, she´s a bit demanding. If there´s any issue, you can always reach out to me.”

He smiled, it seemed nice. Professional. And the last part, about reaching out, he was proud. He wanted to write something like an invitation to diner, or a date, she said she owed him one for letting her out earlier. He was looking for that, a chance to have sex with Lexie. But that will have to be postponed for a while.

He didn´t have much to do. He was not in the mood to hit the gym, the sex he had with his neighbor Grace will have to work as today´s exercise. It was still pretty early, around 7:00 pm, he could shower and watch some series on TV while he cooks something, or heats some TV diner.

He hated this new feeling, about everything being bigger, taller. He could feel how things were already standing higher than they should. He lost seven inches already, there´s a big difference in perspective when you´re that much shorter.

The shower´s higher, door knobs too. All of his shoes are slipping out of his feet; not to mention the fact that his clothes seemed as if he had lost a ton of weight and was still using the same clothes. He felt dumb.

It´s fine when you´re loose t-shirt hangs, but when a shirt that´s supposed to be form fitting hangs too, there´s a problem.

“This stupid shrinking is forcing me to buy more clothes. Fuck, why can´t Evangeline just shrink them together with me…” he complaint.

“Why can´t I? Hmmm… good question.” Said Evangeline as she surprised him from behind.

“SHIT!” he yelled. “Could you at least announce yourself somehow, like… with a bell or something?” he protested, she scared him, and he hated when that happened.

“Haha, a bell? Like the one´s cat´s use? Well, I guess I could appear together with some glow… but let me remind you that, unless you ask for things properly, there´s just so much I´ll do for you.” She smiled, with an annoying smile. Proud to be the one in charge.

He frowned, looking up to her. But if she was going to stay, until who knows when, then he should learn what and how to ask for things.

“Ok, so… what brings you here now…” he said, trying to calm down.

“Well, you wondered why I couldn´t shrink your clothes to fit you better, right?” she asked.

“Yes, I did.” He nodded.

“Ok, so, it seems you need something from me, and it´s honestly a reasonable request.”

“So, you´ll make my clothes fit?” he asked, smiling for once.

“Sure, after you earn it.” And there she goes again with her lessons and stuff. He knows it will be easier to just drive to a store and purchase some shirts.

“Ok, how am I going to earn it…?” he said with a furrow.

“Let´s see… well, it´s simple, if you prove to me that you´re learning what I´m trying to teach you, then I´ll make all of your clothes fit.” She said.

“Ok. But will my clothes fit like, always, or am I supposed to pass some kind of test to make it fit again. Like, if you shrink me again, am I supposed to beg you to make them fit?” if this was some kind of deal where things are just temporary, then he´s not so into it as she believes.

“No, I´ll make them fit, always, but you´ll have to show me you earn it.” She declared.

“Ok, so, what do I have to do?” he asked.

“I have two options for you. You can either behave while you´re around Violet tomorrow, or… you can call a special someone and tell her how you feel.” She said.

He understood what she meant about Violet, but who was this other someone she was talking about?

“What do… who do you mean? Lexie? Grace? Or, Mrs. Davis…? You´re not talking about Cathy, are you?” Those were the first women that came to his mind.

“Nope, I´m talking about a very special someone for you, well, who used to be special at least.” She was making him think very hard.

“Who is she talking about… Tina? No, that can´t be. Let´s see, special, who was special but now isn´t… who is she…? NO, not her, is she talking about…” he just came up with the right answer. He turned at her, with wide opened eyes and said: “You mean Wendy?”

“Yes, her.” She smiled.

“No! No way, she´s my… my ex. We broke up a long time ago, I won´t call her just because you want me to. Besides, there´s nothing to talk about with her.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“But there is, you know you´ve been wanting to call her. You broke up, but you still love her, don´t you.” Said Evangeline, getting closer to him.

“No, I don´t.”

“Then, why is her number still saved on your phone?” she asked.

“Well, that´s… I forgot to delete it. And it´s also none of your business.” He declared.

Wendy broke up with Larry, not such a mutual agreement. She said he was pulling her down. That he was not trying to improve. He was settling for too little, not looking for a way to become someone in life. That he seemed too happy with just being the employee and not looking forward to be the boss someday.

She wanted someone who push her to the limits, settle life goals. Travel, experience new things. And Larry didn´t seem as the one to do so.

Since they broke up, he´s been trying to improve, like she said. But not to make her come back, he was going to prove her wrong. That he could go as far as he wanted to. He worked hard for a promotion, then another, and now he´s the head of his floor.

He earned more money and had better things. Fancy clothes and went to luxurious places. Since he was single, he decided to take a different girl to each of the new places he visited. That´s the life he now had. He changed his old life and his old self just to prove Wendy she was wrong by breaking up with him.

But that didn´t made him feel any better. She was special, just like Evangeline said. When he got the promotion, he thought about calling her, telling her he was changing. But he never found the will to do so.

Evangeline noticed he was thinking, mad, but thinking. “What do you say?” she asked.

“Violet. I´ll be nice to Violet. That´s my choice.” He stablished.

“Fine. If that´s your choice…” She knew this was a hard topic to talk about. Very intimate information she wasn´t supposed to know. But her powers as and angel gave her access to all there is to know about Larry, and about everyone else.

Larry grabbed his briefcase and headed off to work. Making sure Grace was nowhere to be seen. He doesn´t need any distractions now. It´s getting late. Besides, he´s really sure they are both the same height. He doesn´t want to meet his neighbor face to face when she´s supposed to be leveled with his shoulder.

“Oh crap, Violet…” he thought as he hoped in. He grabbed the steering wheel and took a deep breath.

He had to be nice to her. Or behave, like Evangeline said. He wasn´t sure what she meant by that. If he wanted to have some sort of compensation from Evangeline, then he must be kind towards Violet.

“This is going to be a long day…” he said as he drove off.

Larry felt unsettled. He even considered calling in sick and drive off from the building´s parking lot. Loosing inches constantly was really hurting his self-esteem. A once proud 6´1” man was now 5´6”, every time he entered his office, he was smaller.

And if that wasn´t bad enough, in just a couple minutes he´ll meet Violet in his office. Nothing like a 6´2” woman to make him feel even smaller than he already feels. If Lexie was still his assistant, he´ll feel better to have the 5´3” woman around. Making him feel tall.

He entered the building, and the first thing he noticed was, everyone´s eyes where on him. He managed to walk around unnoted, he knew everyone was minding their own business, but now. He could feel people´s staring in the back of his head. Their eyes on him.

He felt awkward, for a second he had the urge to run. Get away from everyone and just disappear into his office. While he kept walking, he could listen to them talking about him. Things like: “It´s true…”, “Oh my, he´s really short.”, “Shrinking is actually a thing?”

People where gossiping about him. Why was everyone so aware of his shrinking now? He tried to avoid eye contact with all his might, but it came hard when Cathy just came up out of nowhere and stopped right in front of him.

Even, they were even. He was now the same height as her. He felt a knot in his throat before everyone else disappeared and all he could see was her.

“So, it´s true… sorry about your illness. I hope you get well soon.” Those were kind words, but her tone was not that kind, not even caring. It even felt kind of forced.

“Also, I hope your huge ego doesn´t pop that shrinking body of yours.” That made sense.

“S-so, you came all the way here just to… check or laugh of me?” he asked, a bit upset and also nervous.

“Well, neither, I was heading for some forms when I saw you here and I thought, why not checking in him myself.” It felt so odd to be the same height as her. To think she was one of the girls who´s height he thought “cutely perfect”, not too tall to him and not too short.

“And how do… how does everyone know?” he asked looking everywhere. Not all of the people where paying attention to him, most of them only turned to see if it was true. And other´s needed to, because of a morbid urge in them.

“Mrs. Davis told everyone.” Said Cathy.

“What?” he said.

“Yes, she wanted everyone to be aware of it, I guess she wanted everyone to know and, be nice. But it seems it just pulled all of their attention to you.” She wasn´t lying. And the fact that he had a whole floor of employees waiting for him, it made things worse. It could be better if he could just have a random desk somewhere no one could find him.

He kept walking, he needed to find shelter in his office. He hoped into the elevator and just waited for it to open in his floor. Maybe he could take the stairs, no one used them either way, but being alone inside the elevator gave him some comfort.

When the elevator´s door opened, he could listen a voice say “He´s here…” and then everyone turned at him.

He panicked as his body worked on it´s own to get out and start walking. With a fake smile and a barely believable trust he said: “G-morning everyone…” and waved as he accelerated his pace to walk away.

Everyone was staring at him. Had someone taken a picture? He didn´t care, all he wanted to do was find the refugee his office was.

When he was just a few feet away from the door, he listened someone say: “Good morning…” Violet, it was her unmistakable voice. He turned at the desk that was once Lexie´s where she was sitting.

He turned down at her while she was sitting, but it didn´t last long before she started standing. She started rising, up and up. Her face was leveled with his chest while she was sitting, then with his head, then, she passed him and started towering over him.

Eight inches, she was that much taller. The top of his head was leveled with her chin; and his eyes aimed straight at her collar bone. Tall was the first word that met his mind, then he swallowed hard.

“I can tell everyone already knows about your… illness. But don´t worry, I´ve checked your schedule, you won´t have to get out of your office… today.” she winked as she said: “You´re safe there.” Then, she patted his head.

It was unnecessary and so demeaning. He could feel the immensity of her long fingers. Her larger palm was landing over his head slowly and repeatedly. Was she playing with him?

Why was she doing this? Wasn´t it some sort of affection sign? Or was this just her letting him know she´s the one on the lead? Was this meant to prove something or did she just ignore the boundaries?

“Ok, heh, thanks for the heads up…” he said as he stepped back, away from her hand.

“Very well, now, I´ve sent you your schedule thru an email, you´ll see everything´s highlighted with different colors. Things in green mean this can be done today or even be postponed until tomorrow. Things in yellow must be done today, but not necessarily at that time. And the things in red, well, they are kind of urgent, so you may want to use some of the time from the things in green to finish them.” She was organized, definitely.

“Oh, well, thank you. I´ll check on them…” he said as he walked into his office.

Violet seemed nice. He thought she´d be annoyed by him and that she won´t do much. But she was a professional. That´s why she was the boss´s assistant. Anywhere she was, her work would be done in time and with all her effort.

Now, can he keep up with what she said or is he going to have some minor delays with her time frames. Lexie only sent him papers and told him what they requested from him. That´s whenever she was working well, other times, she just brought coffee; and revealing clothes.

He turned on his computer, and as he logged in to check on his email and the schedule Violet made. He couldn´t help but to think on her. Doesn´t she hate him? He thought she´ll be upset, somehow demoted from her position as the big boss´s assistant.

Now, she was there to assist him. He still had a nice position in the building. Maybe it wasn´t the most prestigious floor, but he was the boss there. However, how does she feel to have a shrinking man for a boss? That should be kind of upsetting for a woman her height.

He wasn´t sure if everyone based their judgement on people´s height. But since he started shrinking, he started to develop a certain type of thoughts based on people´s height. Something simple, he´s constantly wondering how tall he is. If he´s taller than the guy or woman standing close. Things like that.

And some times he´s got some doubts. As in: “Was I taller than her? Or, am I still taller than that other person? His life was not easy at the time. And you must add the fact that now a bottom-heavy woman´s his assistant.

And not any woman, the tallest woman on the building. He turned, to get a sight of her from his office. She was still standing and just as he thought. Her gluts were magnificent. Round and firm flesh on her behind.

His mouth watered from the view he now had. The shrinking only had one bright side, everything´s bigger, including butts and boobs. And now, he can see that Violet´s butt seems bigger. Rounder, mightier. But he had work to do, he couldn´t focus on her right now. Although, he´ll have plenty of time, she´ll be there for a while.

“Crap! This is a long list. Is this my agenda, like, only for TODAY?” He had a lot to do. Usually, he had all of what she scheduled done within a week. A regular speed, not delivering things too late or too early. But it seems Violet wants him to be done within a day.

It seems to him that she´s more like the boss of him now. Is he supposed to do ALL of that in one day? What about the rest of the time? Mrs. Davis said he was supposed to be more productive, but he was not expecting to be as productive as five people combined.

Then, he read a small note on the very bottom. “If you struggle with anything, don´t be afraid to ask for help. I´ll assist you ;)” Those words were written by Violet.

“What´s with the wink? Help as in… she´ll be doing my job or… what type of help?” he wondered. Was it a message like saying, I can do your job better; mere kindness? Or, what did she meant by “help”?