Chapter 1

“Look, Steve,” Melissa Jacobson was explaining to her stepson, “Just because I’m a scientist doesn’t mean I have all the answers, ok? That’s part of the reason I’m curious about the effects the supplement will have on you.”

“But…I mean…Melissa,” replied Steve, persisting in his skepticism as he stared down at the little green pill she was holding, “If you don’t really know what the pill will do, then isn’t it…I don’t know…kind of irresponsible to be testing it on me?”

“Oh relax Steve,” Melissa chuckled, shaking her head as she smiled at him, “I already tried it on myself and a few colleagues, and it’s given us all a distinct and measurable boost in energy levels. But, see, we’re all women. I haven’t tried it on any men yet, and your father…well…”

“Yeah, yeah, dad’s away on a business trip,” finished Steve, rolling his eyes. “Big surprise there, huh?”

Melissa smiled sympathetically. She had married Anson Jacobson five years before, taking his last name. His success and drive as a venture capitalist had been a source of attraction for her from the get-go, but Melissa hadn’t quite planned on Anson being gone so often on his long-term business trips. At 22 years old, freshly graduated from college, Steve was a full-grown adult, but even still, Melissa felt for him. She wished that Anson budgeted more time for his son, but on the flipside, ever since Steve had come back home from college, she and he had grown a little closer.

“Well,” nodded Melissa, “We both agree that your father could spend more time with us, right?”

Steve sighed and looked down at his stepmother. He felt a little smile come to his face. He hadn’t been so sure about the nutrition scientist who had wooed his father back when he was in high school, but Melissa had grown on him through the years. She had a kind heart, and he knew that she genuinely cared for both him and his father. She could be a bit pushy sometimes, but then again, that quality only seemed to accentuate her motherly image that was growing in his mind.

Steve was an adult, but something inside him was beginning to hope that, at long last, he had some kind of a mother figure in his life. It also didn’t hurt that Melissa was only 41 years old, and in pretty good shape too. With D-cup breasts and a curvy figure to match, she certainly wasn’t hard to look at. At 5’6, she was a little taller than average, though significantly shorter than Steve’s 6’1.

“So how about it?” Melissa asked again, raising her eyebrows at her stepson as she shook the little green pill in his direction. “Be my guinea pig just this once? I’ll take you out for a milkshake…”

Steve couldn’t help but laugh now. “Melissa…heheh, I’m an adult now. I got a summer internship…and you’re tempting me with milkshakes?”

Melissa’s smile grew, and Steve shrugged, returning her grin. He took the pill, popped it in his mouth, and swallowed it down with a sip of water.

“Well, I mean, I don’t dislike milkshakes, anyway,” he admitted humorously.

“Thanks Steve, really,” said Melissa, patting him on the back. “It helps me with my data collection. Heh, you know me, always coming up with new little concoctions and whatnot.”

“You are a bit of a…how to put this gently…mad scientist type,” Steve chided. “Thank god you’re “just a nutrition scientist” and not some kind of bioweapons expert. You’d be asking me to huff anthrax spores for research!”

“Hey, I’m only looking for breakthroughs, just like any good scientist does!” countered Melissa, feigning offense. “Now for the next few days, I want you to keep detailed notes of how you’re feeling, alright? Energy levels, how much you sleep, if you notice anything out of the ordinary…that kind of stuff.”

“Sure thing,” nodded Steve. He put his hands on his hips and stood there looking down at his stepmother expectantly. After rearranging some notes in her phone, Melissa looked up.

“What?” she asked blankly.

“Well…” said Steve, grinning. “I was promised a milkshake…”

The next couple days passed by, seemingly without incident. Steve had a week in between his college graduation and the start of his new internship, so he was around the house a good deal, relaxing from his exhausting last semester. Melissa mainly worked from her home office, so the two of them were seeing each other quite often. As a slightly scatterbrained scientist, Melissa wasn’t much of a cook, but she made sure to order in from Steve’s favorite restaurants, as a special treat for his good grades, and for him helping her out in her supplement study. Each day, she asked him, with a certain degree of eagerness, how he was feeling.

“Pretty normal, honestly,” was his standard reply. Melissa felt a bit discouraged that he wasn’t reporting the noticeable boosts in mood and energy that she and her colleagues had experienced, but she chalked it down to the fact that her stepson was quite a bit bigger than them. Perhaps it followed that the pill would take a little longer to work on him.

By the third day, though, Melissa began to notice something different. She couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but she knew that something was up. She had seen little snippets of Steve a few times in the morning, but she had been sitting at her desk each time; she hadn’t gotten a good look at him. When she went into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich, though, the two of them crossed paths, and Melissa suddenly realized what was off: her stepson looked shorter…conspicuously shorter. Normally, Melissa’s eyes were even with Steve’s collarbone, but now, with the two of them standing side by side, she was looking into his Adam’s apple.

“Uhm…Steve?” she asked, as the oddest feeling of energy flitted over her skin, “Are you…are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, fine, like I told you a couple hours ago,” he replied, going to the fridge. “Why?”

Melissa watched him go — there could be no doubt. He was shorter. His head usually rose up above the fridge, but now it was dead-even.

“Steve,” Melissa heard herself saying, “I think…I think you’re shorter.”

A tense and pregnant silence hung in the air as Melissa’s words seemed to sink into the space between her and Steve. Part of Melissa couldn’t believe that she had actually spoken those words out loud; it was as if, in the mere act of speaking, that she had manifested a strange and forbidden terrain that had previously only existed in her mind. But what else could she have done!? The evidence was plain to see, right there before her eyes: her stepson was clearly shorter than he had been before.

For a few moments, Steve just stood there with his back to Melissa, staring into the open fridge, his eyes fixating on the shelves of food without really taking any of it in. Normally, he would have immediately whipped around and uttered some kind of sarcastic or humorous retort, but this was no ordinary situation. In the three days since he had taken his stepmother’s experimental supplement, he had been feeling more-or-less normal, but this morning, even though he had tried to brush it aside, he wasn’t able to avoid the creeping thought that something was amiss.

Everything had just felt a bit “off” all morning; it wasn’t like he was feeling sick or anything…but it was more like something had gradually started changing within him, subtly altering his perception of things without being too obvious. Before Melissa had spoken, he hadn’t been able to pinpoint this strange and troublesome sensation, but now that she had blurted out, point-blank, that he was shorter, everything fell into place in his mind. That was it…that was why everything seemed just a tad bit different! Without even going through the mental process of considering Melissa’s bizarre pronouncement, Steve knew that she was right.

But she couldn’t be right. Steve was a 22-year old man! He had just finished growing a year before — no one his age shrank! Even though, deep down, he knew that his stepmother was right, Steve decided to react normally and go on the defensive. He turned slowly around, casting a bemused expression in her direction as he glanced at her over his shoulder.

“Huh?” he asked, furrowing his brow. “What, uh…what are you talking about?”

“I’m saying,” Melissa repeated, more confidently now, stepping up closer to him, “That you look shorter to me, Steve.” She was only a few feet away from him now, and was staring up at him curiously, her eyes going up and down his body slowly, like she was scanning its entirety for data. Steve turned around completely now, with the fridge still open, facing his stepmother as he blinked uneasily down at her. Before, the top of Melissa’s head had only come up to his mouth, but now, the unmistakable truth hit him: he was staring right into the top of his stepmother’s head. He tried to back away, but only withdrew himself further into the open fridge. His eyes, seemingly of their own accord, flitted down across Melissa’s body, which was now very close to him. He took in the gentle, pleasing curve of her hips, and the noticeable bulge of her butt emerging from behind her figure. Had she always been this…curvy!? It must have been a trick of perspective, surely.

Melissa put her hands on her hips, breaking the taut silence between them; Steve saw her curves jiggle and wobble gently with her slight movements.

“Well?” she probed, sticking her tongue in between her teeth, “Anything to say about that, Steve? Out of all the stuff I’ve been asking you to document, you weren’t gonna tell me that you’ve been getting shorter?!”

“L-Look, Melissa!” Steve stammered, feeling the blushing heat come up to his face as he put his hands up innocently, “I…I don’t know what you’re, uhh…you’re talking about. I…I’m the same…the same height as I’ve —”

“Hold on, hold on,” interrupted Melissa, beckoning him to step forward. “Here, let’s close the fridge first.” Steve felt his stepmother grasp his left hip as she gently pulled him towards her, away from the fridge, as she deftly swiped it closed with her other hand. Even from this slight and nondescript touch, Steve felt a weird shot of energy infusing his body. His stepmother’s hand felt noticeably warmer, larger, and softer than he would have expected.

“Now then,” she resumed, taking a step back and looking up at him again, “What was it you were saying, Steve?”

“Just that…uhh…that everything’s still…uhm…still normal,” he answered. He was making an effort to appear nonchalant now, but he knew he was coming off as more dismissive than he had intended.

“Really?” asked Melissa skeptically, tilting her head sideways at him. “Nothing out of place? No pain? No fever? No new…thoughts or sensations?”

Steve felt himself shaking his head, even as he told himself that, if he was really being truthful, he would be telling her about how “off” he had been feeling all morning. Something more important to him — the desire to maintain normalcy in the face of this strange and inexplicable threat — was keeping him from being honest.

Melissa just stood there, her hands placed solidly on her hips, surveying her stepson with close-lipped scrutiny. She knew that she was right…she knew that he had gotten shorter and proportionally smaller all around. His arms and legs looked a little smaller, and his shoulders looked a little less broad. There was not a doubt in her mind, and she opened her mouth, about to ask Steve to measure himself right then and there. But something held her back, and she closed her mouth again, smiling. She didn’t want to push it too hard right now. Steve seemed agitated, so she would bide her time, letting the reality sink in before documenting it empirically. The last thing she wanted right now was to create a hostile and antagonistic atmosphere. She would let her stepson off the hook…for now. She had a hunch, based on nothing but her own intuition, that his shrinking wasn’t over yet.

“Well alright Steve,” she replied, smiling at him. “Whatever you say. Just make sure and keep me up to date on how you’re doing, alright?”

“Sure thing,” Steve nodded, again trying to be casual. Melissa smirked slightly and turned on her heel, walking away. Steve felt himself ogling her butt as she walked, its twin cheeks shaking and bouncing up and down, up and down, in her wake. It looked bigger to him, but far within the recesses of his mind, he knew that his stepmother’s butt only looked bigger because he was smaller.