After hearing the front door closing shut when Lennard's mother left the house, he knew it all depended on Milena if his belly was getting filled or not.

He could always choose to travel back to Julie's bedroom to wait for her arrival. But that would only be in a few hours or so. And Lennard was starving right now.

He was, however, hesitant in approaching his older sister. Milena wasn't particularly mean.

It was just that she saw Lennard as a nuisance, as a bother, as someone she rather saw leaving than coming. The worst thing that could happen was that she would act like he did not exist. There was really nothing to lose.

If Lennard's voyage would prove to be fruitless, it would still function as a way to pass the time. Lennard could think of no argument as to why he shouldn't do this, so he simply quenched the lump of hesitation smoldering in his head and headed towards Milena's room.

A bouncing rhythm blasted out of Milena's room when she turned the music on. Lennard drew near Milena's door, which stood ajar. He was about to peek around the corner when a jumbo-sized sneaker tumbled down from the sky, crashing dangerously close to him, nearly tramping him. Another one followed, and another.

"This way! I have to get something!" Miley shouted over her shoulder to her friends.

Blasted, Miley! He thought with frustration. As he sat down on his butt – toppled by the shockwaves – he gaped up while his kid sister dashed through the hallway, underway for her bedroom with two friends in tow.

These girls were so freakin fast for such gigantic beings.

Their sneakers clomped over the laminate floor, leaving bits of muddy sand behind. Every step created an earsplitting bang for poor Lennard, making him fear severe hearing damage when an unhealthy amount of decibel pierced his vulnerable eardrums.

"Ain't your mom home or something?" One of Miley's friends called out.

The girls looked like ragamuffins, wearing garments stained with black smudges and shoes that looked like they plowed through a slushy ditch in some war trench. Perhaps they actually had. It wouldn't surprise Lennard.

Miley and her friends were not exactly girls girls.

They'd like to play rough games in the forest, building huts in trees and jumping ditches and stuff. Lennard rocked his head in disbelief as his eyes took in the mess these rascals left in their wake. A vase fell over when one of Miley's friends collided with a small table standing in de hallway. It fell over, clattering on the floor, sprawling shards everywhere. Miley merely gestured her friend away, saying, 'leave it be.' This was nothing like his kid sister, pondered Lennard.

Mom is not going to like this. Lennard thought.

But Miley's worry about what their Mom thought about her behavior was becoming less and less. She grew bolder by the day. It seemed like Miley was putting the cart before the horse. She appeared so confident that their mother would shrink one of these days that she already acted like she had free reign in the house.

"Would you pipe down there, please!" Milena's voice snapped from her bedroom.

Although Lennard feared the prospect of seeing his mother – the last responsible person in the family – shrinking down, he was also looking forward to the power beef between Milena and Miley that would inevitably follow upon such an event.

Milena was tall and strongly built for a girl and at least four years older, but Miley's fierce temper – as little as she was – could not be neglected. Securing her position of power within the house – after their mother's size had been reduced – would be like traveling a long road with many bumps and gaps for Milena.

Lennard saw movement below him, which was already a rareness in itself, for his world mainly consisted of soaring giants above him since his shrinkage.

"Dad?" Lennard scratched his head. At his feet, Lennard saw a minute figure teeming about, the size of a crumb. He crouched down and recognized his Dad. The once-imposing man looked distressed and seemed to be searching for something as his head spun every which way.

Mom. He's looking for Mom. Lennard thought. He must have fallen off of her.

"Dad! Come here. Let me help you." His Dad flinched and took a few steps backward when Lennard reached his hand out to pick him up.

"Please, Dad. Don't be afr–"

SLAM!

Lennard tumbled backward on his butt when a monumental object crashed down from the sky. He gaped up and saw that it was a knee, the size of an air balloon to him, and it belonged to Harper, one of Miley's friends.

How did she sneak up so silently?

Harper was crouching, her face strained as she was busy tying her shoelaces. She was utterly unaware of Lennard and Lennard's Dad's presence at her feet.

Lennard gulped as he scrutinized her body. He was highly intimidated by her mountainous size. The ginger girl had cute freckles on her cheeks and a black smudge on her forehead. Her long, tousled hair draped along her ears like a falling curtain.

Dad! Lennard realized. He looked around, fearing to see his Dad smushed by Harper's knee. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that his Dad was still there. And unlike Lennard – whose fear compelled him to keep his distance from Harper – his Dad was approaching the godlike teen girl.

"Oh. My. God," Lennard said when he saw his Dad bowing down to Harper.

His Dad, once a stately figure in the neighborhood, was now worshipping a 12-year-old runt!

Lennard looked up and saw Harper's face churning into a puzzled look.

She spotted me! The girl spotted me!

Lennard's trained but still pitiful legs went for a run. But Harper's humongous hand was too fast. A triumphant chuckle escaped from the girl's lips before Lennard's world sank into total darkness.

Harper stood up to her full height and opened her hand. A two-inch tall Lennard scrambled back to his feet, frightened. He looked up at Harper's cinema-sized countenance looming above him, fearing her intention. He also feared for his Dad, who was most likely still bowing down at Harper's feet – and unknowing to her, worshipping her like a Goddess. One misstep would end his father's life.

"What are you doing?" Miley and her other friend came ambling up to Harper. Lennard's world tumbled back into darkness again when Harper closed her hand into a fist, entrapping Lennard. She shot her hand in a pocket of her dress when Miley approached her. Lennard was dropped amidst a bunch of other shrunken people squirming and groaning in Harper's dark pocket.

"Whatcha got there?" Lennard heard Miley's voice speaking while he was busy meandering his body among a few others with the aim of finding a comfortable position.

"Nothing," Harper said.

"Oh, on the contrary, girl," Milena's voice chimed in. "You have my little brother in there. Can I have him back, please?"

Lennard gave a yelp when two tree trunk fingers grabbed his left ankle to fish him out of Harper's pocket. He landed with a thud on Milena's hand. She gave him a brief glance before turning her attention to Miley and her posse.

"You're going to clean this mess up, I presume?" Milena said as her eyes scanned the mess in the hallway.

Miley made a sound that resembled the mixture of a snort and a chuckle..

"Do I need to tell, Mom?" Milena threatened.

Miley shrugged. "Go ahead. And you might as well tell her about your nightly outing last weekend," she said with an insidious look.

Milena's eyes darkened.

"Have a nice day, Sis!" Miley waved with a cheery smile. "And you too, little brother of mine" The joyous girl blew Lennard a kiss before dashing off – creating even more muddy footmarks with her clattering stomps. Her friends ran after her. It made Lennard think about his Dad again.

Milena sighed as she watched Miley leave before looking at Lennard.

"How did you end up in that girl's clutches anyway?" she asked.

"Dad! Its, Dad!" Lennard stood up and waved frantically as he ran over Milena's hand towards her billboard countenance.

Milena looked puzzled.

"On the floor! Place me on the floor! Quick! And do not move your feet!"

Even though Milena hated to be ordered around, especially by her pipsqueak of a brother, she obliged and crouched down. There was a panicked urgency in Lennard's voice she could not ignore. And besides, he would never be able to run away anyway.

Milena's index finger and thumb grabbed one of Lennard's ankles to hoist him upside down into the air.

"Why always the ankle!" Lennard's arms flailed before he was being plunged onto the floor. He quickly stood up and looked around. When he thought he could not spot his father, he saw a crumb-sized figure ambling up to Milena's soaring boots. Lennard ran up to the figure and recognized it.

"Dad! Everything alright?"

Lennard's Dad did not respond to the question. He only had eye for Milena's imposing figure, who stood up to her full height now, placing her hands on her hips while looking down. And there it was again. Lennard's father sank to his knees and started bowing down and uttering prayers for his teenage daughter.

All that matters to his father now is keeping Goddess Milena pleased, the rebellious brat he so harshly reprimanded on a daily basis just a few weeks ago.

Guess that his faith in Goddess Mom was not cemented yet. Lennard concluded.

He sighed, walked up, and grabbed his unwilling Dad and signaled Milena to pick them up.