Quest: Become your mother’s toe jam
Reward: Make your mother happy

As the words flashed in front of Bill’s eyes, he felt his gut drop. A shadow came over him. He turned, craning his neck he saw his mother staring down at him, her lips pressed into a thin line, she brushed her black hair over her shoulder.

“Sorry Bill but this is just for the best.”

Without permission his eyes left her face and fell on her giant bare feet, her black polished nails seemed to catch the light before she lifted her foot and began to move it over his head. Bill turned to run but his eyes remained on her monolithic foot.

He’d barely made it a few inches. His heart was in his throat. Her foot was above him. He ran faster, forcing his eyes to look forward.

He was above, looking down. He watched as her foot touched the floor crushing the insect below it. His mother twisted her ankle for good measure and when she lifted it, all that was left was a small red splodge on the floor.

Bill’s eyes snapped open and he bolted upright, his body coated in sweat, his heart hammering in his chest. He looked around but his mother was nowhere in sight. He was alone in his bed. He was safe. He rubbed his eyes, wiping more than sleep from them. He hated that nightmare but at least this time he didn’t wake up as she stomped on him, he’d fallen out of his bed then and couldn’t stop the shaking.

The ground began to shake. Bill gripped the sheets of his bed, head whipping around to face the left side of his room. His heart somehow found a way to speed up even more.

“Bill are you awake?” the question was followed by the thunderous sound of his sister tapping on his bedroom wall, she waited a second before the wall was peeled away and Bill found himself looking out into what had used to be his room from the dollhouse, he now resided in.

Claire was Bill’s older sister, her blonde hair hung free framing her face, and she was wearing a pink shirt and matching yoga pants.

“Mom said…Bill, are you ok?” Claire asked, leaning forward, her face coming into shocking clarity as she came closer, her now vivid green eyes locked on him.

“Yeah…just a nightmare…” Bill shifted, sitting fully upright in an attempt to collect himself.

“Must have been a bad one, do you want to talk about it?” Claire pulled back and pulled out Bill’s old desk chair, resting her face in her hands as she sat down, giving Bill her full attention. He knew that it was a gesture to show he had her full attention but Bill couldn’t help but feel like he was some oddity like a bug in a jar. It didn’t help that Claire could be very…clinical.

Bill thought a moment.

“Not really…”

Claire’s warm smile fell into a disappointed frown.

“Okay but if you ever need an ear, mine is always free.”

“Thanks,” his tone wasn’t too enthusiastic but he hoped it would keep her from prying, he knew what she’d say anyway. Mom would never step on him. At least not bring him back afterwards.

“Anyway, mom said breakfast is ready,” Claire lifted her hand to the floor he was on.

“Err just a second,” Bill slid from his bed, his cheeks tinging with embarrassment as he crossed the room in his damp boxers to the tiny set of drawers that contained his clothes and retrieved a pair of thin pyjama bottoms and quickly pulled them on. His sister had seen him in his boxers plenty of times but he wanted to maintain at least some dignity. He made his way to his sister’s hand and stepped onto her palm.

Claire was careful when moving to stand upright and began to head to the kitchen, Bill wrapped an arm around her outstretched thumb to help his balance. Claire smiled when she felt his tiny arm cling to her.

His mother was standing at the counter with her back to them when they entered the kitchen, she was wearing her black robe, the scent of pancakes filling the air, there were three regular plates on the table, two already housing a stack of pancakes, and tiny wooden table with a matching chair on the empty side of the actual table.

Claire sat down and lowered her hand until it was level with the table allowing her brother to step onto it unhindered.

“Thanks,” Bill said before making his way to his designated chair, it actually meant a lot to him that Claire did things like that, she let him do things for himself. His mom would have put him down right next to his table, if she could there was no doubt in his mind, she’d put him on his chair and move him into position like a doll.

“Morning dears and how is my strong boy today?” Anna asked as she turned from the hob, pan in hand, and began to dish her pancakes onto her plate.

“He had-“

“I’m fine.” Bill cut her off, then again sometimes Claire worried too much.

Anna glanced between the two and began to cut a small piece off her pancake.

“You know Bill, you can tell me anything,” she deposited a rather crudely cut piece onto Bill’s tiny plate before setting about cutting another for him.

“I know, but really I’m fine.”

“Do I need to-“

“No…I just had a nightmare, that’s all, I’m fine.” Bill said quickly, a touch of panic filling his voice, the last thing he wanted was his mother casting a truth spell on him. He didn’t need to hear it again. That she only stepped on him to teach him the danger, so that he would always be careful.

Anna shot Claire a look, his sister gave a guilty nod confirming his story.

Before any more could be said the sound of hurried footsteps filled the air and Bill’s younger sister Tina burst into the room.

“Pancakes!” Tina cheered as she launched herself into the remaining chair and pulled herself forward, jostling the table and nearly causing Bill and his table to topple.

“Be careful dear.”

“Sorry Bill,” Tina said, already pouring syrup over her stack. Tina was an eleven-year-old girl who had inherited their mother’s black hair, where she got her energy from was anyone’s guess.

“So, mom…I take it you’ve got the day off?” Claire asked as she indicated at their mother’s choice of attire with her fork, eager to start a new topic, Ana smiled at her.

“Yes, so I was thinking I’d do some brewing today, we’re running low on healing potions,” Ana replied, placing one more misshapen pancake on Bill’s plate, “maybe you can be my little assistant, today sweetie.”

Bill felt dread start to creep in, it was going to be another day with his overbearing mother, it was days like this he really missed school.

“Maybe we can even get you to finally learn some skills,” that made Bill worry.

“Actually…I was wondering…if I could…go with Claire today?”

All eyes were on him now.

“I miss school.” Bill wished he had a drink now, his throat was starting to feel dry and he’d give anything for something to do with his hands other than fidget as three giantesses stared down at him.

Anna’s features softened and she let out a small calming breath. The effect was almost immediate, Bill felt the building tension in his limbs lessen and the hairs on the back of his neck lie back down.

“It’s too dangerous dear. If you two got separated…” she trailed off and Bill’s head fell, Anna hesitated a moment, “if you manage to learn and level some survival skills we can talk about it, that’s if Claire wants to take you.”

“I’ll look after him,” Claire said quickly, her mother smiled at her.

“Then it’s up to you Bill, are you going to put the work in?”

It wasn’t like he had a choice, once his mother got an idea in her head there was no way around it, he supposed he was lucky to have made it this long. It had been 4 years since he shrunk and apart from the…incident, his mother hadn’t forced any training on him, maybe she actually felt some level of guilt for stepping on him.

“I’ll do it.”

“Good boy,” Anna’s smile grew.

Bill didn’t meet her gaze and with a thought brought up his ‘Character Sheet,’ an illusion only he could see appeared in front of him, hovering in place.

Name: Bill Tenner
Age: 16
Profession: None
Level: 5
HP 54/54
SP 42/42
MP 20/20

Constitution: 27
Strength: 22
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 15
Charisma: 18
Wisdom: 20

Skills (None