"Shrinking Under Pressure"
by Sonicfan287
Chapter 10: The after effects
Zack felt exhausted after traversing the steps up to his dorm. He couldn't even perceive or understand what was going on. He may have passed a few people on the way up but he couldn't even remember. The only thing to his benefit was the fact that the people who stared back at him were most likely as out of it as he was.
"If that's even possible..." Zack groaned to himself as he re-entered his room.
In all of his excitement last night, he had forgotten to lock the door. He felt like such an idiot as he briefly scavenged the room to ensure everything was still there. Then again, he thought, it's not like there was much here to steal. He flopped onto his bed (having to climb up a bit, a result of his lessened stature) and sat up a bit so that he could see himself in the mirror. He could swear that he saw himself growing a bit when he looked at his confused image in the mirror.
"How is this happening?" Zack thought to himself,looking down at his own body and all around the room. He could feel himself slowly getting taller as he felt more and more tired. He stretched the covers over himself, hoping to somehow hide from the outside world. "This is fucking ridiculous..."
The next few hours seemed to go by in literally the blink of an eye. Within seconds, Zack could swear he was hearing the blare of his alarm clock. He woke up to his dismay and realized that was exactly what had been going on. He stood up and mumbled incoherently, turning off the accursed clock and focusing his attention on the mirror again. He appeared to be his regular height now. He leaned in close to the mirror and examined himself. He even backed up a bit to see as much of himself as he could. After a few seconds, he realized how absurd this was and went to his cell phone which sat on the dresser beside his bed.
Before he even opened it, he could tell from the screen that he had missed another call from his dad.
"Geez, dad..." Zack thought to himself, feeling a small amount of rage trickle through him. He didn't mean to be mad at his dad and was generally just mad at the situation. He hadn't even gotten drunk (well not very drunk) and felt like he had an irresponsible night and he may have been right, but wasn't he entitled. He contemplated not calling his dad right away,just to make him sweat a little but decided to go through with it. He paced around as the phone rang.
With only a moments' hesitation, his dad answered on the other end, sounding noticeably upset.
"Zack, geez... where were you last night?" his dad challenged.
Zack was somewhat taken aback by his swift question and shrugged it off.
"What do you mean?" Zack asked, feeling an anxiety grip him again. He had been somewhat familiar with panic before but these attacks were more severe than anything he'd ever had. Maybe the alcohol had effected him more than he realized.
"I tried calling you 5 times last night..." his father, Frank said in a concerned tone.
"Only 5?" Zack sighed, knowing that it had actually been at least 7 or 8.
"Zack, I'm serious" his dad said, "I really need you right now... this company needs you and the Fall Festival needs you. After that, maybe you can take a few months off. I realize I've been kind of harsh lately and I just think you should focus on your schoolwork. But right now, this project needs to be a part of your life"
"Oh yeah, dad, of course!" Zack blurted out, feeling the panic burn off of him as he spoke "My life is just schoolwork, your projects and whatever else it needs to be, huh?"
Zack instantly gulped as soon as he finished his sentence. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"Zack, I'm sorry" Frank said, "I didn't mean it like that... I've just been kinda wound up lately..."
Zack had his own problems on his hands. As he clutched the phone in immobile helplessness, he was faced with a thick wall that stood taller than him. It was his bathroom dresser and he had shrunk easily half of his height away in that last rant against his father. He felt the sweat set in as his dad continued talking.
"Zack, you still there?" Frank asked.
"Um... yeah, I'm here..." Zack said, feeling the nerves tense up. His mind was telling his body to move but other than his hands which tensed up around the phone, his arms and legs remained still. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "...I um... I am onboard for the project but..."
"But what?" his dad asked.
"Well um... actually, I was wondering if I could maybe... work from home today?" Zack asked nervously, watching the dresser slowly sink under him again. He was growing, but it was happening very slowly.
"Work from home?" Frank asked. "Zack, we don't work that way, you know that... all of the source files exist on the home computer. We're not just some kind of intranet where I can..."
"I...I know, but I just think it'd be best if I stayed in today..." Zack stuttered, watching his height plateau at about 4 foot 5. "...I'll still work on the graphic, I promise but..."
His dad let out a great sigh.
"What?" Zack asked.
"I tried to tell you last night but the town council wants an appointment with me... with us... today" Frank replied.
"What?! You kidding me?" Zack said, startled. He closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. Why was this effecting him so much? Maybe because he knew what was going to happen next.
"No, Zack and frankly, I wish you'd take my calls more seriously or even pick up your damn phone!" Frank erupted. "I left you several voicemails last night telling you about this. It just came up a couple days ago but I guess you couldn't be bothered to answer. I've been scrambling at the last minute trying to make updates on your design and trying to get enough things together for this meeting but apparently it's all about you and your work load, huh?"
"Ok ok... dad... please ... stop" Zack said, holding back his crying with every fiber of his being. It was already no use. He had shrunk down to 6 inches high now and stood unbelievably puny in the face of his dresser. He looked up at the unfathomable height, his heart beat never slowing down.
"I'm just fed up, Zack" Frank said, "you know I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't a big deal. I'm sure you have classwork to do too but this won't take long, I promise. I just need you to meet me down here now. We can work on the designs and maybe grab some lunch, just talk, y'know? I'm still your dad and I care about you"
Zack sighed.
"Yeah... yeah, I know dad..." Zack said, a single tear trickling from his eye as he sat in front of his now massive cell phone. "I gotta go... I'll be there as soon as I can"
"Okay, goodbye, son" Frank said, still sounding upset.
Zack sighed and laid his entire weight on the "call end" button. He finally burst out crying, feeling his muscles relax a little. He rolled off of his cell phone and onto the floor. It had been so long since he actually cried, it was almost relieving to let it all out. The pain over losing Ashley and then seeing her again -- picturing her with some other guy at that fucked up party. All of his nerves over Caroline and her coming onto him and now this shit.
He clenched his fists and laid and cried for several minutes. At some points, it felt like the tears would never stop. He finally allowed himself to lay in complete silence, his eyes closed tightly. He felt something bump up against him and open his eyes quickly. His feet had run into his dresser and he scooted back to notice he had already grown larger. He stood up again and noticed his head now cleared his dresser.
"The fuck is going on...?" Zack whispered, before it finally clicked. "I think I understand..."
Elsewhere, somebody else's morning was getting off to a better start. Ashley Tremorton was intently doing her hair and getting ready to see Jake. He had planned to take her to Mansfield Hollow, a local park to go apple picking. They had a wonderful apple orchid that she had always heard about but she had never been. She hummed happily to herself as she sprayed ona tiny amount of perfume and headed for the door. As she opened the door, somebody else came stumbling in. It was Caroline and she looked completely hung over.
"You okay?" Ashley asked, looking at her debilitated roommate.
"Ah yeah, yeah" Caroline clumsily nodded, "I'm fine... I uh... yeah..."
"Alrighty then, I'll see you later..." Ashley said, almost laughing as she left the room. Caroline proceeded to collapse in a corner of the room. Ashley shut the door and walked away,leaving Caroline to her own devices.
Caroline chuckled to herself and made sure the coast was clear before pulling open her dresser drawer. Inside, under neath some zip lock bags and underwear was a woven cell phone pouch. Her sleek iPhone laid in her pocket so she of course didn't need this old fashioned cell phone case. She instead pulled the cell phone case from the mess, watching in delight as it wiggled in her hand.
"You're excited today, aren't you?" Caroline chuckled, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Well you should be..."
The tiny voice didn't even respond, but the kicking continued. Caroline opened the cell phone case, revealing the tiny man inside. The man stumbled into her hand in fear.
"I wasn't able to find you a little friend, dear, hope you don't mind..." Caroline said with a mocking smile. "But don't worry, we'll still have plenty of fun together..."
The tiny man started screaming but Caroline was able to easily muffle him, chuckling to herself as he struggled.
Giantess World
