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Bad day for Shopping
By Branford

Steve walked through the discount store, his eyes eagerly
searching for a bench to sit down on. From behind him,
someone tugged his shoulder. Steve turned.

"Just wait, all right? I'll only be a few minutes" It was
Sandra, his girl of seven months.

"Stay with me, c'mon I need help picking out shoes"

Steve turned to the bench, then back to Sandra.

"Listen, I'm beat. I'll be right over there. Hold them up
when you find them and I'll be able to see it from over
there, okay?"

Sandra's look of anticipation turned sour.

"Fine, I'll shop by myself. Don't bother waiting at all.
I'll be fine"

Sandra turned and started in the opposite direction, leaving
a slightly puzzled Steve standing at the store entrance.
After a moment she disappeared into the crowd. Steve sighed
and began towards a distant bench, which at the moment was
empty. He quickened his pace.

A girl dressed in black sat down in the bench before Steve
could make it. He sighed again, hoping to have had the bench
to himself.

Steve sat down beside the girl. She was no more than 22
years old. Steve found it strange that she would be wearing
black (and so much of it) on a summer day like this one.
After a moment the girl stood and looked at Steve. Steve
looked at her expectantly. Did he know her? He didn't think
so.

"Sorry, she said. I thought I knew you"

Steve leaned forward, his elbows sliding onto his knees.

"Don't think so"

The girl looked around the mall for a moment.

"A lot of big people around, huh?"

Steve stared at the girl. What was she talking about?

"Sorry?"

"A lot of big people. Look at them, so many of them are
overweight, don't you think?"

"I suppose", Steve said.

"Too much fast food"

Steve nodded, trying to be polite. The girl was attractive,
yes, but Sandra could barrel through the racks of clothing
at any moment. That wouldn't be good.

"Well...bye", she said.

The girl strolled away. Steve watched her, completely
confused at what had just happened.

He leaned back and mulled her over in his head, all the
while aware that he had at least twenty minutes until Sandra
would be finished.

"My ass is going to be mush from sittin' here", he muttered
to no one in particular.

Steve looked around at the various shops; shoppers of one
kind of another populated almost all of them.

His eyes stopped outside the entrance of a bookstore when he
saw that the girl in black hadn't truly left, but watching
him from a distance. Steve turned behind himself, convinced
that she was looking beyond him to someone else entirely.

The girl continued to watch him, her expression remaining
neutral - no smile, no frown, just - staring straight ahead
like she was watching paint dry.

"Steve!"

Steve turned. It was Sandra's voice. From beyond the racks
of clothing, he saw her head protrude then her arms raise
into the air, holding a pair of leather sandals. She looked
at him expectantly.

Steve nodded, barely noticing the shoes, mouthing the words
"they're great!"

Sandra's head quickly disappeared once again. Steve
immediately turned back towards the young girl, but she had
vanished.

So had all the people as a matter of fact.

* * *

Why was he on the floor? Steve picked himself up, hoping
that no one had seen him fall. He didn't remember falling,
that was the thing. Did I just faint, he wondered. Once on
his feet, Steve immediately began to wobble. His knees
buckled and he fell down a second time.

Shortly after, he vomited.

He remained on all fours for a moment or two, breathing
deeply all the while trying to consider what was happening
to him. There was an undeniable wind that seemed to have
picked up and seemed to originate from different directions.
Steve looked upwards and immediately felt nauseous again.

His spell of sickness could only mask his confusion at what
he had seen. The bench from where he had fallen had risen
into the air and now towered above him.

Loud thumping sounds clapped on the floor, reverberating the
ground beneath him - actually shaking it. This finally, was
enough to get Steve onto his feet. With his shirt stained
with vomit, he slid in one direction then the other, trying
desperately to get his bearings.

Then - Sandra's voice.

"Steven?"

The sound grew closer. Steve shrank backwards, assaulted by
the new dimension of sound, air and space. Another breeze of
air blew towards him as he staggered to take in all before
him.

The realization hadn't donned on him of course. He had
looked up at the sound of the noise...he just hadn't looked
high enough.

Huge, sandal-wearing feet were approaching where he stood.

Sandra's voice called out a second time, this time with a
noticeable lack of patience.

"Steven!"

Steve fell on his ass and slid backwards to avoid her right
foot that landed solidly on the ground and then proceeded to
slide forwards toward him, positioning him within several
meters (or centimeters, depending on perspective) of her
gargantuan toes. He saw things from his new perspective and
noticed them to be completely different than how he
remembered. This couldn't be Sandra. Her feet and legs had
been smooth and free of blemish, whereas the giant
abomination that presently eclipsed his sight from all else,
had dried, coarse skin, nothing like how he remembered
Sandra.

Steve froze and craned his neck upwards. Sandra stood before
him, more than seventy or eighty feet high by the looks of
it. Her huge shopping bag dangled from her fingers, swaying
one direction then the other. Her feet spread apart in
distance as she assumed a moderately less patient pose,
folding her long arms across her chest, the shopping bag
disappearing high into the air.It was then that Steve saw
her. It was the girl from earlier. She was motioning towards
Steve from nearby. She was reaching towards him with an open
hand; a shopping bag rested in her other.

Her expression wasn't like the first time he had seen her.
That blank expression was now full of life. Her eyes were
wide open and betrayed an element of excitement as she drew
closer to him.

"Steve, I'm not waiting for ever", Sandra's voice boomed
from above.

Steve found himself drawing closer to the one thing he knew,
even if it was presently out of reach. He grasped the edge
of Sandra's sandal and tried his best to maintain a grip.

As the young girl's enormous shadow loomed closer, Steve
hugged Sandra's foot even tighter.

It was then that she began to move, to shift her weight. At
first the giant foot dragged him along with it, sliding his
body belly down across the floor. He couldn't hold on for
long though and it wasn't more than a second or two that he
lost his grip and lay prone on the tiled, cold floor.
Sandra's left foot soon followed. It lifted above the
diminutive Steve, but he lay still, confident that the foot
would land beside him.

Steve misjudged.

Sandra's foot came down over him, and as it did, in the
microseconds that he had left to live, he wondered what it
was that had happened and whether he was the first. Sandra's
foot sank on top of Steve, pulverizing his body, as she
moved away from the bench in a huff, checking her watch as
she walked away, stride after giant stride.

The giant girl stared downwards at the small bloody pulp,
her once alive eyes now vacant and lifeless in appearance.

* * *

Across from the bench and down at the rim of a mall garbage
container stood nine equally small people. They had watched
what had happened to the small, unfortunate man and inside
each of them, felt an enormous amount of pity and fear.

As each of them pondered their next move in this world of
giants, no one seemed to muster the courage to ask the
inevitable: would they be next?

We see shoppers, dozens of them at every moment, crossing
through the mall, stopping to talk, pausing to tie their
shoes, laughing, eating while they saunter here and there,
examining the goods they have purchased.

Closer...

We see the floor of the mall. From afar it looks clean,
shiny and well managed. From this perspective however, we
see the remnants of an overly hurried public; the occasional
French fry, the extinguished cigarette and the discarded
empty pack of matches that didn't quite make it to the
garbage can.

Closer still...

A group of people huddle close to one another. Some of them
are shaking. Others remain still, staring downward at the
oversized checker board pattern of the floor. This group is
much smaller than the shoppers who lurk overhead, much
smaller than much of the garbage casually tossed aside. The
entire group of them as a matter of fact, could be stored in
a shoebox if it really came down to it...

One of them, a red-haired man, yells to the group, flailing
his arms about dramatically.

"He sure as hell was. He was standing pretty well right
beside mefive minutes ago"

Another man, still staring downward, raises his voice to be
heard.

"I saw him shuffle off"

The red head man looks exasperated.

"Shuffle off? How did he do that? Where was he going?"

"I'm not sure, but h-he started to wander, I assumed that he
knew what he was doing"

The red-haired man moves towards him and grabs his
shoulders.

"Listen to me what ever your name is. No one leaves this
spot. As soon as you do, you're opening yourself up to get
caught or hurt. Just stay here and together - we'll figure
things out"

A woman spoke out, like the previous man, not daring to look
up from the floor.

"So does that mean he's gone, just like that? What happened
to him?"

No one answers her.

* * *

Russell (the man in question) knew he shouldn't have
wandered.

It seemed like only a few feet at the time. What he quickly
realized, was that other than the sound (that seemed to come
from every direction), that you couldn't tell when one of
the giants was upon you. It all happened too fast.

Now it was too late.

He had sensed a presence standing over him and in what
seemed a microsecond later, he was pinched between two
impossibly huge fingers and was being hoisted high into the
air. Things got dizzy for him as he was pulled into the
empty space above him, so much so that his eyes felt like
they were going to roll completely back into his skull.
After the movement slowed, he focused his eyes on something
that sent shudders down his spine.

* * *

"Where did you get loose from?" the young lady asked,
smiling in astonishment. "From the pet store?"

The man lay face up in her open palm, trying (she imagined)
to focus on who she was. After a long moment of stillness,
with him just lying there, staring at the giant girl, he
began to panic, frantically squirming, almost as if it had
just dawned on him what was happening.

The girl's fingers instinctively closed around the man and
she found herself laughing at how easily she could imprison
him, preventing any hope of escape.

"Oh c'mon, you don't really want to go, do you?"

He continued to struggle, banging and slamming his arms into
her fingers. This time she laughed harder before quickly
looking around, hoping that no one had seen or noticed. That
was just it, no one had. Everyone was too absorbed in their
own little world to care about what she was doing or what
she was laughing about.

Traci, a nineteen-year-old employee of the mall, dangled the
man from her hand, staring at him incredulously. She had
seen a lot in her brief lifetime, but nothing like this. It
never for a moment occurred to her that this was in fact,
one of the first times anything like this had ever happened.
She set the man onto the lap of her jeans, where he landed
flat on his stomach, trying to hold on to her gargantuan
leg.

Traci leaned forward, speaking to the man in a voice
typically reserved for a two-year old baby. She grinned
maniacally.

"Are you going to come and keep me company at work today?"

Traci stood, causing the man to slide forward into her huge
soft, fleshy hand. After a moment, she made her way back
into the store.

What would she do with him? She didn't really like anyone
else in the store

enough to share him. Would he stay put or try to escape. He
seemed so helpless.

* * *

As Traci walked into the store, she was watched carefully by
the girl in black.

* * *

Traci walked into the store and greeted Tina, another
employee, who looked at her curiously.

"Whatcha' got there?"

Traci walked back behind the till and put her belongings on
a shelf underneath.

"Nothing. Don't touch my stuff, okay?"

Russell stood on a shelf underneath the cash register that
faced away from the customers in the store. After he had
first been set there and had been allowed to catch his
breath, he marveled at the open space and at the thought of
an escape. What he soon realized, was that although he could
see many openings, that few of them, if any, were feasible
to employ without getting hurt from the deep drop to the
floor.

The giant girl's purse was beside him, along with numerous
other items from the staff at the store; nail polish, staple
gun, paper clips etc. After investigating as thoroughly as
he could (given his small state), he stood at the ledge and
once again peered downwards.

Traci's huge pelvis would move to stand behind the register
now and again, eclipsing his view as she rang in a sale. Her
size was beyond his comprehension. Even if he did make the
drop downward, he could be crushed by her monstrous shoes
without her even noticing.

All he could do was wait for what his captor had next in
mind.

* * *

Julie ripped at her business suit and continued to try
freeing herself from her current predicament.

It had been over two hours now since she had been discovered
by the young couple, both of who were merciless In their
torment, destroying several others before leaving her where
she now found herself - stuck on the floor within a huge
sticky glob of pink gum. The teenage boy was interested at
first, but soon found the girls' torture boring. The girl
however, was clearly excited by their torment and vowed to
return, delighted that she could so easily imprison someone
with a piece of bubble gum. Julie doubted very much whether
either of them knew what they were doing.

* * *

Lindsey pulled Chuck up the isle of the movie theatre.

"Let's go, it's over"

Chuck followed behind her, prying from her grasp.

"I gotta go, you know? I told you"

Lindsey turned.

"No you don't. You have to help me look for more of them!"

Chuck smiled.

"You're a mean girl, you know that? What did those stupid
little things ever do to you?"

Lindsey grinned back at him.

"I'm not mean, they're probably not even real. I'm just
having a bit of fun, c'mon!"

Chuck stopped all together.

"Seriously, I gotta go. You have fun. I'll call you later,
all right?"

Chuck walked back down the isle and exited via the door next
to the screen.

Lindsey didn't even wait until he had gone before turning
and hurriedly walking out the opposite direction, a devilish
grin on her face.

* * *

Julie had given up. Both of her arms felt like rubber from
her exertion. No longer could she pull at freeing herself.
She sat, defeated, leaning towards the blob, not noticing
that as her hair made contact that it too became snarled in
the gums sticky hold. Julie struggled not to panic, knowing
that doing so would encase her even deeper than before.

After a brief moment, her peripheral noticed something
moving closer-something large. Julie turned her shoulder
into the soft gum, struggling to see what it was that might
have discovered her. Perhaps someone that would take
sympathy with her plight.

A shudder of horror ran up and down her spine when she saw
the giant Lindsey walking towards her. For a moment, she
forgot her current situation and once again began to
struggle to no avail. Lindsey grew closer and then squatted
down next to her, positioning Julie between her huge leather
shoes. Julie struggled to look up at the giant girl and it
was at this moment when it occurred to her that she had
never seen someone look so happy.

* * *

It had been more than an hour since Traci had checked up on
her tiny friend. Knowing that he was there waiting her
return had made her boring shift all the more pleasant.

"I'm going on my break", she shouted to another employee,
see you in twenty".

Traci bent down behind the register and grabbed her purse,
careful that none of the other employees were watching.
After not seeing the man where she had left him, she began
to panic; pulling things out from the shelf and letting them
fall onto the floor.

"Hey, some of that's my stuff"

Barb, another employee walked up beside Traci, then bent
down next to her.

"Whadda you looking for?"

Traci stood up and headed back out into the store.

"Nothing, never mind"

She stopped for a moment and thought. How far could he have
gotten?

A hand fell on her shoulder.

"Miss? I'm going to need your help finding this in blue"

Traci turned around, miffed that she was being interrupted
while on her break.

"Yeah, I can help you, what did you say that -"

Traci saw the man on the floor. He was out in the open and
wasn't too far from the feet of the customer.

"I mean-how do those fit?"

The woman looked down at the pants she was wearing; not
noticing the pint sized man who scurried behind the heel of
her panty-hosed foot.

"Oh, they fit fine, I'd just like to see them in blue - or
maybe green?"

Traci knelt at the feet of the woman and tugged gently at
the fabric.

"You know, I think these are too loose"

The woman stared down at her.

"You think so?"

Traci spied the diminutive Russell behind the woman's
massive foot, then looked up into her eyes, lowering her
voice.

"Yeah, I do. You've got a great body, you should wear
something tighter"

The woman smiled down at her.

"Okay, I'll trust you. Do you have any other colors though?"

Traci nodded, still on the floor.

The woman turned her head towards the change room and began
to spin her shoulders away from Traci.

Traci grabbed at the small man, but missed.

"Can you bring a smaller pair over to the change room? I'll
undress and wait for you"

The woman's left foot knocked Russell forward, breaking most
of his ribs, sending him rolling ahead on the rough carpet.
Russell came to a stop, but only long enough to inhale as
the woman's panty-hosed foot descended towards him. In a
moment it was over. The woman crushed his body flat and
proceeded onwards towards the change room. Once she reached
it, she turned and looked back to Traci who was still on her
knees a distance away.

"Can you get me the pants now, I'm kind of in a hurry"

The woman opened the change room and stepped inside, unaware
of the pulp still partially stuck to the bottom of her foot.

Eleanor couldn't make up her mind either way. Square on, the
pants looked fine, but if she turned around; her ass didn't
look as good as she thought it should. She sighed loudly and
put her hands to her hips.

From outside of the change room, a voice called to her.

"How do they fit?"

Eleanor craned her neck over the rim of the change room. It
wasn't the girl from before, but help from anywhere was what
she needed right now.

"They're all right, I suppose," she said opening the door
and turning around, "do you think they should come in at the
butt?"

The attendant nodded.

"We could do that here and still have them ready for you
tomorrow"

Eleanor nodded. "That'll be fine"

The attendant approached her and whispered.

"Ma'am, while you were in there, did you hear anything from
the stall next to yours?"

Eleanor wrinkled up her face.

"No, should I have? Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothing really, it's just that she's been in there over
twenty minutes now and she's got the door locked from the
inside"

Eleanor turned. This wasn't her problem.

"That's your department, I'm afraid. What time tomorrow for
the pants?"

The sales attendant looked at the wealthy lady solemnly.

"Anytime after eleven"

Eleanor shut the door to the change room and sighed a second
time, exasperated. Once her ex-husband's divorce settlement
came in, she could afford tailors to come to her house and
avoid the malls all together. For now, she'd have to settle
for her $400,000 a year.

Eleanor stepped out of the pants and promptly noticed
something small wiggling around in the stall next to hers.
Never one to be afraid of mice or bugs, she lowered her head
to get a better view.

What she saw took breath away.

An impossibly small, sobbing woman was crouched against the
back wall of the changing room. After she stared for a
moment, Eleanor's first reaction was to stand and
immediately look around, as if this was a joke being played
on her and her alone. Seeing nothing, she stooped a second
time and stared, wide mouthed at the diminutive woman.

"Wh-what happened to you?"

The woman was so petrified that she didn't see Eleanor at
first, but instead looked upwards for the sound of her
voice. Eventually she looked over to see Eleanor's huge face
peering beneath the stall at her, hungry with curiosity.

"How did you - how did this happen?"

The woman started inching herself away from Eleanor's
enormous face. Eleanor continued to watch her, her face now
looking concerned.

"Can I help you in anyway?"

A voice was heard from overhead. It was one of the sales
girls.

"Ma'am, you're going to have to come out, I'm afraid. There
are other customers waiting to use this room"

Eleanor looked up at the shrunken woman's stall and saw that
the door was being jostled lightly.

Eleanor turned back to the shrunken woman, watching for her
reaction. There wasn't one really. She was completely
confused at what was happening.

Just then a calm came over Eleanor's face as if she just
thought of an idea. She didn't move or blink for about ten
seconds.

Then-she slowly opened her free hand and reached under the
stall. The small woman screamed a tiny scream but was
quickly overtaken by Eleanor's size and quickly enclosed
within her giant hand.

"I'm going to take you somewhere else"

* * *

A small group had gathered next to an overhead water
fountain. Because of their size, many of them were beginning
to lose their fear of being spotted. After all, they were so
small that you'd have to be looking for them to actually
notice anything.

An angry man was shouting to his three counterparts and
gesturing towards the movie theatre.

"I'm positive it was her. She was the last thing I remember
seeing when this happened to me "She was tall. She was
wearing a black skirt"

Others nodded in agreement. The group stood still for a
moment until the man decided to raise his voice again.

"We should find her", another chimed in.

The angry man who had been shouting, pointed into the
distance.

"See where that one is," he hyped, pointing to one of the
giant figures who stood relatively nearby, "she was sitting
at one of the tables over there!"

Another man stepped forward, still looking at the giant
closest to them. He was about to add his two-cents but then
stopped in his tracks, pointing his finger into the
distance.

"Wait a second. That girl, that girl --- I think she found
one of us -"

The girl in question looked to be in her late teens. She was
bending down and tugging at something on the floor.

The entire group was frozen in fear. None of them wanted to
watch, but they couldn't take their eyes from it either.

Eventually the giant girl in question raised her hands to
her face and grinned.

"It's not one of us, it's a piece of gum! She stopped to
pick up a piece of gum she dropped"

A sigh of relief moved through the group, none of them
stopping to ask themselves why a girl would stop to pick up
a piece of gum.

* * *

Julie was in the agonizing position of having elastic pieces
of sticky chewing gum roughly pulled off her body while
lying in the open hands of a ninety-foot teenager.

Lindsey stared down at the tiny one in her hands and grinned
wickedly at her. So many thoughts were running through her
head. It was three o'clock now, which meant somewhere
between nine and ten hours to play with this pathetic bug
before killing and going to bed.

"Lindsey!"

Lindsey dropped her hands and donned a guilty expression on
her face.

It was Marcus, a friend from school.

"What's goin' on?"

Lindsey sat on the bench but continued to hold Julie in her
hand.

"Nothin', you?"

Marcus flopped himself down beside her. Lindsey sighed
heavily, wanting him to go away.

"Ditto"

He looked over at her.

"Whaddya go there?"

"Nothing"

He leaned forward and touched her knee.

"Lemme see, please?"

Lindsey unconsciously lowered her hand by her side and
allowed the tiny Julie to fall to the floor.

"Please?" he said again.

Lindsey thrust her open, empty hand in Marcus' face.

"See! Nothing! Satisfied?"

Lindsey folded her arms, angry that Marcus, who still had
his hand on her leg, wouldn't take the hint.

"So, wanna do somethin' tonight?"

"No actually, please leave so that I can -"

Lindsey casually looked to the floor where the tiny woman
should have landed, but found nothing.

* * *

Eleanor stepped inside the house and deactivated the
security system. It was almost three o'clock. She should be
home by now.

"Alex?"

No answer.

Eleanor walked through the room and gently took off her
jacket before laying it carefully on the table.

After taking off her shoes, she picked up the jacket again
and slowly inserted her hand inside one of the pockets.

"I'm home, come down, okay?"

Eleanor twisted her face as she slowly withdrew her hand
from her pocket, her fingers carefully supporting the small
woman. Eleanor looked at her closely, inspecting her, almost
as if she still didn't believe what she had found.

"Are you home?"

Her loud voice startled the figure in her hands. Eleanor
turned and walked through a section of the enormous house.

Her daughter evidently wasn't yet home.

While she proceeded further through the ever-continuing
house, an idea came to her.

Eleanor smiled to herself and for a moment forgot about the
prisoner in her hand.

Her idea involved a box...

wrapping paper...

scotch tape...

...and a ribbon of some sort.

* * *

Bill was wondering about a few things. Sure he was scared.
Sure he hadn't eaten anything even remotely nutritious in
over ten hours, sure he was weak as a termite, but still,
were his eyes deceiving him?

When it first happened, it was an hour before he saw anyone
else like him. After that, another hour went by before
spotting someone else. Together with the husband and wife
that he was currently traveling with, it had been a rare
moment that they spotted anyone else their own size.

Yet, as the mall traffic began to die down, signaling the
end of another day, he couldn't help noticing that he was
seeing more and more of his own kind every few minutes.
Judging by the fear in their eyes (he didn't always stop to
chat - it was, after all, every man for himself), he'd guess
that some of them had just been shrunk and were still in the
"I can't believe this has happened" stage.

Could it be happening more often?

"What do you two think?"

The couple turned to Bill, who stared at a young man in the
middle of the mall, frantically running one way and the
other, trying to avoid getting squashed by the constantly
moving public.

"I agree", the woman said. Since 3:15, I've seen more than
the last two hours alone.

Her husband nodded agreeably. "She's right. Not too many
smart ones either".

Across from the threesome, and some three hundred yards
away, the young man they had been watching was run over by a
shopping cart. His body twitched for a while and then was
still.

The woman turned away, noticeably disturbed.

Bill turned away as well. Having seen it happen over and
over again, didn't make it any easier to watch.

"So what should we do?"

The married couple lowered their heads, the woman speaking
first.

"Hell if I know. The mall has gotta be closing soon, right?"

Bill nodded at the woman, then looked up into the air, where
a looming giant stood, unaware of their presence.

"I can't always even tell if they're man or woman, they're
so - big, you know?"

The couple nodded their heads and backed away to the safety
and shelter of the overhead bench.

* * *

Eleanor sat in the living room; her feet propped up on the
coffee table. In front of her feet and resting on a laced
doily, was a small gift box that was both impeccably wrapped
as well as being color coordinated with the rest of the
room.

Eleanor sighed and glanced at her watch.

"Stupid girl, she said, nudging the present with her foot,
doesn't deserve a present at all"

Eleanor rose to her feet and proceeded to another area of
the house, pouring herself a drink, then turning to head
back from where she came.

In the background, she heard the alarm system being turned
off and the closing of the front door.

"Alexandra?"

There was no answer. Eleanor sipped her scotch and cleared
her throat.

"Are you home or not?"

From behind her, came the voice of her daughter.

"Looking for me?"

Eleanor jumped at her voice and spun on her feet. Alex, a
tall girl, even for a nineteen-year-old, stood at the
archway to the living room. A girlfriend stood beside her.

"Don't sneak up on me like that?"

The girls moved into the room. Eleanor stood in front of the
present for a moment, not wanting her daughter to see it at
first.

"No friends today, okay honey? Let's just the two of us for
dinner, kay?"

Neither of the girls spoke, but looked to one another,
before starting to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing Mother. Sandra wasn't here for dinner, just to pick
up a tank top, don't be so anal, kay?"

The two girls left the room. Eleanor turned around to see
her daughter.

"When you're done with your friend, come in here, I want to
show you something! Alex? Did you hear what I said?"

Nothing.

* * *

This wasn't happening. This is some drug, some joke. This
definitely wasn't happening.

Seventeen year old Lindsey Welsh stood by the corner of the
wall sobbing to herself. She was afraid to lift her head
from what she had seen earlier.

It had to be a joke. It was almost poetic.

Cruel Lindsey who, only ten minutes ago, had squashed two
shrunken people she had found, and an hour earlier
imprisoned a woman in a piece of her own chewing gum, now
found herself roughly the same size as those who had met
their death under her enormous leather shoe.

What was worse-someone was calling her.

Someone was calling her name from what seemed a great
distance away. Given the events of the last day, the things
she had seen - THE THINGS SHE HAD DONE, she wasn't sure that
she even wanted to look!

Slowly, gradually she did, raising her face just an inch and
peering in the direction of the voice from between her
fingers.

It was a group of what looked about five people. They were
beckoning her. Lindsey continued to sob, but surprised
herself by getting up to her feet.

It was hard to make out the words they were yelling. She
could only pick out the odd phrases "be careful!, watch
yourself" etc.

Lindsey judged their distance to be about a quarter the
distance of a football field away from her. She could make
it over there if she wanted, but what if they recognized
her? What then?

She would have to chance it. Lindsey, unlike others, who had
found themselves at a greatly reduced size and mass, knew
immediately what had happened to her. There was no
confusion. After all, she had become what she had tormented
only minutes earlier.

Lindsey looked to her left and right, much like crossing a
busy street way, then headed towards the group.

* * *

"Okay, what's the big deal, huh?"

Alex had walked into the room and plopped herself onto one
of the leather couches, stretching her long legs over the
edge and searching for the remote control.

"Come here please"

Alex didn't move.

"Susan, please tell my daughter to come to the table"

A shorter woman (obviously hired help), looked up from her
dusting and quietly said, "Honey, you're Mom wants you over
at the dinner table"

Alexandra looked up at Susan.

"Okay, but only cause you asked me, not cause she asked me"

Alex got up and approached the kitchen table, which had been
laid out quite nicely with an assortment of cheeses and
crackers.

Alex regarded the present, a grin appearing on her face.

"Well, I know after last night that there's no way that's
for me, is there?"

Eleanor turned to Susan, the cleaning lady.

"Susan, please excuse us for a moment"

Susan left the room.

Eleanor was unable to suppress her grin. She would (and
always had) done anything for her only daughter.

"I don't know, maybe it is for you. Do you think you deserve
a present?"

Alex looked at her. "Mom, I deserve the world on a plate and
then some"

Eleanor took a small slab of cheese and put it in her mouth.

"Go ahead, sweety. I can't stay mad at you, you know that"

Alex grabbed the box roughly, grinning, "I know you can't,
how could you? Look at this face, right?"

Eleanor took a sip of wine.

"Exactly, you're my weakness"

Alex tore into the paper, not knowing of the fragile cargo
contained within.

Eleanor watched expectantly. She loved giving people
presents, especially her daughter. When she had gotten past
the paper, she looked at her Mom and shook the box.

"Careful, honey. I think it might be fragile"

Alex wrinkled up her face.

"Why, what do you mean? Is it alive?"

Her Mother continued to grin, but said nothing.

She tore open the lid of the box, being no more careful than
moments earlier.

The exchange of looks between the giant girl and the
miniscule woman was like a moment frozen in time. Alexandra
continued to stare, as if she were trying to convince
herself that she was real.

"I-I don't understand", she said, without looking up to her
Mom.

"What's to understand? She's yours"

Alex continued to stare into the box, "Mine?"

She set the box down then gently tipped it over, trying to
jostle the woman free from the tissue paper and ribbons.
Eventually the woman tumbled out. Alex was visibly upset
that she may have hurt the tiny woman.

"Mine?" she said again.

"All yours. Do whatever you want with her. I couldn't care
less"

Eleanor got up and kissed her daughter on the head.

Alex prodded the woman gently with her finger. The woman
grabbed hold, as if to stop it from prodding her.

Alex laughed and looked to her Mom for the first time.

"Thanks Mom, it's-it's - I don't know what to say"

"You don't have to say anything. You deserve it"

Eleanor leaned in over the woman, who was cowering next to
Alex's huge finger.

"Be good to my daughter you little squirt," she said
laughing, "otherwise she might squash you"

The two girls laughed at the thought.

* * *

"Wait a second, what are you people doing?" Lindsey asked
the group she had recently joined. All in all, there were
seven of them, including herself. Lindsey was still
adjusting to being somewhat smaller than usual, but hadn't
forgot how to be a sassy teenager.

Another woman turned to her as three of the men rushed into
the center of the tiled floor between their hiding place and
the now closed entranceway to the store.

"What does it look like we're doing? We're surviving"

The woman turned to join the men, running to catch up to
them.

Lindsey stared in disgust at what she saw - they were
pulling the discarded remnants of an ice cream cone
underneath the bench before the cleaning staff swept it up.

"You people make me sick. Tell me you're not going to eat
that - Tell me!"

Another man turned to her.

"You may find yourself eating things you'd never thought you
would in a few days, trust me"

Lindsey rolled her eyes "As if!"

She plunked herself down onto the floor and pulled her knees
up to her chest. Things were quieter now, not as much foot
traffic. She could relax a bit. From her vantage point
Lindsey watched the group pull the partially crushed cone
towards her. She wrinkled up her face at the sight.

Then it happened.

It happened quickly.

A black clogged foot, seemingly out of nowhere, stepped
towards the group. Large hands appeared, descending towards
the six, most of who didn't yet know what was happening.
Lindsey craned her neck upward, higher then higher still. It
was one of the mall employees - she recognized her - the pet
store - that's right, she worked at the pet store!

Many of the group began to scream as the girl in black
scooped them into her hands, grabbing, poking and sliding
her captures into her awaiting grasp.

One woman (the one closest to Lindsay) held onto her for
dear life. Lindsay, seeing that this woman would hinder her
own chances at escape, pried her arms off of her own, then
shoved the woman - as hard as she could. Lindsay surprised
herself actually, by pushing her quite hard. The woman hit
the floor and slid a few feet before coming to a stop and
sensing the presence above her. After a moment, she quickly
began to claw her way back towards Lindsey and to the hiding
place, but the giant hands from above caught a hold of her
feet and lifted her high into the air with the others.
Lindsey watched the woman's face as she was dragged away.
Her face seemed to plead with Lindsay's, as if to ask for
help.

Lindsey laughed at the woman then stepped back further
beneath the garbage container where she was sure not to be
spotted and could still watch what else was happening.

The one man who DID manage to avoid the girl's first attempt
(the one who had led the line to the ice cream cone) made
the mistake of running towards the girl's feet. The girl,
unaware at this point, shifted her weight as she rose to
stare at the faces and limbs that now protruded from her
enclosed fists.

The giant girl in black looked down for others (Lindsey, at
this point, had moved to the opposite side of the litterbin
and had been careful not to be spotted) and saw the
partially alive man wiggling from underneath her huge black
clog. Suspecting that he was already dead, she lifted her
shoe slightly and dragged it across his body, smearing him
into the grooves of the floor.

It happened quickly - maybe fifteen seconds. It was over
quickly as well. Before Lindsey could take stock of what
happened, she saw the towering girl walk away and around a
corner.

She took a minute to compose herself. "Now what?" she
thought to herself.


"So, what does it do?"

Eleanor looked her daughter in the eyes.

"What do you mean what does it do? It does - everything I
guess. Everything you want it to"

The tiny woman clung to Alex's finger with all her might,
waiting until she lowered her hand enough that she could
finally let go and drop to the table top.

Alex's grin hadn't faltered for almost five minutes. She
raised her hand above the woman and pointed her index finger
to that it was straight. After a second, she lowered her
finger so that it was above the woman's head. The woman
raised her arms and grabbed the finger, attempting to stop
its descent.

Alex laughed.

"It's sooo weak, Mom. I can't believe it!"

Alex continued to gently push downward until the woman
collapsed under its weight.

Her Mom got up from her chair and went to the fridge. "I
think it's a girl"

Alex nodded and lowered her face closer to the tiny woman.
The difference in size was amazing.

"Mom, look at this"

Her Mom turned and smiled. The woman was so incredibly small
compared to her daughter.

Alex laughed at the woman and lowered her face even closer
than before.

"Look, she's looking up my nose. Isn't that hilarious?"

Her Mom smiled again, lighting a cigarette.

"You could fit inside my nose, couldn't you?"

Alex laughed at her own joke.

"Honey, that's disgusting. I want you to be proper around
that thing, however long it lasts. I don't want it looking
up your dress"

Alex rolled her eyes. After a moment she cupped her hands
and pointed to them. The woman complied (what choice did she
have) and moved towards Alex's fleshy hand.

"Mom, it listens to me, look at this!"

Eleanor glances over and smiled. She was already losing
interest. She knew her daughter well. It was only a matter
of time until she lost interest as well.

"I'm taking her to my room"

Alexandra walked up the spiral staircase to the second
floor. From beneath her, her Mother's voice could be heard.

"Don't you want to play with it down here?"

Alex continued up the stairs, taking them two at a time. The
tiny woman bounced in her open, cupped hands, jostling
considerably at her every step.

"No, I'm going to my room. You said it's mine, so no one
else touches it, okay?"

Downstairs Eleanor shrugged and looked to her hired help.

"Bring the kid a present and this is the thanks I get".

* * *

"Look, I'm telling you, she was this huge girl dressed all
in black and she just popped out of nowhere and grabbed the
people - all of them. She was fast, she knew what she was
doing and she didn't bat an eye when she stepped on one of
them accidentally"

Lindsay stood in front of a new group of shrunken people,
explaining "her version" of what happened just hours
earlier.

A girl who looked her own age stepped forward.

"Was it someone you knew - the guy that got squished?
Someone you knew?"

Lindsay stopped short; feigning for a moment that she
actually cared about something or someone.

"Yes - yes, it was someone that I knew..."

Several in the crowd whispered their condolences to Lindsay
and continued to look at her sympathetically. She had to
bite her lip from laughing out loud at the thoughts running
through her head. If these tiny people only knew that not
more than twelve hours ago, she had been one of the giants
that they now all feared running in to. She hadn't just been
a giant, she had been a cruel, merciless giant, who in the
course of three short hours, had killed more than eleven of
the tiny people without batting an eye.

Then again that was then, this was now...

Lindsay was the same as those who stood before her and she
certainly didn't need to be reminded of that.

"Well, what do you suggest?"

A man spoke to Lindsay from within the crowd.

"Sounds like you've seen more than the rest of us, I mean,
what extra precautions should we be taking?"

Lindsey looked to the group of twelve or so people, "I think
the key is staying together, but knowing when to split up.
The choice of knowing when to be a group and when to scatter
and run from your lives is - well, that's all that
matters..."

The crowd nodded in agreement, seemingly impressed by
Lindsay's guidance.

* * *

The group bought into most everything Lindsay suggested.
They would take shifts keeping a look out. If they were
spotted and had to flee, no one would scream, lest he or she
reveal themselves to an as of yet, unknown public. They
would share the food that they found a dozen ways, no matter
how small the portion was. Luckily, this hadn't been too
much of a problem, quantity that is...

Quality was another story all together.

* * *

It was four in the morning when someone gently nudged
Lindsay's shoulder.

"Lindsay"

Lindsay turned and woke, clearly annoyed.

"What the hell?"

It quickly donned on her that it was one of the group,
waking her for her patrol shift. Lindsay immediately became
friendly.

"Oh - good morning"

"It's your turn to patrol. Every one else is still asleep"

"Yeah, yeah, of course"

Lindsay stood and stretched her legs for a moment, then
turned to the man who had woken her.

"It's okay, I'm awake. Go back to sleep"

The man tried to smile, then laid back down on the floor.

Lindsay waited for him to close his eyes, then turned and
faced the slumbering group who lay around her at her feet.
Slowly she tiptoed through the group and, once at the edge,
turned to look back at them again.

Directly at her feet was the largest man of the group.
Lindsay stared down at him, then smiled to herself.

"If I was still a giant, you'd be under my shoe right now,
begging for me not to step on you"

* * *

Alexandra awoke by herself without need of an alarm. After a
moment, she grinned as her mind recollected the events of
the previous day. She yawned and stretched her arms into the
air, her bare feet protruding from under the warmth of the
blankets.

"Did you sleep?" she asked, sitting halfway up and turning
over to her stomach. "I slept like a log"

Balancing on the rim of her brass bedpost was a Kleenex
container. Alexandra took it carefully into her hand and
lowered it down onto the bed. She grinned instinctively when
seeing that the woman hadn't tried to escape.

"How was your sleep? Good? Sleeping on a blanket of tissue,
that's gotta be the life"

Alex's thick fingers reached into the small Kleenex
container and withdrew the woman, who was only partially
awake herself. The previous evening had been exhausting for
her. Alex knew no limits to the games she had played with
the woman, keeping her running, jumping lifting until well
after midnight.

Alex placed the woman onto the mattress, then folder her
arms and leaned her chin forwards onto them.

"I said Good Morning, sleep well?"

The woman nodded to her and eventually said "Good Morning".

Alex didn't know it of course, but she had been the first to
discover that the shrunken could indeed speak. They just
weren't very loud.

Alexandra scuttled her body closer to the woman, moving her
face mere inches away from the reluctant doll.

"Are you tired?"

The woman flinched slightly at the smell of the giant's
breath. Her proximity to Alex was fearfully close and the
gust of her breath quite unpleasant.

Alex picked up on this, but decided not to mention it. She
didn't feel like getting up to brush her teeth just yet, and
besides, if the woman didn't like how she smelled, what was
she going to do about it? Her Mom had said that this tiny
woman was hers to keep, that she owned her, so that was
that.

Alex gestured again to the Kleenex box.

"That's where you'll sleep from now on", Alex breathed,
taking care to exhale onto the woman more forcibly than
before.

"From now on?" her tiny voice barely heard by Alex, "I-I
can't, I can't stay here. What do you mean from now on?"

Alex smiled at all of this foolishness.

"Forever," she said, her grin growing even larger, "that's
where you'll sleep for the rest of your life"

The woman began to cry softly to herself.

Alex withdrew her giant face, sat up and began to pull on a
pair of socks.

After a moment she turned on her stereo wall unit, which
quickly drowned out the woman's sobbing.

* * *

Lindsay had strolled quite a distance from the group. They
had agreed to stay close, but no matter. They were too tired
and would never miss her. Though it took more than fifteen
minutes, she made her way near the pet store where she had
earlier seen the girl in black.

Since the mall was not yet open, Lindsay walked wherever she
pleased. A younger version of herself had always dreamed of
having a shopping mall completely to herself, and now, as
she strode forwards, less than two inches tall, the irony
was not lost on her.

She continued forward, moving closer now to the gates of the
pet store. She had been aware of the directions she had
maintained, careful that she could find her way back to the
group, where she would be when they woke.

Eventually she reached the tall gates of the pet store.
Lindsay leaned against them and stared inside.

Slowly, an idea came to her mind.

It was risky, but anything that's really, truly fun and
worthwhile, usually is...

* * *

Eleanor, dressed in a newly tailored dress suit, stood at a
full-length mirror and examined her outfit. Susan, the hired
help, stood close, waiting for Eleanor's request.

Alexandra clunked down the stairs holding her tote bag over
her shoulder.

Perched high on the top of her head, partially covered by
barrettes and hidden from view, was the shrunken woman, whom
Alex had officially named 'Betty'. It had taken more than
twenty minutes to secure her in her hair, but walking around
the huge house, while a miniature woman rode on the top of
your head made it all worth it.

Alex turned and faced her Mother.

"I need to go to school"

"Yes, I know you do honey. Unfortunately, I'm busy right
now"

"Can Susan take me?"

Eleanor turned to the hired help.

"No, I need her here"

"What for?"

"In case I need something"

Alex challenged her Mother.

"What could you possibly need that you can't do for
yourself?"

Her Mother turned to her, angry. She reached into her purse
and handed Alex a twenty-dollar bill.

"Take a taxi"

Alex took the money.

"What about lunch?"

Her Mother reached into her pocket again and pulled out
fifty dollars.

"Here, give me the twenty and you can take this"

Alex grinned at the money.

"No, I want both"

Her Mother sighed and knew this was a battle she would not
win.

"Fine, take it"

Alexandra took the fifty-dollar bill and high tailed it in
the other direction.

"Are you taking that thing to school?"

"I'm not going to school and it's not a 'thing', it's Betty"

"What do you mean you're not going to school"

Alex grinned back to her Mother from the end of the hallway.

"I just said that to get the money"

She disappeared from sight. Eleanor looked to Susan, the
hired help.

"Susan, get my jacket please"

* * *

Alex strolled into the kitchen, while high above the floor,
perched on the top of her head and entangled in her thick
hair, the tiny woman feared what would happen next.

* * *

One by one the group had awoke from their sleep. Keith, the
man who had previously woken Lindsay was the first to notice
that she was no where to be seen.

"Anyone seen Lindsay?"

People looked around, shook their heads. Most were nervous.
The mall would open in less than an hour and the group's
struggle would begin again.

Keith walked away from the group and began to search for the
young girl.

He appeared nervous at what could have happened.

* * *

The girl in black fidgeted for her keys. It was already
eight thirty. The mall didn't open until nine, but she was
always supposed to be on shift an hour early, to feed the
animals and to straighten up the store.

Something was flashing in her eyes. Was it her keys? No,
they were in the lock already. She looked again to the floor
and stood still, highly suspicious that she knew what it
was.

She was motionless for a moment and then the shining flared
the corner of her eye. She looked down again.

There, at the corner of the sliding gate was one of the
shrunken people. The giant girl let go of her keys, dropped
her bag and immediately squatted and reached towards the
person, figuring that she, like all others, would
immediately flee for its life.

This one didn't. In the two or three seconds that it took
the giant to bend down, relocate the tiny person and to
reach towards them - it just stood there.

Lindsay's heart was beating faster than she thought it ever
could have. The giant's hand was upon her and a microsecond
later, she was being hoisted into the air. Everything was
blurry for a moment as she struggled to keep from throwing
up what she had eaten.

The giant didn't say anything, only stared at Lindsay for a
moment, before returning to open the latch to the sliding
gate.

It took Lindsay's stomach a moment to return to normal.
Something she had to wait to happen before she could speak
again.

The giant slid the doors to the pet store open and stepped
inside.

"Listen to me!"

Lindsay shouted as loud as she could, but the giant girl
mistook it for a scream, which, of course was typical from
those she had caught.

Lindsay continued to yell, until she surprised herself by
actually getting the giant girls' attention.

Suddenly, as if in fast motion, she was pulled towards the
giant's face. Her huge brown eyes stared at the tiny
Lindsay, as if to say, "You've got three seconds, make it
good"

Instead, the giant merely said.

"What?"

Lindsay froze for a moment, having never seen anyone this
large this close before. It was a truly frightening
experience. One that she would always remember.

Lindsay cupped her hands and yelled.

"I can help you"

The giant girl smirked and opened her huge mouth to say...

"Really?"

Lindsay walked through the mall by herself. It was still
before eight in the morning, and none of the stores had yet
opened. She had seen a janitor in the distance at one point,
but that had been it.

She walked at a leisurely pace for what must have been
fifteen minutes or so, before nearing the area where she had
deserted her post. Upon getting closer, she slowed her pace
slightly and began to hug the wall, taking extra care not to
be spotted by anyone.

It wasn't too long before she realized that the entire group
was up and on there feet.

"****" she said to herself.

Lindsay continued towards the group, making up excuses as
she approached.

Several in the group noticed her. One in particular, Will,
moved to meet her.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I just decided to take a walk, that's all. I met a
friend"

Will was perplexed.

"A walk? You were supposed to be standing guard. That's what
we agreed"

Lindsay looked at her feet, not savoring the tongue-lashing
she was about to receive.

"You said you'd stay and watch while we slept!"

"Yeah, but nothing happened, did it?"

Will looked sternly at her.

"No, nothing happened, THIS TIME!"

"I won't do it again, okay?"

Will looked behind him to the group, then back at Lindsay,
lowering his voice.

"Lindsay, we're leaving without you. You can't come with us"

Lindsay was flabbergasted. This wasn't part of her plan at
all.

"What?"

"You heard what I said. We were going to leave without you,
but I thought you deserved an explanation. You're still
acting like a teenager. Acting like a teenager will get us
killed. None of us want that"

Lindsay stared at the ground. Will turned and walked back to
the group.

"Goodbye and good luck"

Lindsay watched as the group shuffled off into the distance.
A few of them looked over their shoulders at her as they
left.

None of them was sure why it was that Lindsay was smiling.

* * *

Alexandra walked through the kitchen and sat on the couch in
the living room. In her hands was "Betty", whom she was
playing with casually.

"Susan!"

After a moment, Susan entered the room.

"Yes dear?"

"Come here please"

Susan walked into the sunken living room to face Alexandra.
Alex was someone she didn't necessarily like very much.
Truth be told, she didn't like her one bit. Susan had
watched for the two years that she had worked in the
household, as Alex got whatever she wanted whenever she
wanted it. She was a brat and she knew Alex was aware of how
she felt. Only problem was, Alex simply didn't care. In
fact, she liked to rub Susan's face in the fact that she was
being paid to cook and clean for her and her Mom.

"What can I do for you, dear?"

Alex raised her foot in the air slightly, pointing a white
sock at Susan.

"My foot hurts again"

Susan pretended to be concerned, dreading what was coming
next.

"Oh, really, that's too bad"

"Can you rub it please?"

"Honey, your Mom left me a lot of work to do. I don't think
I have time"

Alex continued to hold her foot in the air, gesturing with
it.

"You have time. Come sit down"

Susan, knowing that Alex could easily convince her Mother to
hire someone else (she had threatened to do so on many
occasions), moved towards the couch and sat down. Alex
lowered her leg onto Susan's lap.

"Where does it hurt, dear?"

"Mostly around the toes. You can do it all over though. Both
feet, not just that one"

Susan stared at Alex, pondering the young girl's audacity at
demanding such a request, but Alex was too absorbed with her
shrunken woman to notice. The woman was lying on Alex's
collarbone. Alex's chin lowered, slightly, then her chest
vibrated with the sound of her voice.

"Where did you go?"

Her giant tree trunk fingers found the woman and lifted her
upwards, not caring that the woman was upside down.

"There you are. Are you hungry yet?"

The woman shook her head. She was too nervous about what
would happen to her to be aware of the fact that she hadn't
eaten in seventeen hours. This giant girl was being nice
now, but what about tomorrow, or a week from now when she
got bored with her? The woman had seen what a disobedient
brat Alex was, and was fearful about her future with her.

Alex looked up at Susan who was rubbing her feet.

"Can you believe it? Betty hasn't eaten anything yet?"

Susan didn't acknowledge her right away, so Alex prodded her
with her free foot.

"I said she hasn't eaten!"

Susan looked up.

"That's too bad, dear"

Alex got annoyed with Susan very quickly. Anyone who could
so easily be coerced into being bossed was very hard to
respect.

Alex raised her foot in front of Susan's face and held it
there.

"Now this one please"

The shrunken woman looked on to Alex's lack of respect for
this adult and her fear grew. If she was like this to a
full-grown woman old enough to be her Mother, what would she
do to a woman the size of her baby finger?

* * *

The mall was open and beginning to fill with people. Eleanor
speed walked through various sections of the mall,
determined not to take the time to buy anything. It wasn't
long however before something caught her eye.

Far below the shoppers in the mall, on the ground beneath
their feet, group upon group of shrunken people awaited
their respective fates.

Will and his group trudged forwards carefully. It had been
three hours since their departure from Lindsay. They had
talked about it to one another, but mostly focused on how to
stay alive during the busy lunch hour.

Miriam, one of the older women in the group had a
suggestion.

"I think that if we travel over this way, that we'll come to
that long hallway that leads to the exits. It's usually
pretty quiet there, I mean, as far as shoppers go"

Will nodded.

"We could stay there until the mall closes"

The others in the group seemed to agree and together, they
began cautiously in that direction.

To get across a walkway in the mall, the group ran, one at a
time. Obviously because of age and degree of physical
fitness, not everyone could run at the same speed. Some
could cross the walkway in a little over eight seconds,
while others took a full thirty, some even forty!

One unfortunate man, for one reason or another, had a limp.
He was very reluctant to make the journey across the
walkway, opting to wait until the mall had closed. The
others called to him, yelling that they had to stay together
as a group.

Eventually, when he felt the moment to be right, he began
towards the group. A running giant proceeded towards him and
the man froze. The group yelled at him to continue, but it
was over too quickly. The giant sneakers trod directly
overtop of him and continued running in the other direction.
A moment later, two more followed. Obviously some parent's
weren't keeping a close eye on their children.

The group had mourned the man's passing before continuing
down the hallway that seemed deserted at the moment.

Once reaching their choice location (under a water
fountain), the group stayed put. They would wait until later
in the afternoon before venturing out for food.

* * *

It was later in the afternoon when a girl's voice could be
heard.

"Guys? I need help!"

None in the group ventured out at first, but eventually Will
stuck his head out from the corner and saw that one of their
own was alone and exposed in the hallway.

After a moment he recognized her and turned to the group.

"It's Lindsay"

One of the women leaned forward to look.

"What should we do?"

Will continued to look at the young girl, who staggered
about aimlessly.

"I don't know, but it looks like she's hurt"

The woman peered out further.

"We have to help her"

Will turned to the woman.

"Yes, I know, he said, turning and looking both directions,
I'll be back in a few minutes"

Will ventured into the overly white hallway under the harsh
fluorescent lights and ran towards Lindsay. He thought for a
moment that she had begun to smile as he approached her.
Maybe they had been too hard on the girl.

"Lindsay, come with me quickly"

Lindsay picked up her pace.

"Where is everyone?"

Will jogged alongside her, both of them heading towards the
hiding place.

"We're over here below the water fountain"

The two continued to jog. Will looked behind himself and saw
a giant figure beginning slowly towards them from the
opposite end of the hallway.

"Let's go, hurry up"

The pair quickened their pace as they neared the hiding
place.

The group opened up and circled around them as they arrived.
Some of them hugged Lindsay, wondering how she was.

Lindsay laughed at this.

"I'm fine, how are you guys?"

Will gestured to them, looking out from the corner.

"Quiet, that person is still coming"

The huge feet of the giant overhead walked past the hiding
place. The feet were enclosed in black, leather clogs, which
further elevated the person into the air. Several of them
looked to Lindsay who continued to grin.

"Is that the girl you saw earlier?"

Lindsay moved from the group and stood close to Will.

"You guys shouldn't have left me behind you know. I could
have died"

The group looked at her, confused as she backed into the
hallway, still facing them. Several of them inhaled with
fright.

"Come back, Lindsay, she'll see you!"

Lindsay took another step away from them. Will grabbed at
her, but she just laughed and took another step backwards.
As she did, the giant clogged feet moved back into view.
Several in the group screamed.

"She'll be crushed!"

Lindsay raised her hand and pointed to them. A shudder of
fear ripped through the group.

"They're over here!"

More in the group screamed. How could she be doing this?

The giant feet moved closer to Lindsay then settled directly
behind her. Lindsay continued to point at the group. She
started to laugh. She pointed to Will.

"Him first!"

One of the giant clogs lifted from the floor, the rubber
soles squeaking as it moved and fell directly overtop of
Will, crushing him flat.

Lindsay continued to laugh, now pointing to the older woman
in the group.

"Now her!"

The sole of the giant's shoe kicked the woman, pinning her
to the side of the wall.

Lindsay clapped her hands then looked up as high as she
could to the giant girl above her. Two impossibly huge hands
descended and plucked her gently from the ground.

No one in the crowd moved - or breathed. Slowly, the giant
girl lowered herself into view, squatting before the
terrified crowd. A discarded black garbage bag had hid the
group from sight. One of the giant hands reached towards the
bag, lifted it away from them and crumpled it, exposing
their hiding place.

"So this is where you've been hiding..." The voice boomed.
This was the girl in black that Lindsay had warned them
about, there was no doubt about it. She was huge. For some
in the group, this was the closest that any of them had been
to any of the giants. Several of them fainted.

The giant hand lowered Lindsay to the ground, where she
motioned towards the group, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Sorry about this guys, but I gotta look out for myself"

The giant girl in black quickly grabbed those who remained
and stuffed them into a carry bag.

* * *

Eleanor wandered quite casually back into the clothing store
where she had been the day before. This store also bore the
distinction of being where she had spied and captured the
shrunken woman. A sales clerk approached her, noticing the
fine clothes Eleanor was wearing and automatically assuming
she meant business.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

Eleanor spoke to the clerk without even looking at her.

"I've got some pants to pick up, since you don't seem to
offer a courier service. The name is Wilkinson"

The clerk nodded and approached the counter. Eleanor looked
to the floor, scanning this way and that. It was an
impossible chance of course, but maybe, just maybe, she'd
see another one of those things. She could take it home with
her again, only this time she would hold it over her
daughter's head, at least until she agreed to the rules of
the house.

Eleanor continued to stare at the carpet of the store and
eventually felt her eyes blur and defocus.

"Is something wrong", the clerk asked, holding Eleanor's
pants towards her.

Eleanor took the pants from her and didn't even bother
answering her question.

"Bill my account"

The clerk's stared at her as she left the store.

* * *

A cup of Earl Grey tea sat in front of Eleanor, steaming and
hot. She stirred the tea, staring vacantly forward at
nothing in particular. What was it she wanted from life? She
loved her daughter, she loved her house...what more was
there? Any money concerns that had plagued her earlier in
life were gone and forgotten. With her husband's state only
partially liquefied, it would be damn near impossible to
squander the fortunes he had left her.

She knew one thing and she knew that for certain: she cared
deeply for her daughter, Alexandra. She could be a real pain
in her ass, but she knew she'd grow out of it eventually.
She had to. She couldn't take her how she was much longer.

Eleanor continued to stew in dreamland, and only seconds
later, noticed a small boy staring at something on the
ground. Eleanor stared at the boy, seeming unable to tear
her mind from its daydreaming state, only to seconds later
snap out of it all together. The boy was looking at
something all right. She scanned the mall for a sign of his
parents. The nearest person, probably his Mother, was
talking on a pay phone. Eleanor took a gulp of her tea and
stood up, quickly moving towards the boy.

She had been right of course. The boy was staring at a
shrunken person, trouble was, he didn't know what it was. He
hadn't been able to figure out if it was real of not. This
would be easy, Eleanor thought.

"Oh...there you are, you little devil", Eleanor said in the
direction of the boy and the shrunken man at his feet. The
boy looked up at Eleanor's voice and then pointed to the
shrunken man.

"Yes, that's interesting isn't it?"

The man on the floor had been unable to grasp a forty foot
tall boy pointing at him, let alone the much larger figure
that presently stood before him, its high heel shoes,
stretching into the air, only to connect to her two
impossibly tall panty-hosed legs.

Eleanor looked down to the boy and smiled.

"Too bad he's not yours, right?"

The boy's smile disappeared as Eleanor knelt down beside
him, opening her free hand which descended towards the
shrunken man like a cage formed from out of proportion tree
trunks.

The boy began to cry and reach towards the man, convinced
that he belonged to her. Eleanor swatted at his hands.

"No touch," she dangled the small man in front of the boy's
hypnotized eyes, "see? He's all mine"

Eleanor laughed and stood to her full height, lifting the
shrunken man above the boy's line of sight.

It was then that the boy's Mother approached.

"What happened? What do you do to my son?"

Eleanor ignored the woman completely, more entranced by the
man in her hand. The shrunken woman from yesterday had
accompanied her willingly. This man however, was struggling.
Imagine that, she thought, a man struggling with all of his
strength against my fingers.

She laughed at this as she strode away from the screaming
boy and his Mother.

* * *

Lindsay slept like a baby on the cold floor of the mall. She
had grown accustomed to the noise of the overhead shoppers
and desperately needed the sleep.

Her choice of sleeping location was significant. She had, on
two occasions, seen the remnants of shrunken people who had
been by this area. These remnants would go unnoticed to
someone of normal size of course, but to her, the footprints
and the half-eaten food was a dead giveaway. They would
return to this area. It might not be until the mall closed
again, but they'd return.

She was certain of it.

* * *

Alexandra was icing a cake. The icing had been made by
Susan, so had the cake for that matter. She had baked it
right after lunch. It was fun staying home from school and
having your own personal maid. Many her age would have found
it boring, but Alexandra was constantly finding things to do
(or, as was presently the case, things for Susan to do for
her).

"Go now, please", she said to Susan, who had been waiting
for further instructions.

Susan rolled her eyes to herself, imagining in her mind what
she would do to this little brat if she were her own
daughter.

Alex dabbed the spatula in icing and then lowered it to the
countertop, where, standing next to the bowl of icing was
Betty.

"Try this"

The spatula neared Betty and she instinctively backed away
from the oversized utensil.

"It's icing, you'll like it"

The spatula moved closer and eventually found Betty in a
corner where there was nowhere to back up any more.

Alex laughed and then wrinkled her face.

"Why are you so scared of me? I haven't done anything bad,
have I?"

The spatula moved closer and eventually dabbed Betty with a
dollop of icing. The small amount on the spatula appeared
like a great big blob in proportion to the shrunken woman.

Alex continued to dab her with it. The woman, finding no
where else to turn, stood still and endured the torment of
the giant girl.

"Seriously though. I want us to be friends. I want us to do
everything together. You're nice, not like my Mom"

Betty was now so covered in vanilla icing that she almost
fell forwards.

Alexandra grinned down at her then licked her fingers.

"My name isn't Betty", the woman yelled to her.

Alex bent forwards.

"What was that?"

The shrunken woman tried to wipe the icing off her chest and
legs.

"I said, you know my name isn't Betty, it's Judy!"

Alexandra reached towards the woman and took a hold of her
between her finger and thumb, carrying her close to her
face. Alex's face was so huge, the woman thought. At this
proximity she lost every remnant of courage she had thought
she had.

Alex's mouth opened into a huge smile, exposing her white,
desk sized teeth.

"Oh c'mon, you're Betty and you know it"

With that, Alexandra opened her mouth and began licking the
icing off Judy. She did it slowly, almost tenderly. After
about seven licks, she set the woman back down onto the
countertop.

Judy stared up at the giant girl. Alex stared back down at
her and eventually smiled.

"You taste really good by the way"

Alex laughed at this.

* * *

"She's not dead, she's sleeping"

Another man moved forwards.

"He's right. I can see her breathing"

Adam, one of three, stepped over top of the sleeping Lindsay
and prodded her gently with his hand.

"Honey? It's okay, you're safe now"

Lindsay opened her eyes and stared upwards at the two men
and one woman.

"There's only three of us, but you should probably stay with
us. It's safer, y'know?"

Lindsay sat up and smiled at the three of them.

* * *

Eleanor drove her Mercedes like a mad woman, dodging in and
out of lanes and speeding to pass those ahead of her. This
certainly wasn't to reach her destination any sooner
(putting off dealing with her bratty daughter was something
she liked to do as often as possible), but to take pleasure
in continuing to knock her new companion around the seat of
the car, causing her to laugh harder and harder.

Her new companion, a shrunken man she had found in the mall,
was just shy of the length of her smallest finger, which of
course, left him completely at her disposal in every way.

"How's my driving?"

The man was flat on his face in the passenger seat. No
sooner had she asked the question, then she hit the breaks,
causing the man to roll forward suddenly and again stare
upward at the giant laughing woman.

"I have some nausea pills at home, you know, Eleanor laughed
heartily, you're more than welcome to use them"

The man took advantage of her for once normal speed of her
driving, and turned himself over onto his side. He would
throw up fairly soon if this didn't stop. Lying on his side,
he braced himself and stared as he watched Eleanor's
Cadillac sized-foot engulf the gas pedal, pushing it solidly
to the floor.

"Hold on squirt!"

Eleanor maneuvered through the traffic like a pro, sailing
past a slew of cars, most of which honked their horns as she
passed them.

Now in a lane of her own, with no one ahead in sight, she
looked down to the shrunken man

"Wanna come sit by me?"

The man stared up at her, not knowing the correct answer.
Eleanor took one hand off the wheel for a moment, and
between her frequent looks to the open road ahead of her,
reached towards the man.

"Walk into my hand, little guy"

Eleanor's massive, fleshy hand lay waiting before him. She
could have easily grabbed him, but wanted him to willingly
trap himself within her giant grasp.The man stood to his
feet, still shaking from the vibrations of the car moving at
such a fast speed. He looked up at her poised, bent fingers,
and although he wasn't sure why he would do this, didn't
really see any choice. The man stepped forwards and into
Eleanor's reach. Her fingers instinctively closed around
him, trapping him for as long as she wanted him trapped.

"Gotcha!"

Eleanor lifted her hand to her face, her eyes darting
between the road and her prisoner.

"Now don't worry, I'm a good driver, she said, loosening her
grip and dangling him by his arms, I'm glad you wanted to
move closer"

With that, Eleanor lowered the man between her legs and onto
the edge of the seat. The man's arms scrambled to hold onto
the seat beneath him, but the leather was hard to hold onto.
He stared downward at her bent legs which descended down
into the bottom of the car, one poised on the gas, the other
bent and relaxing beside it.

Eleanor glanced down at the man.

"Probably don't want to go down there. If I had to stop in a
hurry, you'd be jam"

The man continued to peer over the edge, and upon hearing
her voice, thought better of jumping downward and attempting
to hide. Instead, he decided to turn around and consider his
options. Still on his stomach (fearful of actually standing
and being knocked down), the man spun so that he was facing
Eleanor, or, her crotch at least.

Eleanor's voice became distracted for a moment.

"Okay, don't move, I'm going to try a lane change, all
right?"

The car sped suddenly and gained momentum very quickly. The
man slid forward on the seat and made half of the journey
towards Eleanor's giant crotch.

The car began to slow and Eleanor cheered to herself,
laughing out loud.

"If the Indy 500 could see me now!"

She looked down but couldn't see him.

"Where are you little guy?"

Eleanor checked the road and her rear view mirror before
looking down at her legs. It was there that she saw the man.
He was about an inch from her crotch.

Eleanor laughed harder than before.

"Jackpot, little guy"

Her giant foot sank onto the gas pedal again, jolting the
car forwards at an even greater speed. The man slid forward
yet again, this time softly buffeted by Eleanor's khaki
clothed crotch. He kicked at it, trying to stand, trying to
get away.

Eleanor laughed again and drove on.


Lindsay walked with her newly found three friends. They had
covered a lot of ground considering that the mall was still
open for business. As they walked together, mostly in
silence, Lindsay's mind began to wander to the events of the
last 36 hours. Why were people shrinking? How long until
someone noticed that, hey, people were disappearing at an
alarming rate. Although she didn't exactly want to think
about it, the long trek provided her with ample time to
think about the previous group she had been with and whether
or not she should feel guilty about betraying them or not...

"Why don't we stop here and rest, huh?"

The three of them stopped behind the tallest of them and
looked around.

"I think we're near the banks," the woman said, "I recognize
the ATM in the distance"

Keith nodded. "She's right"

Lindsay sat on the ground beside one of them.

"What is it we're looking for? Why are we headed towards the
banks?"

Keith looked to Lindsay and fumbled with his words.

"Well - I ...we're going there...because..."

The other man cut in. "We're going there because we're out
of ideas and...well, have you got any better ones?"

Lindsay didn't.

At least none that she could tell them about.

* * *

Alexandra lay on her back on her large bed. Betty, the
shrunken woman sat beside her, staring over the edge. They
had had fun together; at least Alexandra's version of the
afternoon would testify to that effect. After making the
cake (and leaving Susan to clean up), they had come upstairs
for a rest, where Alexandra had promptly fallen asleep, more
than likely due to the fact that she had played with her new
"toy" most of the previous night.

Betty (as she had been named by her giant captor) lay on her
stomach, trying her best to judge the distance to the floor
below her. Like many of those who had found themselves in a
shrunken state, she didn't have a plan past the point of
arriving at the floor, she could save that for later. For
now, she was just concerned with breaking bones on the long
jump downward.

Towering over her (even lying down Betty was dwarfed by the
giant girl), Alexandra's breathing continued in a slow,
rhythmic pattern. Occasionally she would snort out loud,
causing Betty to recoil in disgust. That was one of the
first things she had observed at her new size, that being
the things that one overlooked through everyday life. Alex's
snorts would probably be heard as an endearing coo, or a
heavenly sigh if she had been of the same size as her. But
from where she stood now, barely a fraction of her original
mass, each murmur from the sleeping girl sounded like an
unbearably gross, animal-like noise.

* * *

Alexandra had awoke from her cat nap and without revealing
that fact that she was awake, quietly observed the shrunken
woman and her ever-so-slow plan of escape. She would quickly
close her eyes whenever Betty would look her way and
continue to be sleeping.

Did shrinking make you dumb as well? Alexandra thought that
it must. To her, her poorly acted slumber was completely
see-through, but it seemed to work just the same. Betty
obviously thought that she was asleep, so she continued to
breathe as she had been, sneaking glances at her whenever
she wasn't looking.

Betty had pushed one of her enormous white socks onto the
floor. Alex assumed that she meant to jump down and to use
the sock to cushion her fall. That wasn't a bad idea,
actually. Alex continued to watch the shrunken woman until
it appeared that she was finally going to jump. That's when
Alex decided to keep her where she was, but at the same
time, continue to pretend to be asleep.

Her giant hand extended and absentmindedly batted Betty
towards her. Betty looked up at Alex and saw that her eyes
were still closed. Alex moved her arm a second time,
ensuring that her half-closed hand would ensnarl her and
pull her closer still. Betty found herself yanked with
momentum towards the giant girl's slumbering face. Was she
actually sleeping? She couldn't tell.

Alex moaned out loud and turned so that she lay on her side.
Betty was pretty much held at bay, at least until she could
untangle herself from Alex's curled fingers.

"Let go of me, you stupid little girl!" she yelled,
confident that even by raising her voice, that she wouldn't
be heard, "you're going to squish me! Wake up!"

Overhead and presently out of sight from the diminuative
woman, Alex bit her lip to keep from laughing. Her hand
flopped forward, pinning Betty beneath it and pulling her
downwards. Betty was now face-to-face with Alexandra's
exposed belly that had protruded from under her T-shirt. It
expanded and fell with her every breath.

Betty continued to fumble for an escape, for the first time
seeing an opening. Above her on the bed, Alex peeked
slightly to see what was going on. She decided that she
would turn over and lay on her stomach. Betty saw this
coming and quickened her efforts to release herself, when
suddenly she was swatted upward by the giant girl's
twitching hand.

Alexandra continued to slowly roll over until her skin was
almost touching Betty's. Betty screamed as loud as she could
as her captor's giant breast loomed closer and closer,
eventually pushing against her, expanding and softly
settling overtop of her. Alex laughed quietly, careful that
her weight wasn't too much. She moaned again, just for
effect. Betty felt good trapped there, even if it is just
for a minute.

"Your cake is ready, dear!"

It was a voice from outside her room. It was Susan. Alex
shot up in bed.

"Our cake is ready! Where are you, Betty?"

The partially oxygen deprived woman stared up at the giant
girl as she continued her act of not knowing where she was.

"We have to get some cake now where are you?"

Alex leaned to her side and then spotted her and grinned.

"What are you doing down there? I could have smothered you"

She plucked Betty up from the bed and quickly left the room,
bouncing down the stairs towards the smell of freshly baked
cake.

Betty sat on the kitchen table next to a cup and saucer.
Crumbs littered the table-gigantic crumbs that had fallen
from the cake and from Lindsay's enormous mouth. Lindsay
hovered high above Betty, her face resting on her hands.

"I feel sick. I think I'm gonna barf"

Betty had never seen someone eat so much. Granted, Alex was
proportioned much larger than she was, her appetite seemed
to know no bounds. Alex devoured three huge pieces of cake
before she had resigned herself to throwing the rest out,
lest she eat any more.

"Susan, come here"

Susan shuffled over to the kitchen table. Alex looked down
at the cake.

"Throw this out"

"That'd be a waste, wouldn't it?"

Alex looked up at her, knowing that she was going to mention
starving people in another country or something.

"That cake could feed a family of three. Why don't we save
it in case your Mom has company? It looks so pretty"

Alex slid her arm across the table, knocking the cake onto
the floor.

"Not any more it doesn't"

Susan glared at Alexandra, trying her best to bite her
tongue. Alex stared back at her, sleepy from so much eating.
Eventually she stood up.

"Clean that up before Mom gets home or I'll tell her you did
it"

The tiny woman stared at the dialogue between Alex and
Susan, mystified at the young girl's belligerence towards
her elder. Betty had barely dodged the momentum of the cake
as it slid towards her. Was Alex getting careless? This sort
of behavior worried her.

* * *

Eleanor climbed from her car and activated the automatic
garage door. She had put the miniature man inside her purse
for now, not knowing when (or if) she would show him to her
daughter.

She stepped into the house and kicked off her shoes, knowing
that Susan would ultimately pick them up and put them in
their proper place.

"I'm home everyone!"

Eleanor moved through the house and eventually arrived in
the kitchen, where she smelled the air.

"Did someone bake a cake?"

Susan was on her hands and knees wiping up the sticky icing
from the floor.

"Accident I see," Eleanor said, "suppose that means there's
no cake left?"

Susan looked up wearily at Eleanor.

"Sorry Ma'am. I baked it and then dropped it accidentally. I
can make another one, I suppose"

Eleanor walked past Susan and took a bottle of wine from the
rack.

"You're usually in bed by now, aren't you, Susan?"

Susan looked up at her again and nodded. It was almost ten
p.m.

Eleanor sighed and poured herself some wine.

"Well, make another one anyway, I may want a snack later"

Eleanor strode past Susan without a glance and eventually
left the room.

* * *

"Isn't it huge though? C'mon, you've never seen a belly so
big, have you?"

Alex was sitting on the edge of her bed with her shirt
pulled up partially, exposing her stomach while Betty stood
precariously on her upper thigh.

"You shouldn't let me eat that much. We're supposed to be
friends. You gotta look out for me, right? I look out for
you, y'know"

Betty wasn't sure she followed the logic of her giant
captor, but nodded anyway. She had devised a new strategy
for dealing with Alexandra. Since she acted like a baby,
being coddled, spoiled and fussed over, she would treat her
that way in return, hoping for more lenience and ultimately
freedom. The freedom that she was counting on could very
well be her ticket out of this prison.

"I'll try," Betty answered, "and...you're right, I shouldn't
have let you eat so much. Look at you, you're like a
balloon!"

Alex laughed and looked to the small folds of fat on her
stomach.

"I know, I'm gonna weigh a thousand pounds if this keeps up.
I bet I ate a years worth of what it would take to feed you"

Betty continued to balance herself on Alex's giant thigh.

"Yes, I suppose you're right"

Alex grinned to herself, getting an idea.

"C'mere for a sec"

Her hand plucked Betty from her thigh and brought her closer
to her folds of fat. She started to laugh.

"Could I hide you in my body fat, I wonder?"

Betty didn't think this was a good idea at all. She opened
her mouth to express her friendly protest, but was already
being moving closer to Alex's stomach. This continued until
she met her flesh and softly sank into it. Overhead, she
could hear and feel Alex laughing again, harder now than
before. She pushed Betty inwards further, a section of her
stomach folding over Betty and completely cutting off all
light from her sight. She was engulfed by Alex's tummy fat
and there was nothing she could do about it. Struggling
would only make her laugh harder, so she waited and waited.
Finally, after about ten seconds, Alex eased her out from
her waist, beaming down on her.

"I bet that's never happened to you before"

Betty nodded nervously.

It's true, it hadn't.

* * *

It was late and Eleanor was lying on her bed, dangling the
man from her fingers. He had long since given up struggling
and had mostly allowed his body to hang limp, hoping for her
fun to be reduced accordingly. Too bad for him, it hadn't.
She never really looked at the one she had caught for
Alexandra. They really were amazing.

"I'm holding your life in my left hand," she said to the
man, grabbing him and closing her fingers, "do you
understand?"

The man thought it best to answer her, so he nodded.

Eleanor laughed.

There was a knocking on her door. It was Susan.

"Ma'am, the cake is ready. I've brought you a piece"

Eleanor laughed again, this time to herself. She was
embarrassed for Susan. She had come to Eleanor's employment
a proud woman, now, fearful of losing her job at any given
time, she had been reduced to bringing her cake.

Eleanor looked to the door.

"Just a minute, Susan"

She looked down at herself. She was wearing a robe, under
which were only her bra and underwear. Any decent woman
would cover herself and go to the door, thanking her for
staying up so late to fix her a cake. Perhaps it was the
sight of the miniature man whom she dangled over her chest
so randomly, but Eleanor chose to forget Susan's dignity all
together.

"Come in, Susan"

Susan opened the door and stood by the doorway.

"Bring it in here. I want to eat it in bed"

Susan stepped forward and then stopped when she saw that
Eleanor was barely dressed and hadn't bothered to close her
robe.

"Ma'am, maybe I should just leave it here on the side table
and -"

"No, bring it here. To me"

Susan approached further, seeing that Eleanor was toying
with a tiny man of her own.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No Ma'am," she stuttered, "I just - never mind"

She handed her the plate of cake. Eleanor took it.

"Out with it, Eleanor commanded, what's on your mind?"

Susan was barely able to tear her eyes from the tiny man in
her hands.

"Well, it's not my place to say, but - your daughter, she's
- she's not very good to that...thing that you gave her..."

Eleanor smiled.

"What do you mean, not very good?"

Susan fidgeted, "I mean she's cruel to it...and mean. I-I
thought you should know"

"She's cruel, is she?"

"Y-yes, Ma'am"

"Very cruel?"

Eleanor opened her robe even more than it was, exposing her
bra and most of her underwear. Susan began to stutter.

"I-she-she isn't careful...and -"

Eleanor tittered to herself and casually lifted a portion of
her bra, allowing her breast to be come into view.

"Ma'am, I really should go, this isn't something that I -"

"No. I want to hear more. Tell me how cruel she is"

Susan began to sweat. Eleanor looked down at her breast and
brought the tiny man closer to it.

"Well-this afternoon I saw her-"

Eleanor stuffed the man inside the left cup of her bra and
snapped it into place. She stared downward at the man's
struggling body, and then looked up at Susan, smiling at the
loud sound her bra had made.

"I'm paying you, correct?"

Susan nodded.

"I'm paying you fairly well, correct?"

She nodded again.

"Probably twice, maybe three times what other house keepers
are paid?"

She nodded a third time.

Eleanor smiled again as the shrunken man's squirming
inadvertently moved him lower into her bra cup.

"Then I want you to do something for me, okay?"

Susan kept nodding, obviously agreeable to anything at this
point.

"I want you to continue doing whatever I tell you to do AND
whatever Alex tells you to do. If she hurts her leg and
needs you to carry her up the stairs, you'll do it. If she
has trouble picking out a toe nail polish...?"

"...I'll do it", Susan added, finally getting the idea.

Eleanor looked up from the tiny man suffocating next to her
boob and stared at Susan.

"Good cake by the way"

* * *

Her hands were busy, all right. They were sore too. Wrapping
three boxes, taping them, addressing them, then taping them
a second time...when would it end?

The girl in black sealed the third box and set it onto the
counter top, amidst an assortment of pet supplies. All three
boxes were lightweight and had air holes punched in the top
of them.

Stacy Buress stared down into the holes, allowing the
inhabitants of each box to see her, maybe for the final
time.

"Next stop Japan. I'll say sorry in advance for the bumpy
ride"

Stacy knelt down behind the counter and examined her large
Tupperware container. Inside, was an assortment of shrunken
people, twenty-four more by Stacy's count.

"Who wants to be next?"

The crowd moved to the rear of the container instinctively.
Stacy pulled the container closer to her face, lifted off
the lid and reached deep inside, her fingers probing the
contents of the box then finally selecting someone, pulling
them out (in this case) by their hair. The woman screamed in
pain, but Stacy, obviously conditioned to this sort of
reaction, paid no attention.

"Where do you wanna go anyway?"

Stacy looked down to her list.

"You can follow these guys to Japan...or you can go to
Taiwan. What's it gonna be?"

The woman in Stacy's fingers was still held by her hair and
screaming in pain.

Stacy lowered her into a fourth box, which was already
prepared and insulated. Inside was a bit of food, water
(modeled after a gerbil's water dispenser) and the
prerequisite air holes.

Stacy lowered her face over the box and dropped the woman
inside.

"Bye bye now"

* * *

Lindsay's feet felt like they were going to fall off. The
trio she had been traveling with must have been mountain
climbers or something, she thought. How else would they
continue walking for so long?

"Guys, I seriously gotta rest"

The three ahead of her turned and looked at her. The woman
sighed.

"You're tired again?"

"Yes, I'm tired, okay? Is that a crime?"

The two men sat down.

"Okay," Keith said, "we'll rest, but only for a few, all
right?"

The woman eventually sat down as well. Lindsay couldn't
stand her. She was always trying to prove something or
other. Maybe she was trying to impress the guys she was
with? Maybe she hoped she'd get lucky?

The woman in question suddenly stood to her feet.

"There's someone over there"

The two men glanced where she pointed.

It was true.

Lying in the corner, curled up in a fetal position, was a
person. She had rolled around in garbage or something.
However she died it must have been very painful. Even
Lindsay scrunched up her face in disgust.

"Gross! You guys aren't going near that thing, are you?"

The woman looked at Lindsay.

"You're pathetic, you know that?"

The two men waited until the mall traffic had died down a
bit and then rushed towards the still figure. She had to
have been killed recently by the looks of it.

Keith looked back to the two girls, exasperated by the smell
and the sight of the figure. He was careful to look overhead
for any shoppers that may be trotting on past. Once the
coast was clear, the two men pulled the body over to the
girls.

Keith bent down to turn her over.

"She's covered in something really sticky"

He peeled some red, tacky substance off his hands and turned
the body over. It was a girl and to everyone's astonishment,
she was still alive.

Keith gently touched her dirty face.

"Honey? You're safe now, no need to worry"

The woman quickly knelt beside the girl. Together with
Keith, the two of them began pulling of the remaining
remnants of the red, sticky substance.

Lindsay stepped closer. The girl looked familiar to her
somehow.

"Come give us a hand," the woman said to her, "make yourself
useful for once"

"No way. I'm not touching that thing"

She HAD seen the girl before. Why couldn't she remember from
where?

Then Lindsay froze suddenly.

Her skin got pale and her breathing stopped for just a
second.

"I'm dead, she thought to herself, really dead"

Lindsay HAD met the girl before. She had tormented her for
almost an hour before leaving her for dead in a piece of her
own chewing gum. It was all coming back to her now. The girl
would recognize her for sure. She would remember that
Lindsay, in her normal size, had almost killed her.

What then?

"I'm dead..."

* * *

"Anyway, I can call in sick for the rest of the week if I
want", Alex boomed from above.

The tiny Betty stood on the bedpost, watching as her giant
captor strode from one end of the bedroom to the other.

"How can you do that? Don't you have to attend classes?"
Betty shouted through her cupped hands.

Alex pulled off her sweater and walked closer to the woman
standing on her bedpost, stopping when her belly almost came
into contact with her.

"That's the thing...when you're from a rich family, I mean
really RICH, you can do whatever you want"

Alex stooped, bending forward and lowering her giant face so
that it was directly in front of Betty's body. She grinned,
exposing her large, white teeth.

"...kind of the same with you, you know?"

"W-what do you mean?"

Alex stood again and gently put her hands on her hips.

"I mean that it's fun knowing that you can do whatever you
want, whenever you want, but not having to do it until you
want to..."

Alex pulled off her T-shirt, allowing Betty to consider (for
the first time) what a finely tuned body she had. Alex threw
her shirt over her head, where it landed in a clump on the
floor behind her. She grinned at Betty.

"It's like, right now for instance...If I felt like it, I
could take a bottle of chocolate syrup, smear it all over
the walls, then call Susan to come and clean it up while I
take a shower"

Alex walked to her dresser and pulled out a set of fresh
clothes.

"I could do that, but I don't feel like it, understand?"

Betty nodded somewhat hesitantly.

"That's what I mean about you, it's the same power trip,
sort of. I could do whatever I wanted with you, but I
won't...it's the knowing that I could that's kind of
exciting"

Betty shifted her weight. Alex lowered her face to her once
again.

"Don't worry, little doll. We're friends, right?"

Betty nodded.

Alex stood again to her full height and then unfastened her
bra. After a moment, it fell to the floor at her feet. Alex
looked at herself and cupped her breasts with her hands.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

* * *

It was later in the afternoon when the group decided to make
a decision on their next move.

"If we move her, her injuries could be agitated, the older
woman said, why don't we let someone stay with her while we
continue exploring. We're going to need food soon anyway,
right?"

Lindsay stood within earshot of the conversation, but didn't
feel right about stepping in. Later that night she could
steal away into the darkness, but for now, running off would
run the risk of bumping into the group at a later date.

THAT was something she didn't want.

"Lindsay, one of them called, input? Do you have any?"
Lindsay looked away, shaking her head. "Did you really
expect her to contribute anything?" Lindsay heard them
whispering to one another.

The girl they had found was looking a little better. Lindsay
had hoped that she wouldn't survive, but it was clear that
she was going to be just fine provided she had the time to
recover. The thick pieces of sticky gum had been completely
taken off her body, and had left red marks on much of her
skin. These would clear up eventually as well.

Lindsay spied a look at the girl from the corner of her eye
and saw that she was resting. Lindsay took a couple of steps
towards her and looked down at the girl who she had tortured
and played with only two days earlier.

One of the men looked up to Lindsay.

"This just tears my heart up, you know?"

Lindsay nodded, understanding what he meant.

* * *

"What part of jump up and down don't you understand?"

Eleanor glared down at the tiny man who stood on the end of
her rolled up, wrinkled tube of toothpaste.

"Jump harder!"

Eleanor held the end of her toothpaste to the tip of the
tube. She was losing her patience.

The man jumped again and then fell on his face after
slipping on the tube.

Eleanor chuckled, "You're shown me new meaning to the word
PATHETIC"

She brushed him forwards off of the tube where he slid into
the sink. Eleanor plunged the toothbrush into her mouth and
began brushing while staring at her reflection in the
mirror. After a moment she looked down and saw the man
trying to claw his way out of the sink.

Eleanor laughed at him, "Can't get a grip, can you?"

Foam and spittle spewed from her mouth, some of it landing
on the struggling man. This caused Eleanor to laugh even
harder than before. Rather than wipe herself or spit the
toothpaste from her mouth, she leaned forwards over the
sink.

"I really wish you could see yourself right now, you were
funny last night, but this..." Eleanor laughed again, and
the man was again showered in her spittle.

Eventually she finished brushing and leaned even further
over the sink

"Move"

The man stepped aside as best he could as Eleanor spit her
mouthful of saliva and toothpaste into the sink. The man was
repulsed, but knew better than to express his feelings at
this point.

Eleanor wiped her hands and grabbed the man, raising him to
her beaming face. She breathed onto him, knocking him
backward onto his rear.

"How do I smell?"

The man nodded and yelled "really nice"

"Good, Eleanor said, 'cause I have to go to the mall for a
little while. I'm going to need more of you since you've
outlived your usefulness"

The man bounced around in her open hand as she walked but
then stared upwards at this comment.

"What do you mean?"

Eleanor knelt down and started to laugh again.

"I mean that you don't amuse me as much as you did yesterday
when I first found you, so I'm going to throw you out"

"No, no, please don't. I'll make you laugh. J-Just-"

Eleanor tittered at how pathetic he was - how pathetic she
imagined all of them would be.

"Set me down, I'll show you, I'll show you!"

Eleanor pondered whether she wanted to or not, then decided
to grant him this one wish. She stooped and let him climb
off of her hand, down onto the floor.

The man climbed to his feet and stared up at the impossibly
massive giant above him.

"Okay, she said, I'm waiting"

The man immediately started dancing and jumping up and down,
acting aloof, much like a court jester would have acted
given the circumstances.

Eleanor glared down at the man then laughed out loud. She
laughed not because she was amused, but because this speck
of a man actually thought that a woman of her stature (and
size) could be won over by so feeble an attempt.

Eleanor prodded him with her foot, knocking him over where
he lay wheezing in pain from the blow.

"Do you actually think that's what I had in mind?"

The man looked up at her the best he could, only to see the
bottom of her foot poised over top of him. It didn't squish
him, though, not yet. Instead, he heard her voice continue
from above.

"Look up a second, look at the bottom of my foot. Can you
see the lines of my skin?"

Eleanor didn't want to kill the man, just to scare him a
little. She wanted to make sure that she could find others
to replace him first. This however, proved too tempting to
resist.

The foot lowered until she could feel his arms pushing at
the bottom of her foot. Unexpectedly, this tickled her and
she strove to maintain her balance overtop of the man.

"Keep doing that, she said, I want to see if I can resist
stepping on you for thirty full seconds"

The man's hands stopped.

"Keep doing it, I said," her foot lowered even more, and
once again the man's frantic efforts to keep her foot from
squishing him continued.A tingling sensation that started in
Eleanor's foot, moved up the back of her leg, through her
buttocks and into her back. What she was experiencing was a
new type of ecstasy that she had never before encountered.
She lowered her foot over the man, feeling his bones break,
but only as an afterthought. She was more interested in the
feeling she had experienced, and like someone experiencing a
powerful drug for the first time, immediately wanted more.

* * *

Alex's phone was ringing. She ran into her room and took the
cordless phone from its receiver, walking and talking at the
same time.

Betty bounced up and down in Alex's front pocket. The giant
girl was wearing an over-sized flannel shirt and had been
trying to get this certain girl, Marin, on the phone all
afternoon.

"I wasn't in class 'cause I didn't feel like going, all
right?..."

As Alex descended the stairs, Betty had to hang onto the
fabric as tight as she could to keep from being thrown clear
from her giant protector. Inside the shirt, Betty could feel
Alex's breasts bounce in all directions as she made her way
through the house, occasionally they would hit her, knocking
her around inside the pocket. Alex didn't seem to notice,
and didn't seem to mind not wearing a bra either.

"You can come for dinner. Susan will make whatever we want.
Then I have something to show you. Can you come? All right,
see ya"

Alex paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked down into
her pocket.

"Let's go bother Susan for a while, then later, one of my
best friends is coming over. She's going to love you"

* * *

Marin walked up the path to Alex's house, pausing at the
security gate and pressing the intercom button. A moment
later, a static sounding voice was heard.

"Marin?"

The girl at the gate answered the intercom.

"Yeah, it's me"

After a buzzing sound, the gate opened and Marin proceeded
up to the house. Marin had known Alex for just under a year
and they had become close to one another quickly. Alex knew
right away that Marin hadn't become her friend just because
of her money, and liked her all the more because of it.
Sure, Marin had been impressed at the wealth displayed at
the house. Who wouldn't be? The house must've been six or
seven thousand square feet; all of it nicely furnished.
Still, money is money, and it didn't mean that much to her
when it came down to it.

Marin reached out her hand to knock, but the door
immediately swung open. The girls greeted one another and
entered the house. Marin was an attractive girl, a little
shorter than Alex with jet-black hair and dark eyes. She
always seemed to have an abundance of energy (much like Alex
herself).

"What's cooking, I'm starved"

Alex led her through the house.

"I told you, anything you want"

"What was it you're going to show me?"

Alex tittered. "Patience, young Marin. First we eat"

"Is that Susy chick here? The maid?"

Alex turned to Marin, "She's always here, Mom won't let her
leave"

"Yeah, you were saying. Your Mom's pretty mean to her, hey?"

Alex grinned. "I'm probably the biggest bitch. I forget my
manners sometimes and order her around more than I should"

The two girls walked into the kitchen and immediately came
across Susan. Marin leaned in towards Alex.

"She's not that old, hey?"

Alex wrinkled up her face. "No, I suppose not, at least
thirty five or so, that's old by my books"

Alex walked closer until Susan turned around and saw the two
girls. Susan quickly noticed that Marin hadn't taken off her
shoes from outside and was tracking little bits of mud along
the floor.

"Your friend is going to have to take those off, Alex. I
don't want to have to vacuum again"

Alex turned to Marin who stared at her.

"She likes to wear her shoes. She can wear them wherever she
likes"

Alex turned and headed towards a couch. After sitting down,
she turned to Marin, signaling that everything was okay.

"C'mere Marin"

Marin looked at Susan and couldn't help but laugh at this
awkward situation. After a second, she joined Alex on the
couch, lowering her voice and still stifling a laugh.

"I can't believe you talked to her that way"

Alex stretched out on the couch, putting her feet on Marin's
lap.

"That's nothing, wait till later"

"Can I talk to her that way too?"

Alex nodded.

"Don't see why not"

* * *

Fred, the quietest of the group of shrunken people tapped a
dozing Lindsay on her shoulder. Lindsay looked up and
squinted to adjust to the light.

"Lindsay, sorry to bother you, but the new girl, she - she
wants to see you for a second"

Lindsay tensed.

"Uh, no. Tell her later, once the mall is closed. I'm
sleeping"

Fred turned to look at the group who was mostly huddled
around the new girl, who continued to lie on the ground.

"She says she's tired, wants to do it later"

The response came from the down trodden girl, Julie. It was
the first words Lindsay had heard her say since they had
found her. Lindsay remembered her voice, of course. Well,
maybe not her voice, but the sound of her screams anyway.
The second she spoke, Lindsay tensed up her shoulders.

"Killed anyone lately?"

Lindsay's face twitched with tension. This couldn't go on.
She could deny she was the one, but how long until this new
girl convinced the rest of the group that she was indeed
once one of their very own tormentors?

Instead, Lindsay did the only thing she could do. She stood
up and slowly walked in the opposite direction from the
group. She couldn't safely go far, not even out of their
sight (that would have to wait until the mall closed), but
she definitely wasn't sticking around for the inquisition.

* * *

It was almost nine at night when Eleanor and Susan walked
through the malls. Eleanor (for once) wasn't all that
concerned about the stores closing, but rather what they
might find scurrying around the floor.

"I told you, just keep watching the floors. Here, come here,
we'll sit down and watch"

The two females sat on a bench and stared at the floor of
the mall.

"So we're looking for more of those - things?"

Eleanor passed Susan an annoyed look.

"Yes, those THINGS. Keep your eyes peeled and maybe we'll
get lucky, you never know"

Susan, perhaps bolder than usual since they weren't in the
confines of Eleanor's mansion, decided to ask another
question.

"What, err, I mean - well, what happened to the little man
that you had yesterday?"

Eleanor grinned for a moment then looked over at Susan.

"I squashed him under my big, giant foot"

Eleanor laughed to herself, while Susan couldn't help but
cringe at the thought. She knew that Eleanor wasn't joking.

"By the way, what was my brat daughter doing when you left?"

Susan looked up from the floor.

"She had a friend over. Marin I think it was. I cooked them
dinner and then left. They were going up to Alex's room, I
think"

Eleanor thought about this for a moment.

"Did she still have her little doll-woman?"

Susan nodded.

"I think so"

* * *

"How long will she be gone?"

Alex stopped on the staircase and turned to Marin.

"Who? Susan or my Mom?"

"Both"

"Oh, my Mom knows all about this little secret that I'm
going to show you"

They continued climbing the stairs.

"As for Susan, who cares?"

The girls laughed.

* * *

Betty as she was now called had given up struggling. In
several instances, whenever Alexandra had to go out, go to
the washroom or simply had gotten bored with her, she had
placed Betty inside her penny jar.

Time here was not well spent. The smell of copper all around
her was overwhelming. She did find it ironic however that
such a rich girl would have something as absurd as a penny
jar. Given their size in approximation to her, the years of
the coins were very easy to read. Most were from the
seventies. Betty guessed that this had been given to her.

Alex had never left the lid on the jar, as escape was
impossible anyway. She could never reach the top opening to
pull her way out.

Time would tell. Time to build her trust with the spoiled
rich girl. Once the trust was more firmly established, she
would somehow take her leave and somehow get some help.

The laughing could be heard from all the way downstairs.
Betty knew that Alex was bringing a friend over and
suspected that this was indeed her who was about to enter
the room.

What better opportunity to throw her plan into high gear? No
more reluctance. No more second-guessing what Alex did with
her. If she was to gain her trust, it had to start right
now.


"Ready?"

Marin nodded, smiling.

Alex turned towards the penny jar and lowered it onto her
bed. Coins spilled out the opening, cascading forwards and
carrying Betty out with them.Alex smiled at Betty and
enfolded her giant fingers around her.

"Close you eyes. There will be NO peeking"

Marin did.

Alex turned and lifted Betty before her friend.

"Are they closed tight?"

Marin laughed. "Yes"

"We'll play a guessing game. You have to guess what I have
in my fingers, okay?"

Marin nodded, still grinning.

Betty was being held between two of Alex's fingers. Suddenly
she was moving and Marin's face was growing larger and
larger as Alex moved her closer to her friend's face.

"Kay, first question has to do with smell, all right?"

Marin nodded again.

"Remember, no freaking out, all right?"

Marin protested mildly.

"It's nothing gross, right? It's nothing dirty?"

Alex chuckled.

"Oh no. She's...I mean...it's very clean"

Betty was moved even closer to the giant girl until she
almost rests between her upper lip and her nostrils. Marin's
face twitched slightly, reacting to the touch of this
strange sensation. Betty struggled to keep from panicking.

She had to trust Alex. It was her ticket out of this hell.

Betty decided she wouldn't move and that for the moment, she
would do her best to cooperate. After a few seconds, Alex's
voice was heard again.

"Okay, when I tell you, I want you to smell, okay?"

Marin nodded.

"Okay, do it"

Marin inhaled air through her nose, and Betty immediately
felt her body weight lift slightly from the pull of air.
Eventually Marin exhaled and grinned.

"It smells like...a baby or something. What is it?"

"Marin, you open your eyes and I'll kill you," Alex laughed,
"okay, that was clue one and you were wrong. It's not a
baby"

"Fine. What's next? What's the next clue"

Alex moved closer to Marin.

"Sit down on the bed, it's right behind you"

Marin cautiously sat down on the bed, still keeping her eyes
shut.

"Lie on your back, Alex said, and then pull up your shirt so
I can see your tummy"

Marin laughed.

"No way, forget it"

"Marin," Alex said, getting serious (as serious as she could
be, anyway), "I'm not kidding. Do it"

After a second Marin pulled up her white shirt, exposing her
belly button and her soft stomach.

Alex sat on the bed next to her, still holding Betty in her
hand. It was murder to keep from struggling. It went against
every instinct in her body. If she had known Alex as a full
sized woman, she wouldn't trust her to drive let alone care
for a living human being.

"Okay, are you keeping your eyes closed?"

Marin smiled and kicked her feet on the end of the bed.

"Yes already!"

"Okay then, here it comes"

Alex lowered Betty slowly onto Marin's stomach. Her feet
sank slightly when encountering her soft flesh. It was
almost like stepping in quicksand.

Marin immediately tensed up, knocking Betty backwards where
she fell on her back, her head just about Marin's navel.

"Okay, what the hell is it? I'm dying here!"

Alex held her hand over Marin's eyes and face.

"No looking, remember?"

Marin kicked her feet again and started to laugh.

"It feels soooo weird!"

Alex nodded as if Marin could see her.

"I know, doesn't it?"

Marin stopped and opened her mouth how people do when
they're trying to figure out something in their head.

"It's not a mouse, is it?"

Alex laughed.

"Would I have gotten you to smell a mouse?"

"No, guess not. I don't know then, I really don't know. What
is it? Please tell me?"

Alex plucked Betty from Marin's tummy and stood up.

"Nope. One more test. Turn on your stomach. No wait. Stay on
your back. You can pull your shirt down though"

Marin did.

"This one, you REALLY have to trust me on, okay?"

"Haven't I been already?"

"No but REALLY trust me now, all right?"

Marin nodded and held her eyes shut.

Alex looked down at her one last time.

"Serious?"

"Yes, I trust you completely"

Alex sat down next to her.

"Okay then. I want you to open your mouth"

Marin paused.

"Uh...no, I don't think that's smart, Alex, I -"

"Marin, are we friends?"

After a moment.

"Yes, you know we are"

"Open your mouth"

Marin was struggling to keep her eyes closed.

"For how long?"

"I dunno. Thirty seconds?"

Alex reached out her hand from which Betty dangled and held
it over top of Marin.

"You've smelled it. You've felt it on your skin. Now you
have to taste it"

Marin wrinkled up her face then raised her voice.

"You want me to do this, I'll do it, but so help me, Alex,
you better know what you're doing!"

Alex laughed.

"You'll think this is really cool in about three minutes"

"Okay, do it then," Marin said and opened her mouth.

Alex slowly lowered Betty towards Marin's mouth.

Betty decided that this was too much for her. She turned and
clawed to hold onto Alex's thick, giant fingers. She looked
up at her, pleading with her eyes, but Alex wasn't even
looking at Betty, she was looking at Marin's open mouth.

"Jeez, floss much?"

Marin closed her mouth for a second.

"Shut up and stop screwing around!"

Betty continued to be lowered, closer now, she could she
Marin's huge pink lips, stretched and ready to receive her.
Ready to engulf her entire body.

Alex paused for a moment.

"Remember, just taste. Don't chew and-whatever you do, don't
swallow"

Marin nodded and kept her enormous mouth open.

Alex lowered Betty closer. Her feet touched Marin's lips and
kicked to keep herself from descending any further, but it
was useless. Marin opened her mouth even wider than before,
allowing for Betty to be lowered inside successfully.

Alex grinned down at her as her legs disappeared inside
Marin's mouth.

"Remember Marin, don't panic, all right?"

Marin made a noise that sounded like a yes.

Alex laughed again, mostly at the absurdity of the
situation, wondering if people at school could see they
now...

Betty was getting more and more frantic, grabbing at
anything possible to hold onto. Above her Alex kept laughing
and kept lowering her deeper and deeper. Finally she managed
to get within reach of Marin's front teeth, but they were
covered in a thin film of saliva, making them impossible to
latch onto.

"Okay, that's as deep as she's going, you okay?"

Betty looked up at the giant Alex but realized it wasn't her
that was being asked the question.

A sound, a guttural sound was uttered from Marin's throat.
It vibrated through her mouth. Betty could actually feel the
vibration move through her own body.

"All right, now you can taste her. Use your tongue"

Betty held onto Alex's fingers with all of her might as the
giant slimy tongue began to move and dart out towards her
back and her neck. Her tongue probed her body, trying in its
own way to figure out through taste what it was. Marin
continued to make noises expressing her curiosity as her
tongue darted back and forth.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Betty pulled her
out.

Marin closed her mouth.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Do you know what it is?"

Marin shook her head. "It tastes like someone's finger or
something. It tastes human almost"

Alex bounced on the bed.

"You're right. I can't believe it!"

Marin opened her eyes.

"Yeah, right, as if-"

She stared at Alex's fingers, which continued to hold Betty
prisoner.

"Oh...my...."

Slowly a grin appeared on her face.

"I can't believe it! It's real?"

Alex nodded, smiling.

"Sure is!"

Marin immediately held open her hands, indicating she wanted
to hold the still petrified woman.

"Gimme, let me hold her"

Alex lowered her into Marin's giant open hands. Marin was
borderline speechless. Nothing could have prepared her for
this.

She stared at Betty for another few seconds and then turned
on her back again, passing her back to Alex.

"Let's do it again. This time longer though, kay?"

Marin lay back and opened her mouth like before.

Alex laughed at her friend.

* * *

Lindsay was sleeping more and more often of late. Maybe it
was her way of escaping reality, or maybe the long hikes to
get food for the others had left her tired. The girl in
black, the giant she had met, she was supposed to have come
by now. She was supposed to take her away from this once she
had aligned herself with another group. Where was she???

"C'mon tramp, get up!"

Someone was pulling on her shoulder - correction, someone
was yanking on her shoulder - hard!

Lindsay sat up and did her best to wake up as quickly as she
could.

"What's the matter?"

She gazed at the group, all of whom stood facing her,
glaring downward. The woman she didn't like stepped forward.

"I think you know what's the matter"

Lindsay kicked out her legs and tried to stand. Immediately
she felt someone's arms grabbing her from behind. She
turned; it was one of the men. She couldn't move if she
wanted to.

"Julie finally recognized who you were..."

Lindsay's heart began to beat faster and faster.

"Guess you were one of them, huh? One of the mean ones. Like
to occupy your afternoon by killing that unfortunate enough
to end up like us? HUH???"

The woman was near tears.

Lindsay was out of things to say.

"I don't know what - Y-You're wrong. All of you. I would
never do something like that - NEVER!"

Julie, the girl they had found earlier that day, stood to
her feet and slowly approached Lindsay. As she did, her
finger rose, pointing at her. She too was near tears.

"It was you. You killed my boyfriend. You stepped on him and
ground him into the floor. You laughed as you were doing it.
Do you think I could EVER forget your face?"

Okay, Lindsay thought to herself, considering her situation,
there was no point in lying about it any longer. In fact,
that may make things worse. She slowly raised her face
lowered her voice respectfully.

"What do you want me to say?"

Julie slapped Lindsay in the face.

"There is NOTHING you can say"

She slapped her again.

"You did something none of us would ever have considered
possible from another human being"

She slapped her a third time. Lindsay's face was red from
the blows and burned considerably.

"What can I do...please?"

Julie took another step forwards.

"You can lift your face up for a second and look me in the
eyes"

Lindsay did, but was immediately slapped a fourth time. The
right side of her face was numb.

"Never thought I'd happen to you, did you? Never stopped to
wonder gee, what's with all these tiny people? Why hasn't
anyone been mentioning them?"

Lindsay wasn't even listening anymore. She was in too much
pain from the slaps. Julie saw that she was barely coherent
and kneed her squarely in the ribcage, successfully knocking
the wind from her.

Lindsay gasped to catch her breath, but couldn't do it at
first. The man from behind let go of her arms and she
immediately fell to the floor, wiggling around on her back.
The four of them gathered around her, staring. She saw the
same lack of compassion that she herself must of felt when
she had killed those people.

Things were getting dizzy.

Julie straddled her body and then sat down on her stomach.
Lindsay stared up at her, wheezing, unable to grasp how
angry this woman was.

"Tell me what to - do and I'll...I'll do it, Lindsay
sputtered, tell me"

Julie began to bounce on Lindsay's stomach, forcing more air
out of her. Lindsay continued squirming, looking to the
others for help. She was out of luck.

Julie stopped for a moment when it looked like Lindsay might
lose consciousness. She leaned forward and slapped her one
more time, this time drawing blood from her nose.

At last, this seemed to satisfy her. At least for now.

One of the others looked up to his counterparts.

"What are we going to do with her?"

* * *

It was late at night. Alex had decided that Marin should
stay over for night since (she had also decided) that
neither of them was going to school the next day.

Marin lay in one of three guestrooms on a huge queen sized
bed. She stretched out her legs beyond the sheets and flexed
her toes off the edge of the bed.

It was almost two AM and she couldn't sleep. It had been an
exciting evening. Marin hadn't been able to get over the
fact that her and Alex had played with a woman the size of
her own index finger. It had been the most fun she could
remember having in years.

She looked to the clock on the wall and decided that Alex
must be asleep by now. She had watched as Betty had been
encased once again in the penny jar, knowing full well that
her playtime wasn't over just yet.

She wanted her own time with the shrunken woman.

It was time for a trip to Alex's room.

* * *

Eleanor was halfway asleep when she tossed herself backward
onto her bed, still fully clothed. In each of her hands she
clutched one of the shrunken people that her and Susan had
caught at the mall. It had been a tremendously successful
outing for Eleanor. All in all, the two of them had caught a
GROUND BREAKING eight people, but more importantly, they had
done it with a great degree of cunning, arousing no
suspicion from the other shoppers.

Susan had been very reluctant of course. These people felt
so terribly fragile to her that she was constantly afraid of
hurting one of them. Eleanor on the other hand clearly
relished the festivities, and had squashed three of them
right on the spot. She had claimed it to be an accident of
course, but the huge, pleasure filled grin she wore told
another story.

They had come home and had barely had time to unload them
all when Eleanor had fallen onto the bed, obviously quite
tired. She had instructed Susan to lock her door and under
no circumstances to inform her daughter that there were in
fact, more of them in the house than her own tiny person,
Betty.

Susan didn't know exactly what to do at this point and time.
There were still six of them in a shopping bag they had
carried with them, along with the person in either of her
outstretched hands.

Susan sighed out loud, clearly afraid of doing the wrong
thing. Leaving Eleanor alone like this was likely to anger
her in the morning. Especially if one or more of the little
people escaped. Susan neared the bed and leaned over the
mattress slightly, seeing that already, one of the tiny
people had climbed out from Eleanor's curled fingers and was
running for his life across the rippled sheets.

Suddenly, Eleanor spoke.

"Susan, I'm ready for bed..."

"Uh, yes Ma'am, you certainly are"

Eleanor barely lifted open one of her eyes.

"I need my pajama's. Where are they?"

Susan turned to the dresser behind her.

"They're in your dresser"

Eleanor shifted her weight and flung her half-open hand
across her chest, dashing her one captive man onto the
mattress.

"Ma'am, Susan stuttered, there are two of those little
people on your -"

Eleanor smiled slightly, barely awake.

"Really, she inquired softly, where are they?"

Susan gestured her hand across the mattress.

"They're...somewhere I guess. I can't seem to see them right
now"

Eleanor grinned again.

"Get my pajamas and take off my clothes. I'm very tired"

"Yes Ma'am"

Susan walked and pulled out her silk pajamas and quickly
approached the bed.

Working very quickly, she pulled off Eleanor's pants and
slipped both of her legs into her pajama bottoms.

Eleanor had spied one of the men who was trying to lower
himself onto the floor by way of the bed sheet.

"Are the others still in the bag?"

Susan nodded. "Yes, there's six of them I think"

"Well, we can afford to lose these two then, can't we?"

Eleanor turned over and casually grabbed the man in her open
hand, thrusting him beneath her midsection, where he was
quickly pinned and held in place by her stomach.

"I think I'll just go back to sleep and see if these two
survive until morning"

Susan held her pajama top towards her.

"You'll have to stay here, of course. I don't want any of
them getting away"

"Ma'am?"

Eleanor, even in her sleepy state, became annoyed with
Susan's lack of understanding.

"I don't want either of them leaving my bed, alive
anyways... Got it?"

Susan nodded to her, preparing herself for a long night.

Eleanor grinned once more, before turning over yet again.
The suffocated man lay still, ground partially into the
sheets.

Eleanor yawned.

* * *

A large hand descended quietly into the penny jar. No sooner
had Betty awoken to see it, than it had ensnarled her and
was pulling her upward.

Movement made it difficult to see where the hand was taking
her or to see whom it was that was carrying her for that
matter. She saw blurry images - the door closing, a white
shirt, someone's huge bare feet, then a hand opening yet
another door.

There was silence. Betty was able to turn herself upright in
the hand that had been carrying her.

It was Marin.

"Hi sleepy head," she whispered down at her, "you didn't
think I was done with you yet, did you?"

Betty looked up fearfully at her new capture and a new fear
rose in her stomach. With Alex she could at least predict
what she was going to do. With Marin, things were different.

Suddenly her stomach rose into her throat as she was quickly
being lowered onto the ground. After regaining her composure
and after the dizziness had begun to subside, she lowered
herself from the outstretched hand and climbed gently down
onto the floor.

Betty looked up at her captor, quickly noticing that she
wasn't wearing any clothes underneath her giant oversized
T-shirt. More than slightly repulsed, Betty stepped back
further then further still, until she reached a point where
she could see high enough to see the face of her captor.

Suddenly Marin's left foot was rising in the air. Betty
immediately backed away, not wanting to turn her back for
fear of being trampled.

Marin grinned and continued to hold her foot in the air.

"I'm just stretching, what's the matter?"

Betty remained tense, ready to bolt in either direction.

Marin chuckled to herself and then raised her foot even
higher, exposing her naked crotch.

"You couldn't really do anything if I wanted to step on you,
could you?"

Betty looked up at the giant girl and was suddenly fearful
for her life.

The foot began to move again, this time in Betty's
direction.

"I might not even notice if I squished you..."

Betty bolted. She could see which way the wind was blowing.

Marin's giant foot hovered above her, following her wherever
she ran. When she began to lose her balance, Marin would
simply lower her foot and use the other. It was obviously a
game for her, one that was quickly tiring Betty out.

"What's the matter? Don't want to run anymore?"

Marin lowered her foot again, this time faster. It fell on
top of Betty, easily pinning her to the ground. Betty was
trapped under the sole of Marin's foot. Only her face and
arms protruded from underneath her sole. She banged her
hands against the side of Marin's lower foot, but to no
avail.

Marin, careful to keep her balance, bent forward at the
waist, eager to examine the speck of a woman trapped under
her sole.

"Alex would kill me if I squished you..."

Betty, unable to inhale enough breath to shout back at her,
merely stared at the giant girl.

After a moment, Marin again stood to her full height and
then lowered her hands to pull up her nightshirt. Betty
could do nothing but continue to stare in horror as Marin
stared down over her breasts at the small woman.

After another moment, Marin began to touch herself.

Betty began to cry.

* * *

Marin woke refreshed considering having only four hours of
sleep. She walked into Alex's room, still only wearing a
extra long t-shirt. The sound of the shower crept in from
outside Alex's bathroom. Marin knew she had a few minutes
before she came out. She approached the penny jar and
lowered her face so that she was eye level with Betty, the
woman trapped inside.

"Hi there"

Betty's hands felt the sides of her enclosure, knowing that
if Marin decided to pick her up, that she would have little
to say in the matter.

"Wanna go for a ride with me?"

Marin lifted the penny jar into the air and then bent
forwards, setting it onto the floor at her bare feet. Marin
lowered herself onto the floor and lay down on her stomach.
She pulled the jar closer to her and looked down through the
hole, her mouth and nose

completely filling it. Betty looked up at her huge mouth and
teeth, immediately feeling her hot, unsavory breath flood
into her enclosure.

"Don't bother telling Alex about last night, got it?"

Betty stared up at the mouth.

Marin moved her face so that she could see down into the
jar. A moment later her hand reached down into the jar and
pulled Betty out with it. Marin dangled Betty above the
carpet before setting her down.

"You did hear me, right? I said don't tell Alex about what I
did with you last night"

Marin's mouth opened into a huge grin.

"If you do, I'll find very nasty things to do to you," she
stood to her feet, "who knows, I may even squash you."

Betty looked up at the towering Marin, knowing that it was
wise not to move in these types of situation. So she just
stood there staring at Marin's huge feet and toes. Marin
flexed them and rubbed them, kneading them into the carpet.

The sound of the shower stopped.

Marin squatted next to the tiny woman, exposing the fact
that she still wasn't wearing any underwear.

"Remember what I said, squirt"

* * *

Several in the group were laughing at her. They actually
found this funny. Those in the group, the group Lindsay had
traveled with for two days now, had found her out. One of
them, a woman who was left for dead within a piece of
chewing gum, had pointed Lindsay out, accusing her of once
being the very giant that was responsible.

There was no court session - no formal ceremonies - they had
pronounced judgement and had since treated her like she had
once treated them - like a being of no worth.

Lindsay had been tied up, kicked, punched, sworn at, and
now, left for dead. The group stood a few feet from her. Not
all of them were laughing, mostly Julie, the girl found in
the gum. She too had a mean streak so it seemed and now that
she was in a position to exact her revenge, seemed adamant
about prolonging it as much as she could.

"We should get going, one of them said, you've had your fun,
don't you think?"

Julie turned to the man uttering the words and nodded.

"I suppose you're right, just one more thing though"

Julie ran over to Lindsay, whose hands and feet were both
tied, and stood over her.

"Guess we're going now. Just wanted to say bye-bye
and...also, to give you something..."

Julie straddled Lindsay's body so that each foot rested on
either side of her upturned face. Julie put her hands on her
hips and smiled down at her.

Lindsay stared up at Julie, noticing how huge she appeared.
She imagined in a brief, fleeting moment that this is how
she once looked: tall, impossibly huge and completely able
to man handle anyone who got in her way.

Julie leaned forward slightly, "I want you to remember me by
this, okay?"

She pursed her lips and a moment later, a huge gob of spit
dangled from her mouth. It didn't separate from her mouth at
first, but just hung there. A second later, the string of
spit fell and landed squarely in Lindsay's eye.

Julie laughed and put her foot on Lindsay's stomach.

"See ya around, hey?"

She stepped on Lindsay's stomach, forcing all the air from
her lungs, before stepping off and proceeding towards the
rest of the group.

* * *

Alex stepped out of the washroom and saw that Betty was on
the floor.

"Oh, good morning, she looked up and saw Marin, did you take
her out?"

Marin nodded, "She looked lonely in that big penny jar, she
prodded Betty, nudging her big toe against her, didn't you?"

Betty looked up at the two girls, one on either side of her,
both in bare feet, both impossibly huge. They proceeded to
talk as if she wasn't even there.

"What do you wanna do today?"

Alex shifted her weight from one leg to the next and then
undid her robe, exposing her belly and breasts.

"Well, for starters, I know a certain housekeeper that's
going to wait on us hand and foot"

Marin laughed.

Alex searched for a comb and then let her rob fall to her
feet. This created a small gust of air that Betty felt blow
past her. She looked up to Alex, who was now naked and
wondered if she even had considered that she was in danger
where she presently stood.

Marin looked down at Betty.

"Do you let Betty see you naked all the time?"

Alex sat on her bed, her breasts jiggling considerably as
she settled.

"Do I what?"

Marin stepped over Betty, keeping her positioned between her
two feet.

"Doesn't it bother you for her to see you without clothes?"

Alex laughed out loud and pointed to Betty.

"Who? Her?"

Marin nodded.

Alex hopped off the bed and knelt down beside Betty, taking
her in her open palm.

"Naw, not really. I don't think she minds"

Alex raised Betty up to one of her breasts, close enough
that her face brushed one of her large jutting nipples. A
shudder of tingles ran up her back, surprising Alex at how
good it felt.

Alex looked down between her breasts and addressed Betty.

"You don't mind, do you?"

Betty shook her head and braced both her hands against
Alex's bouncy flesh, hoping to keep from being knocked over
by one of them.

Alex brought her up to her face and her lips.

"We're the best of friends, right Betty?"

Betty nodded as she was pressed against Alex's pink lips,
her head almost engulfed between them for a moment.

"I thought you meant Susan. Am I embarrassed about walking
around nude when she's around"

Marin laughed.

"You haven't done that, have you?"

Alex nodded, blushing slightly.

"Is that wrong?"

"No, it's just that-well, you've got guts"

Alex lowered Betty onto the bed and sat beside her, grabbing
some underwear from the counter nearby.

"We can do it later if you want"

The girls laughed.

* * *

Lindsay decided that this was the worst she had ever felt in
her entire life. Both her arms were tied behind her back and
had long since fallen asleep. She remembered reading
somewhere that if blood didn't flow to certain areas of your
body for a long enough time, that you could stand to later
have that area amputated.

Dried spit had caked her face and had flown into her left
eye, where it coagulated. She hadn't eaten for almost seven
hours and worst of all, she was just about to pee in her
pants...

Shadows of overhead giants had occasionally passed her by,
moving, settling for a moment, only to disappear seconds
later. She couldn't always see them, but could gauge their
presence by the overhead lights, which frequently were
blocked from sight, when their huge, lumbering bodies strode
overtop of where she lay.

Her mind worked quickly, thinking about several things that
she would eventually do. It was courageous, really, that
even in her broken state of filth and bondage, that her mind
still envisioned what she would do once she got out of this
mess. Nasty and dark images traveled through her mind -
images of torture and humiliation - things she would do to
any shrunken person she found.

Only one problem...no, actually two. She was currently bound
with ropes and could barely move, AND, even if she did
somehow manage to get out of her current predicament,
remained the same diminutive size as those she desperately
wanted to stomp.

Another shadow crossed her view of light and stayed in place
longer than most. Lindsay had given up craning her neck to
see who it was. Any movement might attract attention to
herself, and she had firmly decided that if she were to be
stepped on and crushed, that she didn't want to see it
coming. She just wanted it to happen and to happen quickly.

The looming shadow didn't move like the others did.
Lindsay's heart, one that had been beating faster than
normal for the past six hours, beat faster still. Using what
little feeling she had in her upper shoulders, she twisted
her body in an effort to see what it was standing above her.

No one was standing above her, but rather sitting on the
bench above. On either side of Lindsay rested an enormous
black shoe, connecting to two Amazonian-tree-trunk-sized
calves that stretched into the air and disappeared and the
joint where the knees bent. Lindsay froze in her current
position and knew that this wasn't good. When the giant
stood up to walk away, there was a good chance that she
would be unknowingly stepped on and squashed.

Lindsay stopped her pathetic struggles for a moment and
listened, trying to isolate the sounds above from those
sounding from the rest of the mall.

The person above her was talking. It was a female. She was
talking on a phone, maybe? Lindsay used her legs to pivot
her body in a new direction, crying out in pain at the
damage done to her ribs from Julie's body blows just hours
earlier. After a moment of repositioning she stared straight
up the giant's legs and at the bottom of the bench.

A moment later, the voice stopped. Lindsay continued to
watch as a giant hand lowered a cell phone down into sight,
dropping it into a black duffel bag.

Lindsay tensed even more when she heard laughing from above.
Had she been spotted?

Slowly, a face leaned forward into sight, staring down
directly at Lindsay.

Lindsay wouldn't let herself move in panic, convinced that
maybe this girl was staring at one of her shoes.

Nope. She was staring at her. The giant girl laughed again
and lowered her face even more, leaning her upper body down
between her staggered knees. It was then that Lindsay
recognized her. It was the girl in black.

The girl in black laughed to herself, her face now much
closer.

"I gotta tell you. You don't look so good"

* * *

Eleanor descended the spiral staircase.

"Susan!"

Susan rounded the corner, wiping her hands with a dishtowel.

"Susan, don't tell me that my beautiful, well-behaved
daughter actually went to school for once..."

Susan nodded.

"I think she did, ma'am"

"When did she leave?"

"About an hour ago"

Eleanor walked past her into the kitchen. Susan followed
her.

"I didn't think the day would ever come, frankly"

Susan smiled and returned to her dishes.

Eleanor put her feet up on a chair.

"Make me a cup of fresh coffee, will you?"

Susan stopped what she was doing and began to start the
coffee.

Eleanor watched her.

"Did she take that thing with her? That shrunken woman?"

Susan turned.

"I don't think so, no"

Eleanor grinned to herself.

"Good. I'm in need of some afternoon entertainment"

Susan plugged in the kettle.

"Don't you, uh, I mean, you have ten of your own, don't
you?"

Eleanor chuckled at Susan.

"Not any more I don't. They were-lost in duty, if you know
what I mean"

Susan tried to understand and then realized that she didn't
want to.

"Where does she keep that little thing?"

"In her room. In her penny jar, I think"

* * *

Lindsay coughed and sputtered at the strong flow of water
that kept coming at her. She wiggled as best she could and
managed to turn herself onto her stomach, where she
immediately struggled to catch her breath, her face pressed
down into her giant captor's huge, wrinkled hand.

Another hand reached forward and turned off the flow of
water.

Lindsay bounced in her hand as it moved, prompting her to
sit up. Lindsay did, bracing herself with her two arms and
staring directly up at the grinning girl in black.

"I've seen filthy people before, but..."

Lindsay remained on all fours and considered for a moment,
the position she was in and that it might not be all that
better than where she was twenty minutes ago.

"You were supposed to track me down another group," her
voice boomed from above, "I waited where we agreed and YOU
never showed up"

Lindsay raised her voice, trying to be heard.

"I couldn't get away. It would have attracted attention. I
didn't want that"

Lindsay surprised herself when she started to cry in front
of her giant captor. Being held in someone's palm does that
too you.

The girl in black raised her hand and studied Lindsay
closely.

"Look, you're upset, I see that. Still, you've got to give
me a reason not to ship you off too"

Lindsay sputtered.

"Ship me off?"

"What did you think I was doing with all of you tiny guys?
Breeding you?"

The giant leaned back against another countertop.

"I ship to the person who can afford the luxury of owning a
commodity such as yourself"

Lindsay made an effort to stand on the unstable surface.

"You can't ship me off"

The giant grinned.

"Why not?"

"Cause I can find more of them for you. I know where they
hide. I know what time of day they're on the move, I know
all that stuff..."

The giant considered this.

"I believe you. Really, I do. The thing is, I need at least
thirty for Thursday"

Lindsay looked up at her.

"What's today?"

The girl in black laughed.

"Of course, why would you know what day it is? You're the
size of a small chocolate. It's Monday"

Lindsay scrambled to her feet.

"I can do it!"

The girl smiled at her.

"Can you?"

"Yes, yes I can"

The girl set her down onto the countertop. She began to
slowly stroll through the room, talking to Lindsay as she
did, explaining their meeting points and explaining the dire
consequences of what would happen if she failed her. She
talked for a full five minutes. Lindsay just listened to
her, looking around the room and trying to figure out where
it was that she had been taken.On the floor, next to a stack
of shipping crates was a small light fixture. It looked like
an indoor sunlamp for plants, but different enough that it
stood out to Lindsay. Lindsay kept staring at it, careful to
listen to the giant at the same time.

When she was finished, the giant girl had told her that she
could stay and recuperate for the time being. Her work would
begin in the morning. Until then, she would be fed and
clothed and kept safe from outside influence.The giant girl
left her on the countertop with a broken piece of a
shortbread cookie before leaving and locking the door behind
her.

Lindsay stared again at the strange light on the floor and
knew deep inside that she had to investigate further.


Eleanor crept into her daughter's room and closed the door
behind her. She marched straight towards her bed and scanned
the area, quickly spotting the penny jar. Betty was inside,
all right. Still the same small, pathetic woman. Still the
same frightened look on her face.

"Well hi there"

Eleanor picked up the jar and stared inside at Betty.
Eleanor's face broke into a grin as she started to shake the
jar, upsetting Betty and sending pennies shuffling through
her cage.

"I've been through ten of you little squirts in the last 48
hours.

You're number eleven"

Eleanor shoved her huge hand through the opening at the top
of the jar and pulled the kicking Betty out.

"Keep doing that. Struggle all you like. I kind of like it,
actually"

Eleanor set the penny jar back where she found it and then
decided to knock it over, so that it looked like Betty had
escaped on her own.

Eleanor looked down at her handiwork and then looked at
Betty.

"Guess what, it's bath time"

* * *

Susan crept carefully up the stairs. As she neared the top,
she began to think of an excuse that she could mention,
should her whereabouts be questioned. It was 2:30. Typically
she was supposed to be cleaning and paying bills, but when
she had heard laughing from upstairs, she felt obliged to
investigate.

The laughing sound grew louder as she neared Eleanor's room.
Susan, who had her whole life, learned to suspect the best
in people, gradually had learned to fear the worse. She knew
that Eleanor had taken her daughter's toy, her shrunken
woman Betty, and had stolen away to the privacy of her room
- a room that for the past 48 hours, had seen its share of
disappearing bodies. Eleanor had explained to her time and
time again, that it wasn't like they were real people - not
real like she was or like someone on the street.

Susan half bought into this, that is, until she heard one of
them scream. It had been the day earlier, and having
delivered Eleanor's breakfast, Susan had turned to leave.
Eleanor had one of them on the floor and was chasing it
around the room. Susan had wanted desperately to say
something, to interject however she could. She knew however,
that this could very well lead to the end of her job. A job
that paid well - paid very well in fact. How many other
housekeepers were making $58, 000 a year?

Eleanor's loud laugh rang through the hallway a third time.
Susan stopped short of the door and listened, trying to make
out what was happening. There was, however small, the
possibility that if Eleanor could be distracted, that she
could whisk the small, defenseless woman to safety, claiming
that she had somehow gotten away.

* * *

"Oh no you don't"

Betty had succeeded in climbing into one of Eleanor's shoes
in a semi-vain attempt to escape.

"Get out. Get out right now. You don't belong in there"

Eleanor approached overhead, glaring downward into the shoe,
hands on hips. She was wearing pantyhose and a bra.

"That might be fine for later, but I want more fun for a
while."

Eleanor squatted next to her shoe.

"Don't tell me you're tired all ready?"

Betty peered out from the top of the shoe, panting with a
loss of breath. She feigned a smile, thinking that perhaps
this was just a game. Perhaps, like her bratty daughter
Alexandra, that this was nothing more than a girl-girl
bonding experience. Whatever it was, it was scaring her.

Eleanor picked up the shoe, hoisting it to her face. Betty
was jostled around the sole, losing her grip and tumbling
down towards the toe area.

Eleanor turned the shoe upside down and shook it, holding
her free hand out, hoping to catch Betty when she fell out.
Betty eventually did, but landed on the floor instead. Her
body was still for a moment as she had the wind knocked out
of her.

Eleanor could be heard chuckling from above. Betty's fall to
the floor hadn't dampened her enthusiasm one bit. After a
moment, she panty-hosed feet could be heard walking across
the floor, away from where Betty lay. Betty snuck a look
upward, her breath only now returning to her. Eleanor was
facing the other direction and appeared to be unclasping her
bra.

Betty knew that it was now or it was never. She spied a
humidifier that sat on the floor and thought that if she
could make it there in time, that she could eventually cross
to underneath the bed and then later, out of the room all
together.

Betty climbed to her feet and ran, quickly noticing a bolt
of pain traveling through her right leg. That fall to the
floor was obviously worse than it looked.

Behind her she heard Eleanor's voice.

"If you were a little bigger, I'd have you go and draw the
bath water..."

Betty ran faster, her leg beginning to throb.

"...I don't mind doing things for myself though. As long as
its not too often..."

Betty began to run, pausing only for a moment to look back
over her shoulder. Eleanor stood about five hundred feet
away (three or four steps by Eleanor's count) and was now
nude from head to toe. Betty didn't pause to see what she
was doing, but if she had, she would have noticed that
Eleanor was already heading towards her, one giant foot
clapping against the floor then the other, smiling as she
quickly approached.

Betty, thinking there was still a chance, gave it her all.
She pushed harder than she ever had before in an effort to
reach the humidifier.

In the end it wasn't enough. Eleanor's giant hand plucked
her from the floor and Betty rose into the air at a dizzying
speed, catching fleeting glimpses of the room and of
Eleanor's colossal naked body.

Eleanor savored the moment, grinning to Betty.

"You DO want a bath, don't you?"

* * *

Lindsay had scaled the edge of the cabinet she had been
placed on, but in the course of doing so, had scraped her
stomach quite badly. When she finally did reach the floor,
she curled into fetal position and began to cry to herself.
Through her life, she, like anyone growing up, experienced
moments of pain - falling off a skateboard, slicing her
thumb with a paring knife, falling and having the wind
knocked out of her etc. These past three days however, had
been one painful experience after another. If her head
didn't hurt, then she was limping, if her leg felt better,
then her shoulders ached - there didn't seem to be an end in
sight.

She lay there for a good fifteen minutes or so, looking like
a stranded mouse, who hadn't quite been killed by the
mousetrap, but only severely stunned. Her eyes were closed
and she was able to distinguish several sounds coming from
the room. There were the overhead lights, which her captor
had left on, there was also the sound of bubbling water. It
sounded a lot like a fish tank, actually. The third sound
she could only attribute to the strange glowing device that
had led her to scale down the cabinet in the first place. It
was high pitched and was the kind of sound that you would
never pay attention to unless you were alone in a room with
time on your hands.

Lindsay stood to her feet and stared at the strange purple
light. It was warm. She approached the device, walking
across the floor and frequently glancing to the towering
doorframe behind her; careful to hide the second it looked
ready to swing open.

Lindsay began to fantasize. She imagined that once she
approached the device that she would feel a strange tingling
sensation - one that seemed to energize her entire body.
Seconds later she would begin to grow - minutes later she
would find herself, amazingly enough, at her full height.

She continued towards the device and eventually stood
directly underneath it's glowing beam. She stared at the
light for some time, waiting for something to happen.
Slowly, her eyes filled with liquid and she soon began to
cry.

Alone, defeated and in a significant degree of physical
pain, Lindsay fell to the ground and kicked her feet in the
air. She banged her hands onto the cold floor and eventually
lay still.

Fifteen minutes later, she fell asleep.

* * *

"Hold on, I'm going to lift my leg in the air"

Betty clamored upwards, grabbing onto the bottom of
Eleanor's giant bare foot and sinking her arms in between
her toes to support herself. A moment later, her foot rose
from the bath water. Betty watched the smiling giant woman
from her vantage point, between her toes. The hot water and
steam in the air was soothing her.

"Is my skin wrinkly yet?"

Betty, with one of Eleanor's giant toes on either side of
her head, nodded.

Eleanor grinned again.

"I'm going to close my eyes and relax. Don't go anywhere. If
you do I'll drown you, got it?"

Eleanor closed her eyes, and still with the trace of a grin
on her face, lowered her foot so that Betty could stand on
the rim of the tub once again.

A LOUD banging was heard on the door. Eleanor's eyes bolted
open and her head turned towards the noise.

"Mom! Lemme in!"

Eleanor sat up in the tub, sending waves of water towards
Betty.

"I'm serious. I have to talk to you!"

Eleanor's giant, wrinkled hand reached forward and grabbed
Betty from the rim of the tub, and knocking her into the
water.

"Honey, you might have guessed that I'm taking a bath.
Whatever your problem is, it'll have to wait until I'm
finished"

Betty splashed around in the water, trying to grab onto a
section of Eleanor's body. Eleanor, meanwhile, seemed to
have forgotten all about her for the moment, and was more
preoccupied by the voice on the other side of the door.

"Let me in or I'm getting the key"

"There isn't a key to this door. Now please leave. I'll talk
to you in a few minutes"

Betty submerged in the cloudy, soapy water, still kicking
and flailing about. Eleanor's hand scooped her up from
beneath and raised her into the steam filled air, depositing
her onto her stomach, which, because she was sitting up, was
also above water level.

Alex's voice called out again, sounding worried, "I can't
find Betty anywhere"

Eleanor had gotten over the initial shock of hearing her
daughter's voice and realizing that she couldn't get into
the bathroom, grinned down between her breasts at the
shrunken wet woman.

"I'm sure she'll turn up, dear. Give me five or ten and I'll
help you look for her"

Eleanor expanded her stomach so that Betty fell backwards
into the water above her crotch. Betty's struggled once
again to stay afloat, her kicking legs entangling in
Eleanor's pubic hair.

"Better make that fifteen minutes"

* * *

Dreams are cruel sometimes.

Lindsay was convinced that she was having one - a pleasant
but cruel tantalization.

In the dream she was big again. She was normal size. Lindsay
had never been a big girl, but right now, she felt like a
giant-a giant capable of creating disaster wherever she
walked.

Lindsay knew that the dream wouldn't last long and this held
her back from getting too excited. She stood up and looked
down to the floor where she had fallen asleep. Her shoes,
well-worn blue sneakers, looked four times the size as she
remembered her entire body being. Lindsay giggled.

This was quite a dream - far more realistic than most.

Lindsay stretched into the air and noticed a pain shoot
through her shoulders. Her arms froze in their extended
position and an exasperated grin appeared on her face.

This wasn't a dream at all.

She WAS big again.

Lindsay touched her arms. She touched her legs. Everything
seemed normal.

How had this happened? As she stood, motionless, her mind
poured through the possibilities of explanations. How could
this have happened? She began to feel the worn out, beaten
up state that her body was in. Her stomach ached, her
shoulders felt like they'd been dislocated and both of her
legs must have been bruised.

Must have been the adrenaline. She could feel the pain, but
was not bothered by it. Lindsay, whose grin had stretched
across her entire face, causing her to look like a cartoon
character, looked down to the small purple light sitting on
the floor. She could no longer hear its high pitched sound,
not to mention that the light itself was very puny now that
she was her full size. She stared at it for a moment and
thought that she should stay and investigate what exactly
had reversed her size.

But that could be done later.

Right now it was time to get out of this back room.

Lindsay tried the door. It was open. Strange, she thought.
Then again, why would her captor have bothered locking it?
It's not like a two-inch woman could have reached the
handle...

Lindsay pushed the door open and walked out of her
enclosure.

* * *

Alexandra waited in the hallway for her Mother to leave the
house. Eleanor, whose unpredictable daily routine prevented
anyone from guessing when she would arrive and when she
would leave, was finally going somewhere else.

Betty hadn't been seen all day long. Alex knew that she
hadn't escaped from the penny jar by herself. Someone had
helped her. Her first thought had been the cleaning woman,
Susan, but Alex knew better. Susan wouldn't do anything as
bold as this without fearing the consequences.

She wouldn't sneeze without being told to.

That left one person - her Mother.

Alex loved her Mom very much but at the same time, had never
fully trusted her. If anyone had done something with Betty,
as crappy as it made her feel, it was her own Mom.

Alex stood on her toes to see her Mom's Mercedes pull from
the house. She waited a full three minutes after that,
wanting to make sure she was gone for a while.

* * *

Alex searched her Mother's room, pulling up sheets and
looking under furniture. Her search of the bedroom lasted
twenty-five minutes.

In that time, she found nothing.

Alex entered her Mom's extra large bathroom, which was more
than the size of a bachelor's apartment. Alex sat on the
toilet seat, defeated.

There was no use. Her shrunken woman had vanished.

After a moment, she began to cry.

Alex looked through the bathroom anyway, searching through
the drawers, the shelves and eventually worked her way to
the wastebasket.

This wouldn't be fun.

Oh well, she thought, she could always have Susan clean it
up for her.

Alex overturned the wastebasket and dumped the contents onto
the floor. Kleenex and strands of hair were everywhere. Alex
gagged at the thought of touching any of it, so instead,
poked at it with a comb from the shelf above.

It was a shock of course when she found Betty.

Though she was determined to go through her Mom's entire
room, she never actually thought that she would find her.

Betty had been lying inside a toilet paper tube. She was
white, she was still. Alex cried out and immediately picked
her up, being as gentle as she could.

She raised the woman to her face. Betty looked even smaller
than before. Maybe it was the state she was in.

"Betty?"

The woman did not move.

"Answer me, please?"

Betty's arm flopped forward, landing against her chest. Alex
wasn't sure if this meant she was alive or if her arm had
merely fallen across her body.

"Are you alive?"

Betty's eyes blinked, but she could not turn her head.

Large tears of relief strolled down Alex's giant face. She
never knew how fond she had gotten over this woman until
this very moment.

Alex stood to her feet, cupping her hands and slowly walking
from the bathroom.

She would get food, water, shelter - whatever it took for
Betty to get better. How would she feed her? An eyedropper?
That was a good idea.

Alex strolled slowly into her bedroom and lay the delicate
Betty onto her bedspread.

"I'll be back, okay?"

It was time to have a little conversation with Susan.

* * *

The girl in black wasn't actually wearing black today.

She was wearing gray.

She was humming to herself when she walked into the storage
room, her eyes immediately noticing that tiny Lindsay was
not where she had left her.

She wasn't that surprised, actually. It had been over twelve
hours.

Did she really expect her to stay in one spot?

Everything would be fine. The light was on the floor and far
out of reach. Nothing could have happened as far as that was
concerned.

The girl in black began to search for her.

"Lindsay...come out, okay? I have to ask you something"

She continued to search, eventually setting down the small
plastic container behind her. The container was to transport
Lindsay. If she could be found that is.

The giant became nervous.

Where was she?

Where had she gone?

* * *

Lindsay was a giant.

She was huge.

Most of the people she walked by in the mall were her own
size. Some were even larger. To Lindsay however, she was the
biggest of all of them.

It was three in the afternoon as Lindsay strolled down
towards the food court. It was the first time she had done
so in over three days. Every step she took would have taken
her thirty steps at her previous size. But now that she was
a giant, things were easy.

Her status as a Giant was only applicable if she were to
stumble across any of the tiny inhabitants of the mall.

THAT was exactly what she planned to do.

It was time for a bit of revenge.

Time to show them who's boss.

Several people that passed her, turned to stare.

"What is that young girl smiling at, anyway?"

* * *

Susan was on her hands and knees, scrubbing the front
entrance floor. Alexandra saw her from the top of the stairs
and quietly descended, stopping directly in front of her.

"Susan, we're going to have a little talk"

Susan looked up at Alexandra. In an instant, she knew that
the girl had found out what her Mother had done with Betty.

"I take it th-that you found out?"

Alex stared down at her.

"You mean that you knew?"

Susan nodded slowly.

"I wanted to tell you. Really! She would have fired me, she
would have-"

"Susan, I want you to listen to me, Alex interrupted, you're
going to tell me everything. Where my Mom found Betty, how
she found Betty, whether you were with her, y'know, those
sorts of questions..."

Susan began to babble.

"I-I don't think that I-"

"Then you're going to tell me where she's been spending so
much time the past few days and why exactly she took Betty
from me".

Susan looked at her blankly.

Alex took a step towards her.

"If you don't tell me exactly what I want to know, you're
going to be in a whole lot of trouble, understand?"

Susan nodded.

"I'm not sure you do, actually. Let me be more specific.
I'll make your life here a living hell. You'll beg to be
fired when I'm done with you. You'll be cleaning up after me
all day, everyday. You'll do everything short of...and maybe
including...wiping my ass"

Susan nodded again, swallowing nervously.

"Start at the beginning and let's you and I figure out a way
for me to make Mom pay for what she's done..."

* * *

Eleanor was in all her glory.

She had had a wonderful morning: a big breakfast, followed
by a work out in her own private exercise room, a shower and
to top it all off, a forty-five minute "session" where she
had masturbated with her daughter's shrunken woman, Betty.

It might surprise you to know that this actually bothered
her for five minutes or so. She HAD felt real, legitimate
feelings of guilt - not so much about the shrunken person
she had killed (hell, she'd done away with over fifteen of
them in the last four days), but more for her daughter,
Alex.

She will be heartbroken, she thought. This thought could
have occurred earlier, of course, but in the throes of
sexual arousal, things fall by the wayside.

Still, to make herself feel better, Eleanor decided that she
wasn't leaving the mall until she found another one for her.

It would have to be a girl, since Alex seemed to like that.

Sitting at an oyster bar, with her two friends, Heidi and
Jill, Eleanor was getting a little drunk.

"One more", she signaled to the bartender, who had been
talking on the telephone for the last five minutes.

Eleanor looked to her two friends, both equally on their way
to being blitzed, and frowned.

"Must be an important call..."

Heidi, a former Olympic trainer, blew a long stream of
cigarette smoke in the bartender's direction.

"Hey, more drinks. Today maybe?"

Eleanor and Jill giggled at her forwardness.

"Yeah, Jill chimed in, do it and I won't rake my nails up
and down that pretty throat of yours"

More laugher.

The bartender soon hung up the phone and approached the
three ladies.

"Sorry about that, th-there's been some sort of evacuation
call for the West End of the mall..."

Eleanor wrinkled up her face.

"What for?"

The bartender began to refill her glass.

"Quarantine or something...some people have gone missing. A
lot of people..."

Heidi burst out laughing.

"Hey, it IS a big mall"

Jill piped up; "Does that mean you're closing too?"

The bartender filled her glass again as well.

"Nope. Not yet at least. He did say that he'd keep me posted
though. Something's up, ladies. Don't know what it is, but
it's big..."

Eleanor began to wonder if it had something to do with the
small companions she had been finding.

Jill laughed it up and lit another cigarette. Behind her,
several armed guards ran through the mall in the opposite
direction.

Jill stopped laughing.

For the first time, the three of them decided to pay
attention to what exactly the hell was going on.

* * *

"Maybe you could do everyone a favor and drive the speed
limit..."

Susan looked nervously over to Alexandra who sat opposite
her, not wearing her seatbelt.

"When I drive, I drive safely, okay?"

Alex hurled her body back against the seat and sighed
loudly. She put her feet up onto the dash.

"I've made the drive in forty minutes before, she glances at
the speedometer, at this rate, it'll take an hour"

Alex saw that Susan wasn't about to argue with her, so she
stayed quiet for a second, thinking about what she was going
to do to her Mother.

A Mother she had trusted.

What could she do, really? She didn't know. Whatever it was,
it would be memorable...

* * *

Lindsay stood at a fast food outlet, staring, like many
others at the occasional guard who ran through the mall.
Lindsay wasn't an idiot. She knew what was going on. She
knew that some Government official had FINALLY connected the
dots and figured out that people had been going missing at
the mall for almost a week now.

Lindsay looked through the food fair and noted the distinct
lack of crowd that was usually there. Strange, she thought,
it was almost lunchtime.

Strange, unless...

Lindsay smiled to herself and walked away from the outlet.
People were still shrinking. More than ever!

"Ma'am, that's two dollars, please", someone called from
behind her.

Lindsay hadn't paid for her drink. She turned around and
looked over her shoulder for the origin of the voice, but
saw no one.

Lindsay approached the counter, hungrily hoping for what she
suspected had just happened.

"I've got my two dollars...hello?"

Lindsay leaned over the counter as far as she could -
nothing. She leaned further, kicking her feet into the air
and pulling herself over the counter, so that she stared
down at the floor on the other side.

She was right.

She'd seen plenty of shrunken people before, but this was
different. This person had just shrank before her very eyes.

It was - exciting. Lindsay wanted to take advantage of this
situation, to take advantage of the person's lack of
understanding of what had just happened to him.

She pulled herself the rest of the way over the counter and
swung her legs over the side.

Two colossal sneakers landed on the floor, staggered a two
feet apart from one another. Lindsay stared down at the
shrunken man, who hadn't yet fully accepted what had
happened to him.

He just sat there.

Lindsay looked further back to the small kitchen,
approaching, confident that this little man wasn't going
anywhere fast.

"Hello?"

The sound of bubbling fat and the smell of grease.

"No one else here?"

Lindsay figured that they had shrunk too.

She took a handful of French fries and stuffed them into her
mouth, grinning and walking back to behind the front
counter. Fewer people were in the mall than the last time
she had looked (not more than two minutes ago).

Something was happening all right.

"Where's the little man I saw?

Lindsay rounded the corner, stood over him and the feeling
returned.

It was a powerful feeling; one that sent miniature shivers
up through the back of her legs, through her buttocks, then
dissolving into her spine. A man, one-one hundredth her size
was sitting in front of her right sneaker. There was nothing
he could do. He could scream, he could try and stop her; he
could even run...

None of those things would stop what she wanted to do.

Lindsay pivoted her shoe on its heel, moving the toe section
overtop of the man.

"Oh, look a mouse. Hope the food inspector doesn't see you"

Her shoe descended and she crushed him flat, grinding her
sneaker into the floor.

Lindsay's heart rate was up. She looked back to the food
fair and smiled. Several more armed guards ran through the
mall. The few that were left had gathered their belongings
and were visibly worried.

"Don't worry about them, she said to herself, worry about
me"

Lindsay hoisted her body over the counter top and walked
towards the multitude of chairs and tables.

* * *

"He was here a second ago. Right there in front of me,
pouring a drink..."

Jill's words slurred from her mouth. She was sufficiently
sloshed.

Eleanor, the only one of them that had an incline of what
was happening, looked at Jill.

"Well, he ain't there now, is he?"

Heidi climbed off her chair and picked up her purse.

"C'mon, this isn't funny. Something's happening"

She looked both ways.

"We should go. We should go while we still can..."

Eleanor tossed back the remainder of her drink and nodded.

"Suppose you're right"

Another guard ran passed them, practically knocking Eleanor
over. He was calling out something into a walky talky. There
was great concern in his voice.

"Watch where you're going, creep!"

Eleanor brushed herself off and turned to Heidi. Heidi
wasn't there anymore. She turned to Jill.

"Where's Heidi?"

Jill took a step forward.

"Heidi? Maybe one of those guards took her?"

"Don't be an idiot, she was standing there a second ago..."

Eleanor began looking at the floor, scanning this way and
that.

Jill rubbed her head; the effects of the alcohol were in
full gear.

"What the hell are you looking for down there?"

"I'm looking for Heidi"

Jill clutched her head again.

"Let's just go, she must've gone her own way. She's like
that. You know that"

Eleanor was reluctant to go anywhere, though she knew that
if she stayed, she risked the same thing happening to her.
Heidi had been a friend, yes, but frankly, taking her home
with her and giving her to her daughter as a plaything was,
well, it wasn't a bad idea. It stirred something inside of
her.

Jill, seeing that Eleanor wasn't about to leave anytime
soon, started down the mall. She shoved one of the bar
stools out of her way, then, unknowingly, began to head
straight for the shrunken version of Heidi.

Heidi hadn't fully yet understood what was happening, and
had vomited onto the floor, confused and alone. She didn't
see her friend coming her way, but she had heard her. When
she looked up from her pool of filth, it was too late.
Jill's limousine sized shoe had engulfed her and squished
her to a pulp.

Jill pivoted, grinding her friend into the floor.

"Last chance, she said to Eleanor, I'm leaving. I'm going
now. I'm not coming back and I'm-"

Her voice was silent.

Eleanor knew the routine by now. Her neck flexed and her
eyes shot towards the last place she had seen her.

Three steps later, Eleanor stood overtop of her friend,
glowering down at her.

"Well, what happened to you?"

Eleanor put her hands on her hips and chuckled.

"You've been to my house before, haven't you?"

Behind Eleanor, two more guards ran past her, disappearing
around the corner.

* * *

Alex stared from the car, looking wide-eyed at the shopping
mall. Barricades had been set up at several entrances. More
were on the way by the looks of it.

"Here. Park here, no - wait, there. Park there"

Susan guided the car to a stop and parked.

"Get out, get out and follow me"

Susan looked at the mall and at the every growing military
presence. Her face sank.

"I'm not going in with you. Can't you see what's happening?"

Alex stepped towards her, "Susan, get your ass out of the
car, or so help me..."

Susan shook her head a second time.

"No"

Alex knew when to pick her battles. This wasn't one that she
chose to fight at this moment. Her eyes scanned the parking
lot. Cars were pulling away, some bumping into others. Cars
were honking from all directions.

"Susan, I-"

The car took off, speeding away and turning out of the lot.

Alex turned and faced the mall. She would go inside by
herself. No big deal.

* * *

Three armed guards stood screaming at each other, each
unable to contain themselves. One had his rifle drawn and
was pointing it at another. It was clear that they were
beginning to lose it.

A giant, sneaker clad foot stretched overtop of the
barricade that only moments ago, the three guards had
erected. Two of them saw it descend. The other didn't. He
was squashed first. The shadow loomed briefly as the giant
girl stretched her leg as far as she could, the fell on the
man, snuffing him from existence in barely a second. The
remaining pair stared upwards as the giant girl stood,
unaware, above them.

It was Alex. She had made it into the mall. Other guards
were approaching behind her, but seemed cautious when it
came to following her inside. Alex looked down the mall, not
for a second stopping to consider the lives that now stood
at her feet, craning their necks and trying fruitlessly to
comprehend her enormous size.

Her leg began to move and her sneaker lifted off of the
crushed soldier, revealing a thick pulverized paste in its
wake. They turned their heads to watch her stride further
into the mall.

One turned to the other.

"She didn't even notice us"

His partner started to sob, falling next to his squished
comrade.

* * *

Lindsay was throwing and tossing chairs from the food fair.
Every chair that was in her way was a barrier that had to be
removed.

Her eyes focused on the floor, trained for any sign of
movement.

What happened next almost knocked her off her feet.

They were everywhere. She hadn't seen them at first, since
the tiled floor had provided its own sort of camouflage. She
saw them now, though. There must have been dozens, maybe
more. They were scurrying every direction imaginable,
running, walking, screaming...

Lindsay regarded the people at her feet and a sense of power
rushed though her body.

I'm an exterminator, she thought.

* * *

Okay, this was getting a little much, Eleanor thought to
herself, making her way through the corridors of the mall.
The idea of armed guards was kind of interesting at first,
kind of neat to watch -now it was getting scary.

Every minute it seemed that there were more and more of
them, swarming, running past her, sometimes screaming in the
distance. She knew that the opportune time to be in the mall
was dwindling.

She knew she should probably leave - now.

Her intent was to stay at the mall until she had gathered at
least a dozen more of these little things. Somehow, given
the foot traffic of men carrying large guns, she'd changed
her mind. Jill would have to do. If they were seizing the
mall, or whatever it was they were doing, she might be the
last little person that Eleanor would find. The thought was
a bit depressing.

Eleanor looked down to the small captive in her hand. She
had been carrying her for a few minutes now, curling her up
in her hand in a way that was completely inconspicuous.

"Guess we should go, huh?"

Her friend Jill, dizzy from the movement in Eleanor's hand,
stared blankly ahead, her hands wrapped around her enormous
fingers, still trying to get her bearings. Eleanor smiled
down at her.

"Jill dear, trust me on this, you're going to love it at our
house. You'll have the run of the whole place. You just
won't be..."

She paused, managing to grin.

"...you won't be quite as big as the rest of us, that's
all".

Eleanor laughed at the joke she had made.

* * *

He would never forget the fear that he now felt. He was one
of the few that would survive this ordeal and live to tell
about it. It would be weeks, months in fact before he could
ever begin to describe the fear he was presently
experiencing.

Noel had made it into the mall as ordered. They weren't
given too much explanation, except that something very
strange was going on and that they were to evacuate the
shoppers as quickly as possible. Well, that was earlier.
That was before things really got weird. His companions,
Nick and Marc, two soldiers he had only met this morning,
had both disappeared. They were there, then they weren't he
would later say. It happened so quickly that a detailed
account of what transpired was difficult.

It happened to him, too. After searching for his
counterparts for a few minutes, his radio signaled that
soldiers were assembling at the West End for further
instructions. Not knowing what else to do, or where else to
look, he began to run. His slow jog, inhibited by his bulky
body armor and utility belt, kept him from sprinting. He
sprinted anyway. The adrenaline running through his body
gave him the momentum to run faster than he ever had before.
That was when it happened.

The ceiling grew. The overhead lights rose into the air.

His feet fell from under him.

He collapsed.

He had shrunk.

* * *

Lindsay was chewing on a submarine sandwich and stomping
through the food court. To the naked eye, it would appear
that a girl in her early twenties was merely knocking over
chairs and acting obnoxious.

That wasn't quite the case.

Shoppers - men and women scattered along the floor. They
were running for their lives. Not many people actually can
say that - that they were actually running for their lives.
These people were though. It had never been more true than
it was here, in the food court.

Lindsay continued taking giant, exaggerated steps,
occasionally running and stomping a man or a woman she had
spotted. Sometimes they would evade her. Imagine that, a
tiny person, not taller than a small coffee cup, being able
to outmaneuver a huge, sadistic girl, hell-bent on their
destruction. It actually happened a few times. They would
dive behind the leg of a chair or hide underneath a
hamburger wrapper left on the floor. Those that did manage
to avoid the rubber soles of her mammoth sneakers were few -
far fewer than the forty-three that didn't.

Lindsay gulped down more of her sandwich while continuing to
destroy those scurrying on the floor.

* * *

Within fifteen minutes, Noel had regained his senses and had
accepted what had happened to him. He was small, yes. Very
small. But not entirely incapable. Noel cringed at the
stomped and squished remains of those he came across. It was
hard to take, for sure.

A loud hollering voice was heard above him.

Noel turned to see the giant Alexandra turn the corner and
head in his direction. It was clear she was looking for
someone.

"Mom!"

Alex stopped at the mall's intersection, directing her voice
in as many avenues as possible.

"Are you here or not?"

The stomping got louder, if he didn't know better, he'd
swear the ground had shook as she ran by him, her sneakers
squeaking on the cold floor. Just when he thought she'd
gone, she turned back, as if spotting something. Noel ran to
get closer, exhaustion causing his sprint to downgrade to a
jog.

She was looking at something. Something on the floor at her
feet. Noel continued to run, seeming to approach the giant
girl at an astonishing slow rate.


Alex stared at her feet, frozen. There were people down
there.

Three of them, waving their arms, shouting, screaming up at
her. Several more hadn't been as lucky. Their squashed
remains coated the bottom and corners of her sneakers,
creating a truly disgusting paste.

Alex was in a daze, not knowing fully what she was doing at
this point. The events of the past few moments washed over
her, not sinking in yet. The moment where she stood, staring
down at them, open eyed, mouth open in shock, seemed to last
forever.

Then it was over.

Her foot raised into the air, seemingly twenty, maybe thirty
feet, but in reality, only a few inches. It extended
forwards, stretching, pointing and then connecting with the
floor once again, flexing and tensing as it carried her
forward, knocking two of the tiny people over. Part of her
couldn't deal with this right now, and accordingly, was
fleeing the scene. A moment later, as suddenly as she had
appeared, she was gone.

* * *

The group was running - all of them. Gone were the times of
caution. Gone were the group plans that unanimously agreed
on what and how they would do things. Now, they were fleeing
the scene as quickly as they knew how.

The events of the past few hours (and days for that matter)
had shaken them all. Looking and moving through the giant
corridors as they had been doing, they had become aware of
the soldiers who had joined them, sharing their fate.

They were sparse at first, running to them and asking
questions. What's happening? How long? Why? Questions that
despite being shrunk for over four days now, none of them
could answer. Some of the group took comfort, that despite
their size, they were now accompanied by armed guards - even
if they were the size of insects.

Together they ran, turning corners with hesitation, not
knowing what they would next encounter.

That is when they saw her. A giant girl, lying still on the
floor of the mall. Was she dead? Why hadn't she shrunk like
the rest of them?

Should they approach?

* * *

Eleanor could see the exit of the mall. She could see the
bright daylight beaming in through the glass windows - her
freedom - her safety. Why was it that she wasn't running in
that direction? Simple really. She had found more of them.
Lots more.

She stood, transfixed at the sight, bending her knees
slightly and staring downward. Seven, eight, nine, ten -
there were ten in all. They stared up at her, expectantly,
as if to say, 'Won't you help us?' 'Can't you see what's
happened?'

Eleanor grinned, still not making a move. She wanted to
savor this feeling - the feeling of power that grew from
having grown adults begging, screaming at your feet, their
lives completely under your control of your slightest whim.

Eleanor raised her hand to her face, uncurling her fingers
and glowering at Jill.

"Guess you'll be having company after all"

Eleanor looked down at the men one more time, thinking that
if they knew where she was taking them that they would have
run off in different directions long ago. But no, they had
stayed, trusting that the giant woman would help them.

Eleanor squatted suddenly, her hair spreading over her
shoulders and the leather in her shoes creasing as they
bent. Her hands darted out quickly, or at least it seemed
quickly to the soldiers. In reality, it was as easy for
Eleanor as plucking pedals from a flower. Seconds later, all
but one had been jammed inside her purse. It was a tight fit
for sure, but no one said this would be a dream resort.

The tenth man had begun to run, unconcerned with the
direction he was heading. He had been overlooked by Eleanor
and in the final moments of his life, thought that he had
escaped his capture. Eleanor took a step forward, her
attention still focused on the confines of her purse.

The man turned and saw the sole of her shoes travelling
quickly towards him.

Her leather shoe fell on the man and ended him.

* * *

Caution had given away to curiosity. What they did now,
given the circumstances, they would never have done a day,
or even an hour ago.

The group of tiny, shrunken people had approached this
fallen giant and had surrounded her, wondering what to do
next. All in all, there were twenty-three of them, each one
equally worried, equally hoping that the giant's appearance
would somehow signal their freedom.

* * *

Lindsay bit her lip. She hadn't lied this still for so long
in ages. What was worse, was that they were poking her. She
didn't want to appear dead, but rather passed out or
fainted. To complete the illusion, she would twitch a
section of her body every few seconds or so, just to make
sure.

Someone had scaled her pant leg, maybe more than one person,
no, it was two or three of them. Lindsay bit her lip harder
than before, trying hard not to sit up and smash the whole
lot of them. This way, postponing it a while, would be more
fun.

Lying still allowed her to focus her hearing on what they
were saying. None of them recognized her yet, which was
good. Of course, she remembered that being that size her
self, that recognizing the grotesque, gigantic proportions
of someone more than fifty times their regular size was
tough at the best of times. A nose that you've seen a
hundred times and could instantaneously recognize, was not
the same nose at all, when it was the size of refrigerator.

Their voices carried on, most of them sounding quite worried
at the recent turn of events. Lindsay listened, managing to
figure out that the group thought that eventually she would
shrink too, seeing that everyone else had. It was only a
matter of minutes. Ah, she

thought, but that's not going to happen...

The two or three sets of legs continued scaling her gigantic
soccer field sized body and had made it up to her kneecap,
which quivered slightly when they stepped over it. One
person almost lost his balance by the sounds of it. Still,
they carried onwards, now moving and walking across her
thighs. Their voices were too distant to make out, but
Lindsay marveled at their lack of caution, their sense of
adventure in scaling her body like this.

She twitched her hand slightly, hearing the voices next to
her head shout their concern to those making their way up to
her face. One man slipped and fell when walking across her
waist, slipping and tumbling, eventually grabbing onto the
denim seams of her pant leg. He scaled himself upwards,
facing directly into her crotch, before standing and
continuing with the others.

Her stomach proved to be difficult for them, since it
yielded slightly beneath their weight, each of them sinking
slightly into the soft manifolds of her skin.Lindsay grinned
to herself, then quickly retained her sleeping face, hoping
that none of them noticed. They didn't, because they were
now approaching her breasts and had stopped for a moment.
She could now make out what they were saying.

"Just go between them - go on"

Then another voice, "I'm only going if you two come with me"

The three pairs of legs proceeded, their tiny feet marching
up her breast plate and between her breasts, eventually
looking down her chin and to her face. Lindsay remained
still, not wanting to knock them off - not yet anyway.

"What now?" one of them asked.

"Try poking her neck with your gun"

Lindsay now realized that these three were soldiers. A
moment later, she felt the small prick of an object poking
at the soft skin of her neck, beneath her chin.

She couldn't hold back any longer. Her mouth opened into a
huge grin, exposing her large white teeth and her long red
tongue. Her neck bent and her head rose so that they were
looking directly into her eyes.

The three froze in terror.

"Hi guys"

* * *

Funny how things work out, Eleanor thought. She had come
into the mall desperate to catch two, maybe three more of
the tiny people.

Now she had a dozen of them. Not only that, but most of them
were soldiers. Soldiers that ten minutes ago, had ran
through the mall, looking so regimented, so official, so
potentially dangerous...

Not now.

Now the whole group of them were just a small protrusion in
her purse.

A voice called out to her - a familiar voice - the voice of
her daughter.

****.

Eleanor turned to find the sound of the voice. It was
Alexandra.

"What are you doing here?"

Alex approached closer, walking steadily.

"Honey, it's not safe. Haven't you seen the soldiers?"

She shifted and cleared her throat. "Something bad is
happening"

Alex approached further, still not saying anything to her.

"Alex, what's wrong?"

"You took Betty, didn't you?"

Alex's voice was a bit shaky. The sights in the mall had
upset her.

Eleanor picked up on this immediately and tried to distract
her.

"Betty? You mean your doll?"

Alex nodded, "You know exactly who I'm talking about"

"Honey, I may have seen her running though the halls of our
house, but that was...days ago. When did she go missing?"

Alex walked closer to her. Eleanor backed up from her
daughter.

"You took her and used her like - like a play thing"

"Alex, you're not making any-"

"YOU LEFT HER IN YOUR TRASH BASKET! I found her!"

The distant sound of sirens could be heard from outside the
mall. The two women stared at each other for a moment.
Finally Eleanor spoke again.

"Honey, none of that matters, she opened her purse and held
it towards her, here, look in here"

Alex looked down and saw the cramped soldiers, some upright,
others upside down - clearly uncomfortable - clearly scared.

Eleanor stared at her daughter. Alex wasn't buying it. She
didn't care about the new playthings. She couldn't see the
possibilities, the fun they could have with their own tiny
army.

Eleanor turned towards the door.

"Enough of this. We can talk about it when we get home. You
shouldn't have come here, can't you see that it's-"

Her Mom disappeared.

Alex stared for a moment, having never seen it happen
before. She stepped closer, looking at the purse, it's
occupants spilling out and climbing to their feet.

She stepped closer still, her sneakers stopping just short
of the fallen purse. Two soldiers didn't survive the fall
and lay still, twisted. The others were scrambling in all
directions. Alex prodded the purse with her foot, nudging
it.

There, on her hands and knees was her Mom. She was on the
floor and she was the size of a mouse.

Alex stared long and hard at her Mother, contemplating her
next action.

* * *

Small pin pricks. That's the best way to describe being shot
at by a two-inch tall soldier. Lindsay leaned on her elbows,
content to allow the soldiers to continue firing at her. It
did sting a bit, but the bullets were no where near forceful
enough to penetrate her skin. She would continue to lie
there for a moment and allow them to see the futility of it
all. She let them continue firing until they had run out of
bullets.

Lindsay looked at them and laughed. "That's all you guys
got?" Her fingers curled into a fist and slammed downward,
squashing two of the soldiers flatter than a pancake. "See
what I can do?" The crowd of them (those who hadn't already)
began to flee. Lindsay stayed on her stomach, tired of using
her shoes as her only weapon. She scuttled her body along
the tiled floor. Even crawling on her belly she was faster
than any of them. Then she stopped. Her eyes widened.

"Hey, I know you"

Her hand shot out towards the fleeing crowd, trying to grab
one of them in particular. She missed.

"C'mere. I only wanna talk"

Her giant hand shot out a second time, her giant fingers
encasing the person and lifting it easily into the air and
over to her face.

It was Julie.

Lindsay stared at her for a moment, grinning at her
helplessness and at her own good fortune. What were the
odds? Seriously?

"You remember me, don't you?"

The tiny woman in her hand squirmed with all her might, not
answering her at first. Lindsay reveled in the thought at
how she barely had to concentrate to hold her captive. It
wasn't even an effort!

"How did you-how did you return to normal" the woman spat.

Lindsay propped herself up onto her knees and then stood to
her full, colossal height.

"Well now, that's my business, isn't it? What's important
for you to know is that it's not going to be happening to
you. You're going to stay this size. So am I. I'm going to
stay this size. That makes me a giant and you a shrimp"

Lindsay laughed again, staring at Julie and thinking to
herself.

Then she began to walk, carrying Julie in front of her face.
Her giant feet enveloped two more of them, a man and a
woman, as she moved forward, completely unaware that her
every step was causing destruction below.

"You kicked me, you punched me, you slapped me, you even
spit on me, remember?"

Julie was shaking, not knowing what to say.

"Let's see, what could I do to return the favor?"

Lindsay rounded a corner near one of the exits. In the
distance, she spotted a girl roughly her own age, standing
by the doors. She was normal size as well. Lindsay didn't
recognize her, but saw that she too had captured her own
tiny person.

"Hi" Lindsay called out.

The figure turned, mostly in silhouette, staring back at
Lindsay.

"Hi" Alex called back. A moment later, Alex hurried from the
mall.

* * *

A long, thick gob of spit hung from Lindsay's lips. She
wasn't in any hurry for it to break either, but was more
content to let it gain its own momentum, which would in turn
carry it downward to the floor.

Julie lay on the ground, just in front of Lindsay's two
giant feet. Lindsay had told her that if she moved, that she
would be promptly stepped on. She was inclined to believe
her at this point.

The spit continued to hang but started to lengthen and to
break away from her big lips. A string of spit now hung from
her mouth, and even through it was quite hard to make out a
giant's face from that far away, Julie could tell that
Lindsay was using considerable restraint to keep from
laughing.

Finally the string of spit broke. Julie saw it coming and
closed her eyes, a moment later (a very brief moment) it
struck her on the chest, splashing up onto her face and
knocking the wind out of her. It had felt like someone had
dropped a phone book on you from five feet-it was that
powerful.

Lindsay stared down at her, delighted that she had made
contact on her first try. Julie tried wiping the film of
saliva from her face and eyes, since she couldn't see at the
moment. Had she been able to see, she would have made out
the ribbed textured surface of the bottom of Lindsay's
enormous shoe, which was now looming overtop, threatening to
step downward. She would have seen the torn remnants of
previous victims, the smushed french-fry and the tiny bit of
napkin wedged perfectly into the grooves.

But she didn't see any of this.

When Julie opened her eyes, Lindsay had already decided to
keep Julie for her own. She figured that this type of
revenge would be much sweeter than merely stomping her.
Stomping was such a temporary sensation. No, Julie would
come home with her, where she would live out the remainder
of her days, serving, servicing, bowing, amusing and playing
with Lindsay, whenever, however or wherever she desired.
That would be revenge enough. Julie was relieved of course,
not to have been stepped on. Had she been given a glimpse
into her future with her however, she may have wished for
everything to end right there and then.

Lindsay picked the tiny Julie up from the floor, wrapping
her in a restaurant serviette. Before leaving the mall, she
took five soldiers as well. They hadn't been hard to catch
at all. Quite easy in fact.

Many would perish in the mall before anyone else dared to
enter. When they did, there were some two hundred of the
tiny people recovered - some alive, some not. Some, like the
girl in black, were found in the pet store, huddling
together alongside a giant litter box.

Lindsay walked out the back doors of the mall, and since it
was demolished a short five weeks later, she never stepped
foot in there again.

EPILOGUE

"Okay, so what's the big surprise? Got more of those little
guys? Would be great if you did. I don't want to go to
campus today. I'd much rather sit around here with you"

Marin was sitting on the edge of Alexandra's bed, watching
her take off her backpack and undo the top fastener.

"You're not going to tell me?"

Alex looked up at her.

"I think we both know what I've got in here, but first
things first. You can't ever mention this to anyone"

Marin stared at her.

"Why would I?"

"I don't care why you would, just don't. I have a feeling
this is the last of these things we're ever going to see..."

She tilted the bag upside down and shook it gently.

Alexandra had taken the soldiers as well. The entire way
home she had felt guilty about it, but figured it was either
in her home or in someone's science lab. Besides, the food
would be better at her house.

Marin's grin grew in size as she knelt down beside the
occupants, each of her bare legs bending and lowering her
slim frame into view.

"Wow, you've got a whole bunch of them"

Marin looked closer and her jaw dropped.

"Alex...is that your Mom?"

Alex nodded.

"Yes, it's my Mom," she stood up and nudged Eleanor with her
bare foot, "but you can call her Betty"

"Betty?...I'm not calling your Mom Betty"

Alex knelt down next to her.

"Oh yes you are. You'll call her Betty or you won't be
playing with any of them"

Marin quickly got the message.

"You do want to play with them, don't you?"

Marin grinned, feeling a small surge of excitement building
inside of her.

"Very much, yes"

Alex stood up.

"Good. Why don't you start with Betty?"

Marin looked up at Alex.

"No, you should start with her, she's your-I mean, she's
yours"

Alex put her hands on her hips.

"Betty is going to have to get used to be played with by all
my friends. Makes sense for her to start here with you"

Marin blushed slightly, looking down at Alex's Mom.

"What do you want her to do? She'll do anything. I guarantee
it"

Marin grinned up at Alex.

"Get her to kiss my foot"

Alex nudged Eleanor forwards with her own foot. She fell
forward and literally landed an inch from Marin's own.

"You heard her, kiss her foot"

Eleanor looked up at Alexandra, pleading with her. Alex
looked back to Marin.

"And then?"

Marin continued smiling, almost giddily.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, she looked down to Betty,
you can kiss every single one of my big toes and then...who
knows?"

Marin laughed. Alex did too.

"Yeah, who knows?"

THE END
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