The warm summer air greets Claire as she takes her first steps after exiting through the front door of her home with the shoebox tucked under her arm. The sky has grown darker by the further setting of the sun since the last time she was outside. There is still enough light by which to see, but Claire knows it won't be long before it vanishes and darkness claims the evening.

No illumination spills forth from Michael and Amy's home. Claire is lucky she came outside when she did, had she waited just a bit longer she would have needed a flashlight to help guide her into her neighbors' backyard. “That boat better be out here” she mutters to herself as she continues her approach across the lawn. “Michael better not have lied to me.” She smiles as she rounds the corner of Michael and Amy's home and enters the backyard. Sure enough, the boat is there, resting atop the black trailer parked on the lawn in the distance. Claire sets the cardboard box down on the grass and walks up to the vessel, crossing her arms as she admires it. It's nothing overly fancy. It's quite plain, really, but it's still a nice looking boat and Michael seems to have taken care of it well. She takes a couple of steps backwards and fishes Michael's device out of her pocket. “I wonder... am I going to have to shrink the boat and the trailer separately? Or will this thing take care of them both in one shot? Better start with the boat first, just in case” she says to herself as she aims the device at the watercraft. She realizes if she fires at the trailer first and the device doesn't shrink the boat as well, the miniaturized trailer will be crushed beneath the boat and driven into the ground.

Claire's finger pulls back on the trigger. The boat disappears in front of her eyes, as does the trailer upon which it was perched. “WOW, this thing is awesome!” Impressed with the capabilities of the device in her hand, she takes a quick look at it before returning it to her shorts pocket. She brings her attention to the ground and scans the area ahead of her for the boat. Spotting it, she takes two small steps forward and gazes down on the tiny vessel at her feet. Claire crouches down over it, planting her right knee into the soft grass of her neighbor's lawn as she reaches down and removes the miniature boat from the ground. With her fingers gripping the steel trailer, she gently deposits it and its cargo onto the palm of her other hand before lifting it closer to her face and examining it with her beautiful blue eyes. “I'm holding a boat in the palm of my hand right now... an actual boat” She thinks to herself as she continues to scrutinize the vessel. “Just moments ago... I could have been a passenger on this very boat... and multiple other people could have been passengers inside it with me.” She still wasn't used to this feeling that she experienced each time she held a vehicle in her hand as if it were a toy. The feeling was even stronger now than it had been when she handled the cars of Michael and Amy and their friends, probably because the boat was larger in comparison to the other vehicles, yet still it was dwarfed immensely by the size of her body. Whatever this feeling was, it made her feel good. She felt powerful, and she liked it.

The night continues to grow darker around Claire as she surveys the boat in her hand. She knows what little sunlight remains is burning away quickly. Standing, she wipes her knee clean of any grass and dirt that may have become stuck to it with her free hand and carries the tiny boat towards the shoebox. She lifts the lid and places the vessel into the box with the black shrink ray from Michael's porch. “I still have to take care of that too.” Claire places the lid back onto the shoebox and picks it up with both hands, carrying it gently so as not to cause the trailer to roll around inside.

Back in the attic, Michael and the rest of the group have just finished parking their cars in a row with their rear bumpers facing one of the walls. Sunlight is no longer pumping into the attic windows, but the entire room is still illuminated thanks to Claire leaving the light on after she departed. Some were hesitant to move their vehicles as they had more concerning matters on their minds, but Isaac persuaded them into doing so by reminding them that Claire did say they should clear them out of her way before she returned. He wasn't sure of whether or not Claire would purposely destroy any of them, but he knew if she was going to be walking around up here with a bunch of tiny cars scattered around the floor like a child's Hotwheels collection, an accident was just waiting to happen and if anyone cared enough about their vehicles to not wish to see them flattened beneath the young woman, accidentally or otherwise, it would be in their best interest to clear them out of the middle of the room.

Michael exits his own car to see Scott climbing into his further down the row of vehicles. He waves and calls out Scott's name before jogging up to the white car. Scott is seated inside his vehicle with his hands on the steering wheel and the windows down but he hasn't started the engine yet. He looks visibly shaken, as he should after his encounter with Claire inside his car not much earlier. “Hey Scott... where are you off to?”

“I need to go find Jennifer.”

“I don't know if that's such a good idea.”

“I don't care, Michael! I need to find her. I need to make sure she's okay after what...” Scott sighs deeply, unable to finish his sentence. “After what... after, you know.”

“I understand, Scott, but I still think it's best if you stay here.”

Cynthia must have been near enough to hear the conversation as she walks up to the white car and joins the other two. “He's right, Scott. I think it's best if you wait here with everyone else. Claire will probably be back soon and it might make her mad if she sees you out driving around looking for Jenn like she told you not to do before she left. You don't want to make her mad, do you?”

“Exactly” says Michael, “It's best if we don't do anything to provoke her or anything that might make her feel playful again. We've just gotta keep clear heads and come up with a plan.”

“You still think we can get out this, Mike?” asks Scott with a look of hopelessness on his face.

“We can't give up hope. If there's a way out of this, we aren't going to come up with a plan that leads us to it unless we all stick together and stay as optimistic as we can under the circumstances. Just wait here with the rest of us, Jennifer will head back this way sooner or later, we're going to be fine.”

“Alright, Mike, let's hope.” Scott climbs out of his car and closes the door. Mike pats him on the back and watches as he and Cynthia walk away from him to join the rest of the group.

Michael sighs to himself. Before he can finish processing the conversation he just had with Scott and Cynthia, he is approached by Alexia. “Michael, what are we going to do?! Have you come up with a plan?”

“I don't know, and I'm working on it.”

“Why would that girl do this to us?”

“I don't know.”

“Why would she bring us up here? What does she want with us, Michael?”

“I don't know.”

“What is she thinking?! Why would she-”

“Jesus, Cynthia, how the fuck should I know?!” Michael snaps back at her.

Cynthia jumps and gasps with surprise at Michael's outburst, the other people not far in the distance their heads to look at the source of the yelling. Michael looks down and places his hand on his face and gently rubs his forehead. “I'm sorry, Cynthia. I didn't mean to yell, I'm just... I'm frustrated. I know we all are. We all want to get out of this and I'm trying my best to think of a way despite the fact that I know half of you are extremely upset with me and want to see me suffer for what's transpired today.”

Amy walks up to them and places a hand on Michael's shoulder. “Honey, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I didn't mean to snap at Alexia like that, I'm just... I've got a lot on my mind right now, just like the rest of us.”

“It's okay, Michael” says Alexia. “I'm sorry if I bothered you. I shouldn't have asked you questions right now, I know you don't have the answers either but I'm scared, and it's like you said I guess, we're all really frustrated right now.” Alexia leaves Michael and Amy alone as she walks back to the rest of the group where Keith places an arm around her.

“You sure you're okay, Michael?” asks Amy as she looks up into his face.

“Yeah, yeah, all things considered, I'm fine. What about you? We haven't really had a chance to talk since you left this morning and now all this has happened, how are you holding up?”

“I'm okay too, like you said, all things considered.”

“You sure? You know I'm here for you whenever there's anything you want to talk about.”

“I know, thanks honey” says Amy before hugging her husband.

Something on the picnic table catches the attention of Claire as she passes through Michael and Amy's yard with the cardboard box in her hands. She walks up to the table and sets the box down onto the grass again. “Plastic bags. What are these, groceries?” she asks herself as she begins inspecting the contents of the bags left on the top of the picnic table. “A couple bags of chips and some soda... I'd better take this too, it could be considered evidence. Plus, it's be a shame to let it go to waste.” She lifts the bags from the picnic table and goes back to pick up the cardboard box but looks back at the picnic table before doing so. “Hmmm” she thinks to herself, “Maybe I should take this too, give my little guests a place to sit.” Claire sets the plastic bags down on the lawn next to the cardboard box and again retrieves the device from her pocket. She aims it at the wooden picnic table and pulls the trigger. Quickly locating the shrunken piece of outdoor furniture, she picks it up in her right hand. Claire tucks the device away again into her pocket and places the table into the cardboard box before closing the lid, picking it and the groceries up, and beginning her journey back home.

Claire closes the front door behind her as she enters her home. She walks through the living room and into her kitchen, setting the cardboard box on the table. She takes the plastic bags and walks down the hall, laying them on the floor near the entrance to the attic. She returns to the kitchen and opens the shoebox, pulling out the tiny black shrinking machine and the even smaller power source that runs it. “Now, where can I keep this thing?” Claire is still against storing it in the attic with the shrunken people. Michael is resourceful. Even if she kept the power source downstairs, for all she knows Michael could piece together another means of powering the machine out of parts from the shrunken cars or something. She knows it's safest for her to just store it somewhere downstairs. Entering the hall again with the shrink ray in her hand, she walks to her room and opens the door. Rather than taking a long time and picking out the perfect spot to stash her prize away in, she simply pulls open the drawer on the nightstand next to her bed and drops the machine and its power source inside before sealing it shut and leaving her room, closing the door behind her.

Claire brings the cardboard box to the attic entrance and sets it down next to the plastic bags. She releases the latch and pulls down the stairs. Realizing it would be easier to just carry the boat and trailer in one hand and the plastic bags in the other, she removes the boat and places the picnic table into one of the bags, leaving the cardboard box empty on the floor before ascending the stairs with the rest of the items.

“I'm back!” she proclaims. “Make sure none of you little ones are in my path, you know I don't want any of you getting stepped on.” She giggles as she continues walking towards the center of the room, eyes scanning the floor for the shrunken group. She spots them and smiles down on them, but something else catches her attention in the corner of her eye and she turns her head to face it. “AWWW! You guys moved your little cars into a nice and neat row for me! I love it! You know, I still can't get over how cute they look. Well, most of them. I'm still not crazy about that trashy little white one, but whatever.” She sets the bags down on the floor and takes a few steps towards the wall where the vehicles are parked. She kneels down on her knees in front of the cars and sets the trailer down with Michael's boat on top at the end of the row on the right.

The group stands and watches the massive young woman looking over their vehicles from their position behind and slightly to the side of her. She rests there for a moment on her knees with her toes pressed down onto the front of her flip flops and the rest of her foot rising into the air, the back of her black sandals dangling with plenty of space between both the floor and the soft looking skin on the bottoms of her feet. The group looks on and into the deep wrinkles of her pale soles, some of them cringing at the thought of being trapped beneath them despite the almost alluring appeal of the incredibly soft looking skin.

Claire laughs, still viewing the collection of tiny vehicles before her. “It's like I have my own little auto showroom up here! But hey, one's missing! Awww, Jennifer? Are you still off on your own sulking in your car somewhere up here? You'd better come back to the rest of your group soon, this big attic can be pretty scary at night. Probably even MORE scary when you're the size of... well, you.” Claire giggles again before standing to her full height and walks back over to the plastic bags, sitting down on the floor next to them with her legs crossed, leaving about a foot (her scale) between herself and the shrunken group.

Everyone stares up at the enormous young woman with fear. “What's in the bags?” asks Michael.

“Just a couple things I found on your picnic table.” Claire replies. “And... the picnic table itself.” Claire laughs.

“What?”

Claire reaches to her left and rifles through one of the plastic bags before plucking out the wooden table and setting it onto the floor in front of Michael and the others. “I hadn't planned to take it, but I saw these plastic bags on top of it, and then thought maybe I should grab it so you guys would have something more your size to sit on up here in this great big attic. See? I'm thoughtful.” She finishes her sentence with a smile.

Michael rolls his eyes as he looks at the table he and Amy had picked out for their yard earlier in the year. Either Claire wasn't paying attention, or he was just too small for her to notice the movement on his face from this distance away.

“Anyways,” begins Claire, “look what else I found!” Claire lifts the large soda bottles out of one bag and stands them up on the floor where they tower over the people and the picnic table below. Next she pulls a bag of potato chips out of the remaining plastic bag and brings it to her lap. “Yummy! Sour cream and onion, my favorite!” She opens the bag of chips and pulls one out. Placing it into her mouth, she begins to chew.

The shrunken men and women watch on with jealousy. Their mouths water and their stomachs growl as the young woman devours a few more chips, each of the larger ones roughly the same size as their cars. “Delicious!” Claire licks her fingers clean after her quick snack and seals the bag before placing it back into her lap. “Are you little guys hungry? I'll bet you are!”

Everyone on the floor is very hungry after having missed their cookout thanks to certain other events playing out, but none of them cared to admit it to their captor. Claire watches them from above, waiting for an answer, but she receives none. “Well then, if you guys are all set I guess I'll just take this stuff downstairs with me and help myself to the rest.” She barely begins to lift herself off of the floor before Michael calls out and she sits back down.

“Yes, Claire, we're hungry.”

“Okay. Yeah, I thought you guys must be. We can fix that. I've got just the thing.”

Claire pulls the device out of her pocket. It takes her a minute to do so from a seated position. She sets the bags of chips closer to the group before doing the same with the bottles of soda. The heavy soda bottles touching down so close cause slight tremors in the floor for the shrunken people. Claire aims the device and opens fire on the food and drinks in front of her and soon it appears miniaturized on the floor. It's all far too small for her to read any of the labels now without getting closer, and she doubts she would be able to read the nutritional facts or ingredients without a magnifying glass.

“Okay you guys, have yourselves a little picnic, I'll be back in like 10 minutes.”

Claire stands up and heads towards the attic exit and climbs down. Her flip flops noisily mark her departure but nobody left upstairs seems to care. The entire group sits at the table after gathering the food and begins feasting.

Downstairs, Claire stands in front of a hall closet with the door open and looks around at the contents of the shelves. On the top shelf are many blankets and pillows, stored there for when Claire used to have sleepovers with her friends or when a relative was in town and going to spend the night. Claire stands on her toes and leans forward as she reaches up to the top shelf and pulls down an assortment of blankets and pillows, and even a couple of sleeping bags that were tucked away behind a stack of blankets. After forming a pile on the floor in front of the closet, she hits it with the device and scoops everything up in her hands after it all shrinks and the device is back in her pocket. Claire closes the closet door before heading into the kitchen. She opens a drawer and pulls out a few dish towels. Her hands full, she closes the drawer with her hip and heads back into the attic.

“AWWWW! You guy really are so cute down there having your little picnic! I love it!” Everyone just looks at the massive woman and continues eating.

Claire kneels down in front of the cardboard box tipped on one side from much earlier in the day. She drops the supplies in her hands to the floor. Pulling the dish towels from the pile, she folds them and lays them down neatly inside the box.

“This is for padding. Like a mattress I guess” says Claire to the shrunken people watching on from the picnic table as they eat. She presses her palm down onto the dish towels laid out inside the box. “See? Soft.” Then she points to the pile of tiny pillows and blankets in front of the opening of the box. “These are pillows and blankets for you to use. You guys will have to sleep here in this box for now. I know it's not the most luxurious of sleeping arrangements, but you'll still be all snugly and comfy with the stuff I'm letting you use.

Claire smiles at them once more before standing up. “I've got to get some rest now, and I'm sure you all need some too. It's been a BIG day, hasn't it? Even BIGGER for some than it was for others!” She laughs at her own joke and walks to the wall, switching off the lights. Everything goes dark for the group seated at the picnic table. They listen to the slapping sound of her flip flops as the distance between them and herself increases and she approaches the stairs. “Goodnight, little people! Sleep well!” she exclaims as she descends the stairs. She raises them and fastens the latch closed on the ceiling, sealing the shrunken group in the darkness of the attic.