Vanessa had her eyes closed,  head resting against the back of the couch in her younger sister's apartment.  It had been more than a year since she moved in, she realized, but she still thought of their apartment as Kelsey's. She figured Kelsey was due to be home soon, but until then there wasn't much else to do but the same thing she always seemed to do - wait.  Wait for a cure, wait for at least some hint that there was a cure, wait for her sister Kelsey to tell her what to do next.

She was 25 inches tall, just about the same height as the other handful of unfortunate females who had used an experimental peptide designed for fitness and bodybuilding.   Vanessa was a figure competitor, always looking for an edge on the competition to look just a little bit better, a little bit more fit than the rest when she went on stage in her bikini. For research purposes only, it had said, but didn't they all say that?  People had been using peptides for years now, they were viewed by many as the thinking person's alternative to steroids or other unhealthy supplements – this one promoted lean muscle, fat loss and had the added effect of diminishing the person's appetite.  Most of the people who used PT12 were twenty something males who wanted to look "ripped".

Vanessa was 22 when she tried PT12 for the first time, and after using it for 6 months she was convinced it was the fountain of youth.  She was sleeping better, her skin glowed, she looked great and felt even better.  Then the muscle cramps started.  She would wake in the night, her calves and quads seizing uncontrollably.  She stopped using PT12, but the cramps persisted.  A week later, she went to the hospital convinced that her organs were trying to collapse on themselves.  Vanessa fell into a coma, and the world she woke up to was much larger and surprisingly unsympathetic.

.  As far as Vanessa could tell, that was the prevailing line of thought.  Sympathizers were few and far between, and after a time it became clear that any signs of a cure were much the same.  A year later, those females who had suffered the after effects of PT12 were in custodial care of family members, spouses or for the few who had neither, their own 'foster parents' - government had deemed someone the height of a newborn was not fit to care for themselves.

Thank God Vanessa had Kelsey.  She didn't exactly have a warm circle of loved ones to begin with, the truth was she didn't care much for anyone but herself.  But Kelsey and she had become close after high school, Kelsey's only reaction to Vanessa's vanity and constant preening a roll of the eyes or shake of the head.  Vanessa had come to realize their opposing natures were actually what made them close.  Vanessa was gorgeous, raunchy, vain, a complete bitch.. Kelsey was smart, quiet, comically introverted, and seemed to care so little about how she looked that Vanessa wondered how she would ever even find a date, let alone a boyfriend – if she even wanted one, since it had crossed Vanessa's mind more than once that her sister might be more interested in girls.

Not that she couldn't get someone, if she wanted to.  She was naturally pretty.  Kelsey was 19, average height, had extremely fair skin and raven hair.  She was a promising web designer, and her love of computers and aversion to the outdoors had left her with a few extra pounds but nothing unsightly.  She had used her design skills to support both of them over the last year, even though she had been forced to quit school early because of it.  She never voiced a complaint, but Vanessa had always felt miserable about it.  It was enough for her to have messed up her own life without doing the same to the only person who seemed to care.

Something had changed in Kelsey over the last month, though.  It wasn't Vanessa's imagination, she knew nothing about herself had changed - she was the same impossible, stand-offish bitch she always was, even to Kelsey.  Kelsey did all the cooking, cleaned up after her, and Vanessa was content to let her.  Recently she had stopped, and the apartment was a mess.  Kelsey's efforts at engaging Vanessa had also become scarce,  and she was out of the house almost all the time.  Her demeanor had been completely different from her normal, friendly self. 

Kelsey came home a few hours later.  Vanessa was still on the couch.  "This program is for you.  Well, us."  She set a binder on the coffee table in front of Vanessa.  "I'd like for you to read it tonight, and.. tell me what you think, okay?" 

"No thanks."

Kelsey sighed.  "I only asked out of courtesy.  You need to read it."

"Whatever."  Vanessa said curtly.  Kelsey sighed and went upstairs to her room.  Once she heard the door close, Vanessa leaned over and began leafing through the binder.  Ten minutes later, she had read enough.  She closed the binder and sat on the edge of the couch for a moment.  Her heart rate had increased to the point that her breathing was loud, labored.  She stood up, picked up the binder, and with every ounce of force she could muster launched it into the wall opposite her.  The thundering crack it made as it slammed into the weak drywall and punched a hole through it brought Kelsey storming out from her room.  She came down the stairs and Vanessa could feel her eyes on her.

Vanessa was still staring at the small hole in the wall, and didn't make eye contact as she spoke. "You..  must be out of your skull, Kelsey.  This isn't a program.  It's training.  For a, a.."

"It's a much more involved program than that, just let me explain some of th-"

Vanessa looked Kelsey dead in the eyes.  "PET!  What is wrong with you?!  Where in the world did you come up with something like this?  I always knew you were some kind of pervert!"

"Please, just listen!  First of all, it's not exactly like that.   I've spent a month researching the best disciplinary and training methods.  It's going to make things better for both of us.  Besides, you've had this coming for a long time.  The fact that this shocks you, given what you've been like, tells me just how oblivious you are to.. to, everything.  Nessa..  I can't do this anymore.  You are who you are, but just.."  Kelsey bit her lip and looked away for a moment.  Vanessa felt her rage beginning to subside.  "Some of the people who.. who shrank, they killed themselves, you know?  Others, they've done their best.. they've coped, they have their friends and family and they have moved on, or are at least trying.  The rest.. are people like you.  You need help.  You'll never admit it, but.."  She shook her head.  "I can't live like this.  You just keep getting worse, and you can't even see it!  We were always at least friends, even when you were at your worst, but now?  I cook  your meals, I pay for.. everything, for you.  When was the last time you even said thank you?  When was the last time you even tried to just.. say, anything?  You were always an awful person, Vanessa, and I could deal with it, but now.. you're just a.. a monster."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds while Vanessa processed what her sister said.  She knew it was true, that she had been awful – especially over the last few months as despair over the thought of never finding a cure set in.  But it was Kelsey's own fault for not doing anything about it, wasn't it?  The hypocrisy of her own question sank in, as she realized that..  Here Kelsey was, doing something about it. "I get it.  I'm a bitch.  And I'm useless.  But poor you, poor normal you, you miss having a friend around the house?  Get a life then, Kelsey.  Or get a fucking dog."

For a moment Kelsey looked like she was on the verge of breaking down after hearing the venom in Vanessa's voice.  But she steeled herself, and her voice was calm and collected as she spoke.  "I can't get a life, Vanessa.  I have no money despite the fact that the only thing I do other than work, is take care of you and this apartment.  In what world do I have the free time for a life?  I can't get a dog, Vanessa, because the only thought that comes to mind about having one is that it's going to see something as small as you as either food or a rival!"  She had always made a point to avoid mentioning anything about Vanessa's height in front of her.  She wished she could take her last words back as soon as they left her mouth, but it was too late.

Vanessa looked away.  "I.. see.  This isn't going to happen, Kelsey.  It's just not.  I'll try to be.. nicer."

She motioned behind her.  "There's the door."

"What?  I, where am I supposed to go?"

"How should I know?  If you're staying here, we're doing the program.  There is no alternative."

"Why do you keep calling it 'program'.  Can't you see that you're just trying to turn me into a pet?  I'd rather kill myself."

Kelsey looked her in the eyes.  "Cowards kill themselves.  You aren't one.  You couldn't, you wouldn't.  You think I don't know you that well?  I call it a program, because that's exactly what it is.  It's a program to turn you from an angry, impossible thing into something.. well, else.  Someone I can live with, for one.  If that makes you a pet, well..  I don't know.  Maybe it does.  To me, you'll always just be my.. older, little sister."

"This is crazy.  Sick."

Kelsey shrugged.  "I don't care, Nessa.  Things need to change.  This is how it's going to be, and you'll just have to deal with it.  Unless you walk out.  Right now."

Vanessa closed her eyes, fighting the rising surge of anger and shame.  She had no one.  Nowhere to go.  So she didn't move.