Chapter 4 - Microphilia is a hell of a thing.

    Robert’s eyes snap open as the strong morning sunshine washes across his face, the sound of the salty wind ripping and howling through the curtains fills the room.  Seagulls, and the sound of a passing truck can be heard outside.  Robert looks around the room, his head pounding as he sits himself up.  Everything seemed endlessly tall, and wide, elongated the slightest bit from his tiny perspective.  

Footsteps are heard walking down the hallway.

“Sammy...Sammaannthaa..” April’s calm, but muffled voice reaches through the thick wood of the door and finds it’s way to Robert’s ears.  

“Oh man...” Robert whispers to himself as he rubs his temples, his eyes closed, as if to ward off the unwelcome sight of a world that has betrayed him by growing so large.

A minute later the bedroom door slowly opens.  “Robbieee” Samantha’s calm, sing songy voice floats through the room as her huge form steps through the door. She is dressed in a pink pajama top and pants, with fuzzy purple slippers on her huge feet.  

“Good morning little guy!” April coos as she slowly walks towards the bed, hovering high above Robert’s head, her huge hand, without hesitation, coming down and rubbing the top of Robert’s hair playfully.

Robert looks up, his face glowing red at the language that was being thrown his way, it had been many years since anyone had called Robert “Little guy”  

“Good morning.” Robert responds, scooting towards the edge of the bed and swinging his legs over.  He gasps a bit as his feet float in the air, high above the ground, April looks down and giggles happily, a smile stretching across her humongous face.

“Little feet!”  She coos, sitting down on the bed next to him.

“What?” Robert asks, almost snapping at April’s tone as her towering form sits next to him, confusion in his now higher pitched voice.

“You heard me Robbie, you have itsy bitsy feetsies.” April giggles as one of her hands grasps Robert by the left arm, pulling him towards her a bit as the other hooks under his right armpit.  

“Whoa, what are you doing?!” Robert barks, as her left hand follows suit, sliding under his other armpit and lifting him into the air.  The form of April’s face is darkened by the bright sunshine behind her, but as Robert is soaring through the air, towards her lap, he catches a glimpse of her eyes, which appear glazed over and ravenous.  He soon finds himself straddling her left leg, his tiny wrists held tightly together in one of her massive hands.

“Shhhhhhhh...” April silences him as she begins to bounce her knee up and down, grinning almost sinisterly as his tiny eyes grow wide and he begins to pull at her grip.

“Going somewhere baby? You’re not going anywhere... I got you now!”  April coos, nuzzling her nose into his face, causing him to uncomfortably turn his head to the side.

“What do ..do you mean?” Robert stammers.  “Can you...would you mind? putting me down?” Robert asks, his voice stuttering as her knee relentlessly bounces him up and down.

“Boom bada boom bada boom.” Is her only response, as she more violently rocks her knee up and down, causing Robert to slip to one side a little bit.  “Ooops! Don’t fallll!” She warns mockingly, as she lets Robert slide to the right, his body leaning precariously over the floor.

“April! STOP!” He screams, his voice cracking.

The knee stops, and Robert finds himself once more lifted into the air,  he is left to dangle there, between April’s massive hands, an insincere frown stretching across her huge face.

“Excuse me?” She finally barks, her tone carrying a fervent authority as Robert kicks his feet a little bit, wrapping his arms around her wrists.

“What are you doing?! Are you out of your fucking head? Put me down, now!” Robert snaps angrily. A small smile creeps across her face, a smile that sends goosebumps erupting all over Robert’s tiny body.

“Make me.” April giggles as Robert’s body contorts this way and that, in her massive grip.

“You can’t, can you? C’mon, you can do it...” She mocks sternly, and Robert soon finds himself laying horizontally across her lap, gritting his teeth, it was a familiar position, one he had been put in many times at a younger age.

“There are a few rules in this house little Robbie Ladner, one is, no cursing, ever...” April says sternly.

“Go to hell! Robert shouts desperately.

“I said no cursing!” April growls as her hand barrels into Robert’s bare bottom, stinging it and rocking his body forward.  His eyes roll into the back of his head and he exhales loudly, before sucking in a similarly large gust of air through his teeth.

“Two is you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, talk back to me, ever!” April proclaims as she slams her palm against his reddened ass, once again, rocking him forward on her lap once more.

"Oh..oh god stop, please!” He begins to plead, his arms and legs flailing.

“Say you are sorry!” April says sternly as she draws her hand back again, slamming it harder into his rear then before, rocking him forward for a third time, and causing him to fall limp on her lap. His head dangles down towards the floor as he pants frantically, at a loss for the sudden change in April.

“I’m...” Robert begins.

“You’re?” April whispers, holding her hand back, her palm open, ready to strike at any wrong answer.

“Sorry.” Robert says, sighing, defeated.

“That’s a good boy.” April coos as she lifts Robert up, standing his tiny form in her lap, one foot on her right thigh, and one on her left, his back resting against her huge hands.  

Her smiling face fills Robert’s vision.

“Don’t look so sad... I want you to be happy, not sad, turn that frown upside down.” April says playfully, rocking him back and forth gently.

“You’re a-” Robert begins, but is quickly cut off.  “Microphile?” April asks, finishing his thought for him.

“Yes, you’re an astute little thing.” April says nonchalantly.

“Oh god no!”  Robert pleads, horror creeping into his voice. His legs are briefly spun in the air as he is flipped around, his back pressed against April’s pink pajama shirt as he is sat in her lap.  His feet barely come past her knees, and her arms wrap tightly around his torso plastering him in place.

“Shhhhh, don’t worry... I am not like all of those other monsters, I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to cuddle.” April says, gently and reassuringly as she uses a free hand to pet the top of his head.

“But …” Robert stammers.

“Shhh... It’s not like you have a choice Robbie Ladner.” April smiles.

“Now about my payment.” April begins.

“I'm not giving you a dime.” Robert snaps.

April squeezes Robert a bit tighter, causing the color to drain from his tiny face, and his body to squirm.

“Really? I mean, we just discussed this, are you talking back?” April asks sternly as Robert struggles to fill his lungs with air.

“I...can’t.” Robert struggles breathlessly.  “Breathe? Yeah, that is kind of the point.  I can be very very gentle little Robbie, or I can make your life a complete hell.” She snaps, a bit of venom in her voice.

“I only have two hundred...” Robert gasps.  “Please...” He pants desperately, spots appearing before his eyes.

“But you knew my fee was two thousand...” April says disappointingly.  “You’re not lying to me Robbie, are you? hmm?” April laughs.  “Like it matters, I’m going to take everything anyway...” The woman says cruelly, loosening her grasp a bit.

Robert takes deep breaths, the color slowly returning to his face as he hangs forward a little bit against April’s arms.  He watches as April grabs his shorts off of the bed, and reaches into his pocket, pulling out his wallet.  She then tosses the shorts onto the floor carelessly and opens the wallet in front of his face.

“There’s like...” April counts the money inside.  “Nine hundred dollars in here...” April giggles as she takes the money from the wallet, along with an ATM card, and places the wallet on the nearby nightstand, shoving the money and the card into a small pants pocket.

“Mmmm, I should go get my nails done...” April ponders, waving the nails of her left hand in the tiny man’s face.  “Or maybe I should just make you do it, like my toes?” She asks, sliding her right foot from her slipper and lifting her right leg. She wiggles her neon pink painted toes for Robert for a few seconds before lowering her foot back into the slipper.

“I made Sammy do those a few days ago, you should have seen her trying to hold the brush, so so cute...” April rambles.

“How can you be...so cruel to people?” Robert asks, cautiously, shifting uncomfortably in her grip.

April simply stands up, pressing Robert against her chest, his tiny head hanging over her shoulder as they walk out into the hallway.

“I’m not cruel, she’s fed, and alive, isn’t she?” April asks calmly as she walks down the hallway, opening the bedroom door in the middle and walking inside, towards the table and the dollhouses.

“Sammy, out, now.” April barks, not even lowering her voice.  A few moments later, the tiny girl timidly walks out of the house, dressed in the same pink dress she wore the night before.  April lowers her hand to the table, palm up.  The girl timidly steps up, and crawls to the center of the huge palm, sitting down.  

“Good morning big friend!” The tiny girl shouts, her tone forced, and carrying an eerie quality.

“Good morning little friend!” April coos as she lifts her hand, and walks out of the room, carrying both of them downstairs and into the kitchen.  She sets Robert on a counter, and holds Samantha up to her face.

“Any day now little girl, any day...” April says gently.

“Yes, and you’re really going to let me go after this one?” The tiny girl asks, hope brimming in her barely audible voice.

“Of course sweetie, although I’ll miss you.” April says, genuinely.

“I’ll miss you too...” The tiny girl says, bending down and planting a single kiss on April’s palm.

April reaches into a cabinet, and grabs a small drinking glass.  She places Samantha down on the counter, near the stove, and lowers the glass over her.  The tiny girl timidly walks to the side of her prison, and presses her tiny hands into the glass, peering up longingly at Robert, who stares down on her, speechless.

“I’ll miss you too Little Sam-Sam.” April giggles, tapping her fingertip on the glass three times.

“Why’d you do that?” Robert asks, confusedly.

“I dunno.” April answers as she reaches into a cabinet, and grabs a frying pan, placing it on the stove.

“I felt like it” April shrugs her shoulders “I can do anything I want!” April adds, sternly, narrowing her eyes at Robert. Her expression changes on a dime, a smile creeping across her face. 

“Eggs?” she asks nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.