I suppose I was asking for too much when I expected to walk away from that experience without any harm. For three days after that one night I was plagued by all sorts of bug related nightmares. Halfway through the second night I stopped sleeping altogether. On the third day I finally told Emily about the nightmares and she came up with an idea that may have been just as scary. Another slumber party.

*****

I sat down gently in Laura’s palm as she looked me over, amazement still blanketed mer face. Laura stood at about five feet and five inches tall making her the tallest person in the house even though she’s still in high school. She had black hair that curled naturally which she kept in a ponytail. Her skin was slightly tan and her eyes were a nice shade of hazel. Laura was nothing short of energetic, always bouncing around with excitement whenever she gets together with friends. About a year ago I found out that Laura played guitar as well. Although she has only been playing for three years she sings a hell of a lot better than I ever could. That certainly made jamming to TV tunes even more fun.

Laura was at the beach with family the last time everyone came over to meet me. This time Emily made sure to invite her as well. As of right now Laura had already reaquainted herself with me and my new height, taken a good hour to completely accept it, and played along with us as we all jammed out again.

“I still can’t believe it,” Laura said as she held me for the first time. “You look exactly the same in every way except . . . you know . . .”

“Except he’s been turned into a Polly Pocket,” Emily finished for her.

I shrugged off the comment. “Except I don’t know what the hell happened to me.”

“Well I think I can handle it now if you told me the whole story,” she said.

Like I said, she needed some time just to wrap her head around what happened to me. So we didn’t want to go right into the story while she was still struggling with the fact that one of her friends has been reduced to a mere two inches. So she set me down on the coffee table and I told her everything that’s happened. This was the first time that I was going to tell everyone else, except Emily, the story of my battle with the spider. I was really looking forward to how they were going to react to that. I was not disappointed when pretty much every girl there cringed as I went into detail about how terrified I was just to be running away from the thing. But I stayed true to the story and didn’t make myself out to be a hero or something, no matter how much I was tempted to. I stuck to the facts as well as I could recall them and I made sure to stress how afraid I was the entire time. By the time I was finished every girl was looking intensely at me.

“That’s got to be the most epic thing I’ve ever heard,” Nicole breathed. “So you lured it into the maze just so you could ambush it?”

I shook my head. “Kind of, ambush is a strong word though. I was trying to weaken it. I pretty much hit and ran until I wore it down enough.”

“And then you faced it one-on-one!” Melanie exclaimed.

“Pretty much,” I said.

“What would you have done if there was another spider?” Ashley asked.

My eyebrows shot up. “What would I have done?”

She nodded. “Yeah. What if, right after you knocked the first one out, another one came out of nowhere?”

“I would have died,” I said simply. “I had no energy left in me at all after that fight. If there aws a second one I would have been dinner.”

Then Jess pointed right at me, she looked scared. “Well there’s your chance!”

Before I could ask her what the hell she was talking about I turned around and saw another spider right behind me! Only this wasn’t just any spider, it was a fucking tarantula! And by God was it huge. What scared me most about the thing though was it’s eyes. They were just like the last spider’s eyes, black and soulless.

“AAAAH!” I screamed as I rolled instinctively to the side. “SOMEONE KILL IT!”

It was then that the spider . . . . did nothing at all. Every girl in the room that had been listening burst out into laughter. The spider was a rubber toy, probably from some knock off Dollar Store. I looked up at Emily, who had been behind me the entire time I was telling my story, she was laughing the hardest. Then I looked at everyone else as they slowly got themselves under control. While they did their best to calm down I just sighed and sat down. To be honest I really had no right to be mad at any of them, it was a pretty harmless joke. So I just sat down and waited for them to finish up laughing.

“You ok Peter?” Melanie asked.

I nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Sorry about that,” Emily said. “I just couldn’t resist.”

I put on a grin for them. “Hey, if that was the best you got, then you’re seriously losing your touch.”

Nicole sat up and smirked. “Oh really? Is that a challenge?”

“I’d never dream of challenging someone like you kid,” I said as I held up my hands in surrender.

“Well,” Tara said as she stood up. “Challenges aside, I think it’s time for Peter to get a glimpse at some of the things girls do at sleepovers.”

“Naked pillow fights?” I asked hopefully.

The only response I got from that was Ashley kicking the table I stood on, but I managed to stay on my feet.

What Tara was referring to was manicures. Jess and Ashley went and got a pile of old newspapers while Emily went upstairs and brought down her box of polishes. The girls spread the newspapers out all over the floor like one big tarp and began selecting colors. I was placed on the arm of the couch closest to them so that I could still talk. We just chatted about whatever subject we felt like talking about as I watched them take turns painting each other’s nails. They each took great care with their work, slowly going over each nail with as much attention as they possibly could put into the task, while at the same time carrying on a conversation. It was pretty amazing to watch.

“You know what girls?” Emily said at last. “We’ve been excluding Peter from all of the fun.”

My head snapped out of some daydream as soon as I heard those words. “Huh!”

I heard Melanie giggle. “Yeah. I totally think he’d be great at this. It’d be just like painting on a full sized canvas for him.”

I shook my head, this could not be happening. This could not possibly be happening right now. But sure enough Emily held out her palm to me. “Come on Peter. Just be careful, Tara just did these nails and they’re not completely dry yet.”

I didn’t make a move, I had no where to go. If I tried to slide down the arm of the couch there was no guarantee I wouldn’t break my ankle when I landed on the leather cushions.

“Peter,” Emily called out, interrupting my thoughts of escaping. “You ok?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to do this.”

She smiled. “Oh come on, you’ll do great.”

I said nothing again, only just stared at her hand. I knew all too well what was going to happen.

“Please,” she said once more stopping my thoughts. “I’ve done so much for you already. Could you please just do this one small thing for me.”

Small was the key word in that sentence, even if she didn’t realize it. Never the less she was right. This was the least I could do. So I stepped onto her palm and she brought me down onto the tarp of newspapers. The papers were piled on thick enough to the point that my body weight didn’t puncture right through them like I feared. I stepped down next to a bottle of sapphire blue nail polish that was tall as I was. This made me seriously question how I was supposed to accomplish this task.

As if she could hear my thoughts, dear God I hope that wasn’t the case, Emily picked up the bottle and examined it over.

“Hmmm,” she said. “This bottles almost empty so I guess there’s no point in keeping it when it’s done.”

Emily removed the cap and brush from the bottle and, with a visible effort, snapped the brush right off of the cap. She placed said brush on the ground right next to me. I just stood there staring at it with my mouth wide open. That brush was solid plastic and as thick as my arm. The sheer amount of strength required for someone of my size to break that think would be of superhuman levels. And yet she just snapped it right off. Sometimes these girls are so sweet it’s easy to forget how easy it would be for them to . . . . well, to do anything really.

“There you go,” Emily continued as if it was no big deal. “A nice paint brush all for you.”

I picked the brush up. It was shorter than my staff, coming up to about my chest, and not much heavier. Using both hands I had a surprising amount of control over it.

“Ok,” I said at last. “Let’s see your hands.”

“Uh, actually Peter, Tara already did my fingernails.” she explained. “But don’t worry, I have something else you can do. It’ll probably be easier for you anyway.”

She uncrossed her legs and slid her bare feet right in front of me. “What do you think?” she asked as she gave her toes a wiggle. “Think you can handle it?”

Some of the other girls giggled a bit, and I understood. I was their friend, yet here I was, about to paint Emily’s toenails for her. Probably something they never thought they’d ever see me do for any reason at all. Never the less I did what I always do at times like these, I shut up and did what I had to do. I dipped the large brush in the bottle of polish and began working on the big toe of her left foot. The work was slow but I was being careful. If I was going to do this I might as well try and do a decent job of it, I owed it to her. Of course I was perfectly aware of everyone else watching me, I just ignored all of their stares. When I finally finished the first nail I stepped back as Emily lifted her foot up to examine it.

“Huh, that’s actually really nice.” she said in a surprised tone. “Do the others.”

Without a word I went back to work. Then next two toes were easier because of how much smaller they were.When I had finished her third toe Emily lifted her foot again to take another look. “Wow, you’re really good at this.”

“You know what we should do?” Jess asked. “We should have Peter do this for us all the time. Like he’s our little servant and has to pamper us.”

“Yeah! And he could do things like comb our hair and help with our makeup!” Melanie exclaimed, getting really into the idea.

“We could buy him a Barbie salon playset and he’ll have to show up everyday to it like a job,” Ashley interjected.

Laura laughed out loud. “Oh my God, I can picture it.”

Each one of them broke out laughing as they imagined it. The whole time I never said anything, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t hear every word they said. Maybe I had had a rough week. Maybe I was still stressed out from almost being killed by a giant spider. Maybe I was still having nightmares even while I was awake. Maybe I was exhausted from not having slept for two days straight. Maybe I was just being a little pussy who didn’t know how to take a few jokes. Maybe what they said hurt a little.

Hefting the brush like a baseball bat I swung and knocked the bottle of nail polish over, spilling some of it’s contents all over the newspapers. All at once everyone stopped laughing and just looked at me, not saying anything. I looked all around at each face as they gazed back cautiously.

“Stop looking down on me,” I said in a voice that suggested I was fighting some tears. None of them responded. I swung at the bottle again with a growl in an attempt to let off some steam. “Stop looking down on me!” I screamed. “I’m not some insect for you to stare at under a microscope!”

Still no one said a word, they just looked at me with mouths hanging open. I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see their stares. Over by the far wall was a shelf, about six and a half feet off of the ground, that hand a few pictures on it. I pointed at it. “Emily,” I whispered. “Put me on the shelf.”

She hesitated before doing anything. “ . . . Peter are yo-”

“Emily,” my voice was pained with the effort of keeping it under control. “Please just put me on the shelf.”

She bit her lip nervously but did as I asked, using one of the couches to help boost herself thigh enough. Once on the shelf I wasn’t being looked down upon, yet I still felt as if I was.

“Peter . . .?” Emily asked slowly. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong,” I repeated. “What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG!” I drew my staff from my sheath, swung at one of the smaller picture frames, and was actually able to shift it a little. “What’s wrong!” I screamed. “Is that I’m two inches tall and you’re all sitting here treating it like it’s all one big joke! RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! It’s like it didn’t matter that I was right there as you were making these jokes! I just wasn’t significant enough to factor into your consideration!”

A few of their faces turned slightly red as I yelled. Finally Emily spoke up. “Peter, we’re your friends. You know we never mean any of that stuff.”

These girls are your friends and yet you’re yelling at them like an immature jackass. I growled in frustration. “Have some goddamned consideration! Can you even comprehend what it’s like to be this small? I have almost died! Literally died! How many near death experiences have you had in your lifetime Emily? I’ve had seven these past two weeks! Almost eaten by a spider and yet you think it’s funny to sneak a fake one behind me! A fucking ant has been a bigger comfort to me than you have!”

At this point Emily’s face was a deep red. Tears began to roll down her face as she sniffed a few times. You feel better now you dick? You just brought your best friend to tears! I did my best to ignore the thought.

“Ok I’m sorry!” she said through the tears. “I’m sorry I’ve made fun of you about this but I’ve tried my best! I got you a house, I got you furniture, food, water, a bathroom, I’ve taken you on trips outside of the house. I’ve done everything I could think of to help you get through this. So I said some things I shouldn’t have, just cut me some slack!”

When are you ever going to stop being a burden on everybody? These girls could be having the time of their life right now without you. “I’m not trying to be a burden,” I whispered to myself.

“If it wasn’t for me Peter you’d never have lived through the first day!” she screamed.

She never wanted you around. All you do is make things worse. “Shut up,” I said.

“You have no right to tell me to shut up you ungrateful little speck!” Emily continued.

You’re not even worthy of being their toy, you’d only fuck it up. “Shut up!” I screamed as I dropped to my knees.

“If you think you don’t need me,” she said as she wiped tears from her face. “Then you don’t have to stay. Leave.”

Do what she said and leave. Get out of her life, get out of all of their lives, forever! NOW!

“FINE!” I screamed. Without another word I took off at a sprint and launched myself off of the edge of the shelf.

I blacked out almost instantly. I suppose that was my last mercy in this life. I wouldn’t have to be awake when I died.