I don’t know how long I wept, could have been anywhere from minutes to an hour. The whole time though Emily just held me in silence, which I was grateful for. I guess she really didn’t understand what I was experiencing now, only that it was scary enough to bring me to tears even at the sight of one of my closest friends. So rather than call me a cry baby, like she normally might have if she had seen me crying, she just let me clear it out of my system. Once I felt like I had finished I looked up only to see her watching over me, concern still etched on her face.

“Feeling better?” she asked.

I wiped the remaining moisture from my face and smiled up at her. “Better.”

That, in turn, brought a smile back to her face. “Good.” She let out a deep breath she’d probably been holding for a while. “Tell you what. You don’t tell anyone I almost broke your ribs and I won’t tell anyone you cried. Deal?”

Emily spoke in that lightly sarcastic voice that let me know she was joking. It was her way of trying to lighten the mood and make me feel better. “How about we settle on you not telling anyone about me at all?” I proposed in return before extending my hand to her, pinky finger out. “Pinky swear?”

Emily giggled as she held up the hand that wasn’t holding me and slowly moved her pinky towards me. I couldn’t stop myself from flinching away from her finger at first. “It’s ok,” she assured me. “I promise to be gentle with you from now on.”

I wanted so badly to trust her. Not to say I couldn’t trust Emily, she is one of my closest friends after all. But I was still so scared I wasn’t sure if I wanted to rely on anyone at all. I dismissed that thought entirely, though, as soon as it popped into my head. There is no way I could survive on my own I a world where I’m two and a half inches tall. If I wanted to survive I’d need to rely on friends as much as learn to adapt.  So, with a great amount of effort, I forced myself to stand straight and hold my hand out to Emily. She just smiled down on me again and held her pinky right in front of me. Walking over to her finger, which was as thick as a log to me, we touched pinkies and the deal was sealed.

Emily moved her finger away and I sat back down in her palm, relieved that I had actually pulled it off. I was going to have to work on this whole ‘adapt’ thing.

“So . . .” Emily began. “What do we do now?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I have no idea how I got like this and I have no idea how to get back. For all I know I could be . . .” I was too afraid to even finish what I was about to say, so changed it at the last second. “. . . I could be like this for a little while.”

Emily considered that for a moment. “Well . . . If you’re going to be this small for a while then you’re going to have to stay with me.”

“I guess I have no choice. You know I hate having to burden anyone, especially my friends,” I said. Which was true, I’d seen ‘You, Me, and Dupree’.

But Emily just rolled her eyes. “Please. You’re two and a half inches tall. What kind of a burden could you possibly be?”

I shrugged casually. “Alright then, if you insist.” Then my voice warmed up and became more sincere. “Thank you Emily.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “First things first, we’ve got to find you some place to sleep. Like a shoe box or a d-,”

“If you say doll house I swear I’ll jump right off your hand and end it.”

She smirked. “Fine, I think I’ve got something more suited to your tastes anyway. Just wait here for a bit,” she said as she gently lowered me to the ground.

“Uh, are you sure about this?” I asked nervously.

“Relax,” she said. “My dad’s at work, my mom’s at a friend’s house, and my little brother’s at school till 3pm. We’re home alone.”

Her hands touched down on the ground and I stepped off. Emily straightened up to her full, daunting height. “Aw, you look so cute down there. Just sit tight and try not to run off. I’ll be back in a minute.” Then she turned and stomped out of the room. Well she didn’t really stomp, but the vibrations from her steps were no less jarring. At least this time I was more prepared and didn’t lose my balance. So I just stood there on the hardwood floor and gazed around at the room. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I could feel the ground shaking to signal Emily’s return. She came into the room carrying something big in her hands. I wasn’t sure what is was, only that it was square, grey, and plastic. She kept on walking towards me, the sight of her big shoes coming my way made me recoil.

“Ok!” I called out. “That’s enough! Shoes off!”

Emily stopped where she was and looked down on me. “Excuse me?”

“Your shoes,” I said in a much calmer voice. “Seeing you walk around in sneakers scares the hell out of me. If you weren’t watching where you were going and you stepped on me you’d have no way of feeling if I was under you or not. I’d die and you wouldn’t find out for hours at least.”

She seemed to consider that for a moment before shrugging and kicking off her sneakers. “You might want to stand back a bit. I don’t know if my socks smell sweaty or not.”

“I don’t smell anything,” I lied. Truth be told her socks smelled rather pleasant, at least to me. I’ve had a thing for girl’s feet ever since I was twelve and, so far, I’ve told no one about it. The last thing I wanted was for Emily to know that I thought her feet were pretty. She’d most likely never look at me the same again, I’d be too freakish for her even if I was normal sized. So I just carried on as if they had no scent at all.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, this? This is your new home.” Emily turned the giant, box shaped piece of plastic towards me, opened it up, and my jaw dropped. It was a plastic model of the Bat Cave by Imaginext, the company that makes the toy castle sets for kids.

“Where the hell did you get that from?”

She giggled. “My little brother Sean, only he hasn’t used it in years. What do you think?”

“What do I think!” I exclaimed. “I think you’ve made one of my greatest dreams come true! I get to live in the fucking Bat Cave!”

“Well don’t just stand there,” she said as she lowered the main door. “Take a look inside.”

For those of you who have never played with a model Bat Cave before when you were a kid let me paint you a picture. From the outside it looks like the flat side of a mountain with a giant, gold and black Batman logo right at the top. There is a main door that lowers like a draw bridge so that kids can push out a toy bat-cycle. The cave itself is composed of two levels plus the roof. Upon entering the cave through the main door you start at the ground level. To the far left is a clear plastic jail cell where toy villains may be stored, luckily thought it was empty. Next to the jail cell was a purple elevator that worked on a crank and string. The crank on the other hand was on the roof so it’s not likely I would be using the elevator. On the far right wall was a side door, smaller than the main door yet also drops like a draw bridge. Lucky for me there was also a yellow plastic ladder right by the side door. The ladder leads up to the second floor. At the top of the ladder is a window protected by the same clear plastic used to make the jail cell. Right next to that is a three inch tall door that opens up by shifting a panel on the ground. When it opens up there’s nothing but a straight plummet down to the floor and a hook attached to some string that would allow me to propel down without killing myself. At the very center of the second level is the giant Bat-symbol and a plastic Bat-computer. This area had the most amount of room so it was probably where I’d be sleeping. Over on the far left side of the cave was a gun that could be pulled out of the cave via a moveable platform and launch plastic bat missiles. There was no actual way to reach the roof except climbing the old fashion way, and not much was up there at all except for a good view.

All in all it was the perfect place for me to stay. As soon as the door was lowered I ran inside and began mapping out how I would live. Just as I was taking my tour I stumbled across a plastic, red staff with a question mark at the end. The Riddler’s staff, and it was about as tall as I was. I climbed up to the roof holding it so Emily could see.

“Where’d that come from?” she asked. “I swore I took every toy out.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know but I’m keeping it.” Just for fun I gave the staff a few twirls. I didn’t really take martial arts or anything so I don’t know much about quarter staff fighting. But, since I’ve got a lot more time on my hands, now could be a good time to teach myself. You never know what manner of bugs might find their way into your house. And considering I’m now as small as they are a weapon would help me sleep a hell of a lot better than a teddy bear.

Emily couldn’t help but giggle again as she looked down on me. “I can’t help it. You look so tiny and cute living inside there.”

I spun my new staff one more time before looking up at her. “Tiny? Maybe now I’m the one who’s normal sized and you’re just big. Ever consider that?”

Emily, who was on her knees observing m, straightened up and put her hands on her hips. “So I’m a giant now, huh?”

“Giant-ess technically,” I corrected.

A wide grin slowly spread across her face. “Oh really?” Very slowly Emily stood up to her full height and looked down on me, just like a true giantess. Then she lifted her right foot and let it hover above my new cave for dramatic effect. The sight of her socked foot high over my head filled me with the strangest combination of fear, exhilaration, and what I can only describe as wonderful pants feelings.

“Prepare to be crushed,” she said in a dramatically ominous voice. Her foot descended down and my heart raced. It landed right next to me, shaking the cave so that I had to grab onto a plastic railing to balance. Emily burst into laughter and I sighed. I believed Emily when she said she was going to take care of me, she was one of my closest friends after all. But I should have known she’d never pass up the opportunity to tease me, even a little bit.

“We are going to have so much fun together,” she announced.