“Honey, dinners been ready for 15 minutes!” Officer Donnely’s wife called down to the basement as he stared down at the days newspaper.

“I’ll be up in a minute” he called back, annoyed. His eyes danced around the leading story:

Federal Agents Report Town of Anchorteeth Struck by Meteor, No Survivors.

“What a croc of shit” Donnely mumbled to himself. He picked up his scissors and cut out the story. He carefully and meticulously added it to his cabinet of unsolved stories or stories he didn’t believe the reports of. He was mildly paranoid, but he trusted his judgement. Something about it felt familiar to him, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

4 Years Later

Ron slumped in his chair, after a long day of teaching at the local middle school he was exhausted. Keeping 30 kids contained and focused on algebra was difficult and tiring. As he sipped a beer he wondered if it might be time to switch careers. Perhaps to something that would provide him more growth going forward. As he prepared to listen to music and drown his sorrows in cheap beer, the familiar sound of his doorbell interrupted. Ron couldn’t help but wonder who would be bothering him at this hour. He opened the door to find a woman standing there holding what Ron could only assume was a Gameboy.

“Hello, who are y-“ and at that instant Kayla shot him with the device. Before he could wake she tossed him in a box and placed him inside her car. She quickly began to drive away.

By now, Kayla was used to long drives. Each occasion where she needed another tiny person for Sophia she had another long drive ahead of her. After all, you can’t just go around taking people from around the block. Since she had shrunk Anchorteeth, Kayla had found an easy routine of safely shrinking individual people down and using them as needed. Sometimes they would be used to entertain Sophia, who had developed a habit of playing with and eventually eating some of her toys. Other times she used them to teach Sophia, as was the fate of Ron.

Kayla had also been working on improvements to the device for the first time. Her job was now in developing stasis technology for prison inmates, and she had been working on implementing that into the device. She had yet to test it though.

Kayla pulled into her driveway, picking up the box and jogging inside.

“Sophia, time for homework!”

Ron had awoken in total darkness, being tossed around a room violently. Suddenly the world he was in turned upside down and he toppled onto a giant hard surface. For the first time, he realized his size as he stared dizzily at an enormous pencil sitting in front of him. He was only as tall as the exposed wood at the pencils base.

“How is that even possible?” He mumbled as two other people, a woman and another man, crashed down from the sky. They both looked just as stunned as he was. “Are you okay?” he asked the women.

“I think so” She said as she looked skyward. Ron did the same, completely stunned.

Over them, Kayla stared down. She had developed a relatively efficient way of explaining the situation.

“Hello. You have been shrunken by me, you are about half an inch tall and you will now serve my daughter. If you refuse you will be crushed or eaten alive. You will be teaching my daughter pre-algebra. 

“What the hell” Ron said, once again stunned.

The door at the other side of the pink room creaked open, and through stepped a familiar sight for Ron – a middle school aged girl in a simple T-shirt and shorts. It was only as she approached what he had now realized was a desk did her immense size become clear. Her face look far down at the trio of teachers now stranded in their own hell. 

“Sit down. Do your work sweetie.” Kayla ordered, and Sophia plopped down in the chair and casually took out her homework. The three dodged the paper as she carelessly tossed it down on top of them.

“I don’t get this one” she said as her giant pencil landed on one of the questions. Her giant marble eyes fixed on the other man Ron had yet to speak to.

“What’s the answer?” She asked him.

“I’m not doing this shit” he said aloud. The girl squinted and deafeningly yelled:

“I can’t hear you!”

He responded by yelling “I’m not doing this!” once more.

The unthreatening Sophia suddenly snarled and her eyebrows crossed into an angry glare at the man. Ron crouched as in an instant she swung the pencil around and with precision lightly pinned him down with the sharp end. At this point the previously stern man began begging desperately, but Sophia seemed to take pleasure in gently pressing the graphite through him. The gurgling sound was horrific as the pencil finally touched the desk through him. At lightning speed he was hoisted violently and painfully into the air and dangled half limp in front of her giant face. As she spoke her soggy breath covered him.

“You sound funny.” And in an instant she casually picked him off the pencil and tossed him into her mouth, swallowing almost immediately.

“He tasted gross” she said as she pat her belly “so who knows the answer?” she asked again looking now at Ron and the woman. They both yelled a confirming “yes!” as they ran over to see what the question was.

“43, the answer is 43.” The woman said, eyeing the patch of blood which seemed to be all that remained of the other man. Sophia’s gurgling stomach just a foot away was a reminder of that.

From there the duo painstakingly answered all of the questions Sophia had, which was usually just her asking for the answer. So much for tutoring, Ron thought. The stained wood of the pencil was a constant reminder to him that this girl could crush him at any time. Finally, they finished and sat down on the desk, exhausted and shaking.

“CAN WE GO FREE NOW?” The woman yelled up, hoping for a showing of mercy. Sophia bent down, now staring directly down over the two, casting a tall shadow over them.

“No. I need one of you for my test tomorrow.” Her eyes danced between the two “The man looks smarter”

Without a moments wait, her palm extended over the table and slapped the woman off of her desk. She tumbled through the air and landed awkwardly on the carpet floor. The girl laughed at this, enjoying her tutors screech as she writhed in pain on her floor. She swiveled in her chair, now looking down at the small woman curled up between her pink socks.

The woman looked up at the giantess sitting above her. She wanted to beg, but couldn’t do anything other than scream and moan at the intense pain she was feeling. Above, Ron gazed down from the desk, horrified. Sophia looked at Ron.

“Say goodbye to her” She said with a lifeless stare. Ron did as instructed.

“Goodbye.” He said, almost to tears.

Slowly, the middle schooler lifted her socked foot and dropped it onto the woman. Adding pressure as the pressed onto the carpet. The threads cut into the woman’s skin as the pressure began to break her. Sophia could feel the dulled form of the tiny woman under her foot, she enjoyed this thoroughly. With a simple flex there was a sharp pop that she had grown all too familiar with. Her sock finally rested on the ground, with a small wet spot of blood on the bottom. When she lifted her foot, the liquid stain was all that remained for Ron to see.

“You’re gonna stay here tonight” Sophia said as she plucked Ron up and tossed him in an open jar. Within a few minutes, she was asleep.

Ron was shell shocked. He was shaking, scared. He couldn’t believe it, two lives brutally destroyed over pre-algebra homework? Did he drink too much? Was he having a bad dream. That seemed unlikely as he sat in darkness listening to the snores of his giant tormentor. Eventually he drifted off to sleep.

Upon waking, Ron found that Sophia was already mostly ready for school. She was packing her items in her backpack and turned to leave.

“Oh! Almost forgot” she announced as the turned and lifted the jar “I need you.” She plucked Ron out and dumped him lazily into her pocket. He feel deep into the linen surrounding him. Every step she took as she left and walked to school tossed him violently into the air. She didn’t seem to particularly care.

For the next few hours Ron tried to make out what was going on. He heard the familiar sounds of middle schoolers talking and teachers teaching, but other than that he couldn’t make out what was going on. Finally Sophia reached in and pulled him out. She was at a desk in a math classroom surrounded in other giants. A massive woman was handing out papers, which he presumed was the exam she was talking about. Sophia hoisted him up to her ear and, for the first time, gently placed him inside. She didn’t  have to explain his role, he understood. 

Once she got the exam he carefully told her each answer, all the while wondering if he should just jump off and end it all in this classroom. He decided against it and helped her finish the exam successfully. After she wrote the last answer, Sophia proudly looked over ‘her’ work, for a moment forgetting about Ron entirely. She didn’t for long, as she tilted her head and felt the small man tumble out, screaming as he smashed into the hardwood ground. Luckily for Sophia, at his size no one heard. She quickly got up and lifted her foot. Ron couldn’t breathe as he looked up at the giant girl’s sneaker which quickly landed on him and reduced him to the same paste he had seen the night before. This act caught the attention for the teacher, who looked up at Sophia.

“Sorry I saw a bug. I got it.” Sophia announced as she walked up to turn her exam in. She got a perfect score.