Kimberly could no longer see Chloe, her line of sight broken by Paige’s repositioning. She held her head tight, praying in whispers that the worst hadn’t happened. There was no way to confirm, and there was no reason to stand there to find out. Kimberly jumped from the book and down to another, then another. She would escape from here, regardless of what kind of jagged path she had to trek.

Night had fallen just after Melanie returned to the library, and its darkness swept over Kimberly and her fellow captives like a flood. There was a plan, at first, but that was long abandoned. Paige hadn’t expected this outcome, and neither did the tiny women that she coerced into aiding her. By now, Adrian was to be executed, a death triggered by Melanie’s refusal to cooperate. But Scarlet hesitated, for just a second too long, and Melanie had accomplished delaying Adrian’s demise. The bookcase they were housed in was toppled over, and now she and the others were scrambled across a wasteland of texts.

Melanie, the demon that she might be, was not the pressing hazard that Kimberly feared. It was the other giantess, the one they had all been convinced was going to be their hero. Paige’s callousness had been revealed; she cared not for the victims or their plights, but only for the power of the book. She wanted to get away with murder, no differently than Melanie, and she would trample over anyone in her way.

So Kimberly had rushed to the sides, out of the valley of books. It was dark and noisy, but in her head was a blinding scream, Escape!! Escape!! A chant that echoed with every sprinting step, an alarm that set her priorities clearly. Even if it meant venturing into the unknown, she wouldn’t waste herself here, at the literal feet of giant women that were half her age.

She thought there would be nothing to delay her, until she heard a familiar voice begging for help. It was unmistakable, yet Kimberly tried to ignore it, as much as she could. In a flinch, she whipped back to look at Paige’s legs, her knees grinding over library books like a machine. From there, a couple feet ahead of where Paige stopped to search for the spellbook, was a person, illuminated only by the passing light of Paige’s phone high overhead.

“Scarlet?!” Kimberly yelled out into the storm. She gnawed at her fingers nervously, knowing how her time was fragile here. “Scarlet?! Are you out there?!”

In response to her voice, one of the covers to a book began to flap; a signal. “Kimberly! Help!” the woman yelled back. It was absolutely Scarlet, trapped in the pages of a book, unable to break free.

“Hang on,” Kimberly called back, edging towards the end of the book she stood on, “hang--” She stopped, a quake from the ground commanding her to curl back. Paige was on the move again, if only one pace forward into the slew of books -- and one pace closer to crushing Scarlet.

Kimberly was frozen. Her body tugged forward, but her feet were solid and heavy, except for how they shivered away in fright. Scarlet wailed again in this time, knowing that Paige was only coming closer yet blind to how much longer she had. Yet even with Scarlet begging for a rescue, Kimberly couldn’t budge herself forward.

Go, go! Just go g-get her! Kimberly toiled in these thoughts, but she found herself turning away, regardless of the argument. Another quake, another desperate signal flashed at her from the book, but Kimberly closed her eyes to the distress.

“Kim! Please, Kim!”

Kimberly pushed herself, towards the clearing of books she had been trying to reach. Another quake behind her.

“Someone…! I don’t-- I don’t wanna die…!”

Kimberly jumped down behind a text and closed her eyes.

“Anyone! No--”

Paige’s leg crushed down into a book. With finality, Scarlet’s voice was no more. Silenced -- flattened, just as herself.

Kimberly ran. At a speed she had never reached before in her life, she ran away from Paige’s chaos, the horrid remains of where Scarlet once was, and where the others still struggled to survive. She saw nothing but the immediate path ahead of her, a road that lead straight into an empty darkness, but anything was more promising than lingering behind.

She leaped from one book to one last, a movement that attracted the glance of Paige. The giantess wasn’t interested in the figure rushing away, at least not until she caught a glimpse of the book the tiny woman had just abandoned. Behind her glasses, Paige lit up with excitement.

Kimberly looked behind her for just a second. She had sensed Paige reaching for her, but there was quite the distance between them by the time Paige had grabbed what she was really after. The tome, the very spellbook that had cursed Kimberly and the others, was now in Paige’s grasp. When the titan stood up, she brought with her the damaged bottle of potion, and turned in time to see her rival awaiting her.

Only imagining the battle that was bound to unfold, Kimberly was more inspired than before to evacuate. If the two giants were going to bicker and battle, then Kimberly would use this chance to run away from them both. She hoped to abandon everything; the toy-like treatment she had endured, the life of submitting to massive people, the entire world and its huge oppressiveness. If she could make it to anything past the fog of darkness, she dreamed it was a world completely reset, no matter what that entailed.

In truth, she knew that escaping the library was only the beginning, or quite possibly, a rushed ending. Certainty was absent.

Without breaking pace once, the entirety of the library’s main floor had been cleared. Kimberly, her nude body drenched in sweat, stopped only before the pair of humongous doors. They would be a challenge to overcome, had they not been parted open just a crack. Kimberly dwelled not a second long on why this was the case, unaware of the trap Melanie had laid out earlier that day. It couldn’t impede someone so tiny, so Kimberly went unhalted, charging out the path and into the crisp, cool air of the night.

A breath of fresh air took Kimberly’s heart. She stuttered while staring out into the distance; a lone walkway stretched from the doors to the gate, dividing an ocean of untidy grass kept corralled in by a black fence that surrounded the perimeter. Past that, Kimberly had only her assumptions to guide her. Certainly a road passed by the library, a road occupied by drivers in their massive, unstoppable machines. What of the rest of the city, and its inhabitants that all stood as tall as her previous tormentor? The world facing Kimberly was dangerous, and yet she still chose to keep running, fearing nothing more than falling back into Melanie’s or Paige’s hands.

This choice destined her to a long travel. After descending the stone steps that went down from Anders Library, each one as tall as she was, there was little reserved energy to keep up her pace. Adrenaline had gotten her this far, but the mysteries lurking in the darkness had forced her to an agonizing slow. The grass on either side of her was like wild woods waiting to unleash something upon her.

I’m just a bug out here, Kimberly told herself. I’ll get stepped on… I’ll get eaten… Oh my god, I could end up eaten…! And no one… would even hear me…!

She screamed, a loud gasp provoked by the arrival of a big, flapping creature. She cowered behind her arms, for it seemed like her nightmare had immediately come to life. In the green next to her, a crow had swooped down to sift through the grass without otherwise making a sound. Kimberly held her breath, telling herself to run again but only trembling before the threat of the beast.

As a black eye of the crow turned in her direction, Kimberly’s hesitation was dissolved, and without restraint, dashed away in a scream. Her arms hugged her chest as she ran at an angle away from the bird but forward still to the gate. She refused to look behind her, frightened even more when she heard the flapping of the bird’s wings once more; she didn’t realize it had flown away to the roof, startled by the unfamiliar noise Kimberly produced. She wouldn’t ever realize that as she ran for her life to the black fence, begging the world that she be left alone.

A painful trip was her debut to the world just outside the Anders property. Kimberly fell to the pavement on her knees, her legs giving out under a terrible soreness that only rest could relieve. But being flat on the ground only made her feel more helpless, more like Scarlet -- I can’t die like that, she kept reminding herself, I’ve made it this far, I can’t die here, not when I’ve made it this far, I-I can’t…

She crawled forward, discomforted by the night’s darkness with only a distant street light giving any illumination at all. Her body slid over crisp, fallen leaves that broke apart against her, scuttling off as the autumn wind brushed through them. One leaf smacked into Kimberly, its sharper edges scratching her skin as she wrestled it away with fumbling, frantic motions.

The world was dangerous and cruel, with or without Melanie’s supervision. Kimberly foresaw the dawning of that realization, and already she dreaded the regret that trickled into her thoughts. She worried, I was safer with her, wasn’t I? If I stayed-- She shook her head violently, then looked forward again to continue crawling, back onto her hands and knees. Those thoughts, if left to stew, would corrupt her. She wouldn’t survive with that outlook.

A structure of some kind was the only object of interest. In the dark, and to weary eyes and a desperate mind, the structure looked like a house or a building. It was quite tall, like most things were now to her, but also long, standing parallel to the road in front of it. A bench, it must have been, but made of a stone material. The space underneath it was closed off around the back, but Kimberly was grateful for what shelter she could find. Renewed by this find, Kimberly pushed herself onto her legs and hurriedly stumbled towards the seat.

Under the bench was a large gathering of dried leaves and sparse amounts of litter; a plastic cup, cigarette butts, and a faded pamphlet. The scenery was an unpleasant reminder to Kimberly that she was among the garbage of college students, huddled here because it was the only place that felt remotely safe -- at least, safe enough that she could pass out on the ground, the only thing she wanted.

Kimberly laid down, her muscles shaking from exhaustion and finding no easy way to stretch. Her breathing, which was dry and coarse after so much running, was only now starting to calm via deep exhales. Pain and relief battled it out inside her; she cringed all of a sudden when a car drove past the bench, zooming by like an impossibly huge train and gone just as fast, leaving behind only the passing echo of its travels and the rush of wind that followed it. Kimberly wailed into her arms, cowering deeper under the bench, her tears the last to be felt as she fell into a troublesome slumber.

The ground shook under Kimberly’s body. A quake, then another, and another -- it continued in the pattern of footsteps, the earth shivering under such massive footfalls until the impacts were too much to sleep through. Kimberly was jolted awake by the thunder of someone walking, but in the shadow under the bench, the fate above was unclear.

She gasped as something fell into view just in front of the bench. A black-and-pink tennis shoe stomped to the ground, soon followed by another. Two huge feet slowed to a halt, slapping the pavement with the weight of a skyscraper above them. Matching the tempo of these footsteps was Kimberly’s own body quivering in fear, flinching in place as every step was taken. Her eyes latched to the feet like studying a predator, wary of the tips of the shoes as though they could point at and discover her.

“Melanie…” The name slipped through her lips instinctively, pushed back into the furthest corner of the bench. She was afraid it was her, hunted down after all; at the same time, her tone pleaded to be taken back by her, to be rescued from the dangers surrounding her. But the shoes were not loafers, and the bare calves were rarely Melanie’s style. This had to be a different person, and Kimberly’s curiosity clashed with her paranoia. It was a struggle against herself just to crane her head up, peering through the wooden gaps of the bench’s seat as she trailed up the tall body.

Then, the structure quaked in its foundation. The giantess sat, just as Kimberly had taken note of the jean skirt which crashed down upon her shelter. A sky-blocking rear now weighed heavy overhead, with smaller quakes following as she settled into position. The entire time, Kimberly remained crouched with her hands over head, half-expecting the wood ceiling to collapse.

When she finally lifted her head, in front of her were those two tennis shoes, even closer than before now that the giantess had tucked them under the bench, one on top of the other’s heel. The black soles were dotted with blotch-shaped impressions, and pebbles the size of baseballs jammed in their ridges. One such pebble was loosened out, dropping to the sidewalk like leftover debris for Kimberly to watch.

As it claimed her entire vision, naturally did Kimberly stare only at the two feet, the symbol that represented this whole person. Kimberly had struggled with the thought all night, but now she was presented with that situation: could she trust anyone while shrunk? The world was dangerous, cruel, and unpredictable out in the wild. It made sense, then, to seek the aid of a huge person, to carry her to safety and perhaps even a cure. But humans, she had learned, were capable of much worse. That’s what she saw in those soles, the sheer destructive power this person wielded without even realizing it.

Is she nice? Will she kill me? Kimberly raced those questions in her head, again and again. She found herself crawling forward stealthily, but only a few paces. She wanted to reach out and beg this person, in truth. She wanted to be saved. Kimberly studied her again, She looks… normal… But that meant little. Melanie, dreary as she may have looked, was also an average seeming girl. Paige, too, was seemingly a star student. Kimberly inched backwards.

The feet began moving again, repositioning as the woman was heard giggling to herself, reacting to whatever was on her phone. While sitting idly on the bench, her feet played with each other out of habit, using one to pry off the shoe of the other. This revealed the white sock of that foot, exposed and allowed to air its thick scent -- something Kimberly noticed but refused to react to. Now free from its confinement, the foot was allowed to itch itself off the other, or swipe up the calf.

The dexterity of something so huge, of a woman’s foot no less, was a firm reminder to Kimberly. She glared ahead at the two beasts with disdain. She’s wicked, she thought. She’ll crush me… even if she doesn’t mean to. What was I thinking? She scoffed at herself under her breath.

Both feet separated back to a standard separation, with the left foot digging into the heel of its shoe to be donned once again. However, having been pried out meant that it was difficult to squeeze back in, as evident by the shoe’s heel being crushed in the several attempts the giantess made. Kimberly kept even more still, her fear on the rise with each time the foot lifted up to try again.

Until there was a long groan from up above, a voice that made Kimberly stare up in fright at the ceiling. “Why am I like this?” the woman complained, just before bending forward in a reach to retie her shoe.

Suddenly, a face fell into view, peeking under the seat and allowing ropes of hair to cascade close to the ground. A pair of upside-down eyes beamed down onto the shoe, a sight that scared Kimberly enough to have her scramble back against the wall of the bench. She was trapped, she had realized too late -- the closed-in structure of the bench meant the only way out was forward, and forward of her were a pair of two titanic tennis shoes, and the woman wearing them.

The hands tying the shoe stopped, like time had frozen all at once. Kimberly’s heartbeat suspended, she covered her mouth. A single second was stretched to its fullest until the sharp eyes of the giantess had confidently locked onto the miniature woman. Their gazes met, and so too did their astonishment quickly rise.

“What the hell is this weird thing?” the giantess muttered, and that was all Kimberly needed to hear. Just before the woman’s hands started to move towards her, Kimberly panicked and ran deeper into the corner she could hide in; when she slipped on dead leaves, she instantly bounced to her feet and kept running, pressed into a position where she had nowhere left to go.

Except ahead, which she dove towards. As the hand hesitantly neared, Kimberly made a dash just past it. It lunged away from her, spooked; Kimberly didn’t notice, tunneled in on trying to escape the trap that was the bench. She ran past the woman’s right foot, back into the early morning openness, then kept running, each step slapping against a pavement that stretched for miles onwards, nothing to stop her and nothing to help her.

So quickly was Kimberly out of breath, but it didn’t matter even if she had the vigor to go further. Her pace slowed just slightly, more than enough for the woman to have caught up by just stretching more from her seat. From behind, Kimberly found herself hugged by a pinch of three fingers. She shivered, her flight turned to fight and she punched and elbowed at the fingers as they plucked her from the ground, leaving her little feet swirling about in desperate kicks.

“No!! Nooo!!” Kimberly cried out -- it was starting again, all over again. In the same way the ground was being pulled away from her, so too was her one pathetic opportunity to be free from vile torture.

She was turned, forced to look at her new captor in the eyes -- big, striking eyes full of amazement. “Let go!! Let go of me, please!!” Kimberly begged, but her voice had been ignored. Instead of a reply, she had instead a huge phone aimed right at her. The black circular lens of its camera was pointed to her, and the sound clip of a camera shutter was played. She was photographed like an oddity, her tiny, naked, helpless form immortalized in media.

The phone veered away, once again having the giantess’s face in full view. The shock hadn’t faded, still present in the way her lips parted open and how wide her eyes had grown. Her teeth clattered, only in response to the tickling feeling of Kimberly’s resisting. The shrunken woman could feel her efforts working, if only in this vain regard -- even if it meant being dropped and falling to her demise, in the moment, that sounded better than being taken home and played with all over again.

Kimberly cried out again, but she was dismissed this time. She shouted in desperation as she was being moved suddenly. Below her, the maw of a purse had been opened, like a chasm waiting to swallow her, and she was fed directly into it. The hand had no other plans for her but to deposit Kimberly into a dark, clustered mess of items. By the time Kimberly had any semblance of balance, which was constantly put into question by the woman’s movements, she could only despairingly look above to see the morning light zipped away, her last sight being the woman’s expression of unsettled awe.

Kimberly whimpered, but above her own voice, she heard the woman’s; “What the fuck… Seriously, what the-- what the fuck…!” Then, they were moving, to a destination Kimberly had no way of predicting.

[If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting the writer~ That way I can write even more!

patreon.com/cursecrazy -- ko-fi.com/cursecrazy]

The wave-like motions of the purse had churned a sickness inside Kimberly. Bobbing up and down, at intervals she couldn’t expect, had convinced her that this could be forever. To some degree, she didn’t mind, a simple hope that she could avoid a fate more disastrous. But the trip did come to an end, announced by the unzipping of the purse which allowed in a streak of light. Kimberly protected her eyes, her heart stopping with a hard thump; everything was tilted and shaken as the bag was placed down onto its side, and before Kimberly was a plain of green, just outside the purse. It almost seemed like grass, but as her vision cleared, she realized it was fabric, like a comforter.

Kimberly remained where she was at the bottom of the bag, far from the exit. Enticingly, that exit was made wider by a pinch of fingers lifting up the top sag; the giantess’s hand, surely. Kimberly shook her head in rejection.

The light from the opening was blocked and replaced with a curious eye, so huge to Kimberly that it caused her to jump and shiver into the baggage. The giantess peered within, verifying that the tiny woman was still there and hadn’t somehow escaped.

“Y-You’re still in there…” It wasn’t too heavy of a voice, a whisper that still spoke with enough volume. The one eye barely gave much hint to the woman’s expression, and so Kimberly was unresponsive. “You can come out,” the giantess continued, “we’re in my dorm room. I-It’s okay. It’s just me here.”

Kimberly would have shaken her head again, but with being watched, she was more still than ever. Her stance was something like an animal, half-prone and cornered, somewhat prepared to savagely strike back if it came to it -- though she knew it’d mean nothing. She bunkered down more, all while the eye weighed harshly on her.

“You look so scared,” the giantess commented. Kimberly grimaced, cursed thoughts running through her head. “But… what are you?” The eye blinked and tilted its angle. “You look… I mean, y-you are human, right?”

Even to such a simple question, Kimberly refused to cooperate. There was a pause between them when nothing was said, both waiting for the other, until the eye finally gave in and was pulled away. There wasn’t any relief here for Kimberly, as it only meant that now she had no visual of her captor.

“Come on… You can’t stay there forever.” With that announcement, Kimberly’s facade of a shelter turned against her. The bottom of the bag was being lifted from underneath her, she could barely make out the hardness of fingers through the purse’s material. The opening forward was becoming a hole to descend into; she was being forced out of hiding. “Come on, it’s okay,” the giantess said again, making the tilt more severe and even jostling the bag lightly to shake Kimberly out of her position. Kimberly held firmly, even as other items were being filtered out onto the sheet below, until her grip was no longer enough. Her blood stopped when she finally dropped and slid down the smooth interior of the purse, her attempts to grab anything failing.

A short scream for help was ended with a bounce. Kimberly fell in a space amongst lip balm, pens and pencils, and spare change somewhere on that green plain. Before she could grasp her new environment, Kimberly first had to overcome the overwhelming sense of vulnerability. Stricken with fear now that she was exposed, she coiled into herself defensively, shakily looking to her sides only enough that she could determine where the titan was, and what to be prepared for.

Past the cliff that was the mattress was Kimberly’s fullest view of the giantess so far. She glanced quickly from one feature to the next; bare legs, a jean skirt, a black blouse, brown hair -- so normal looking, she had concluded, but not without acknowledging how meaningless that meant. The view was so much to absorb, she closed her eyes tight to escape it, and in her mind she saw how plain Melanie could look once upon a time.

The scene had been still for too long. The student made the first move, beginning to kneel to her bed so she that she didn’t tower over this fantastical find. Kimberly, in turn, scrambled backwards. She rolled her wrist painfully over the plastic shell of pink lip balm, squeezing out a small cry that had been building up inside her throat.

Upon seeing this, the giantess slowed her descent and maintained an easy smile. “Whoa, l-lady, it’s fine, it’s--” She choked, conflicted with her word choice. Was it really right to tell someone so helpless that things were fine? She staggered into her words again, “I-I promise I won’t-- I won’t hurt you. I just wanna… wanna talk.”

Kimberly’s heart was ablaze with doubt and fury. Her whole body started to burn as a result, her skin crawling at everything said to her. She looked to the left, to the right, to the items around her.

Briefly did the giantess frown -- this wasn’t going according to plan, whatever that plan was. “My name’s Mia. D-Do you have a name…?”

Do I have a name…?! Kimberly glared, having to swallow words that had so quickly formed to tongue but could so easily destroy her. A name, a name. Will she name me? Like Scarlet? She shivered, No… I’m Kim… I’m Kimberly. My name’s Kimberly! Don’t let her-- Don’t let her name you!

“I thought… I heard you speak,” Mia said. “B-Back when I picked you up… o-or was I going crazy? Yeah, hah… I’m asking the naked, tiny woman… if I’m going crazy--”

Kimberly gasped, a squeal of a noise -- suddenly she felt so violated, so raw in all the places Mia could see her bare and exposed. Carelessly, after all this time, she had forgotten about being naked, her brain truly numb to think that was the worst of her problems. She closed her legs and tucked them closer to her while both arms hugged her chest to cover her nipples.

Mia’s complexion warmed at the reaction she got. She felt not only rude, but confused ever more, and slightly enamored. “S-Sorry,” she giggled, turning her head down bashfully, “I didn’t know if that was normal or not. Th-This whole thing has me kinda… turned around.”

Kimberly heard Mia distantly. In her ears was a ringing, a mad sound that was driving her into a fit of fidgets. She only heard Mia’s giggle, a poor and unsympathetic reply in regards to such horror she had survived. A familiar sound, a haunting one. Kimberly rolled onto one side, feeling an icy cold form in her center. Her eye twitched, a tornado of emotions at total battle with one another.

Such a response did not fail to depress Mia. She looked upon the tiny woman with greater focus; this was hardly a laughing matter, something she realized a second too late. It was hard to swallow, and even harder to fully understand without awkwardly prying. A hand that wanted to be offered hesitated, and then returned.

From a cabinet just beside the head of the bed, Mia plucked a soft sheet of tissue. She hastily folded it along its own creases until it was thinned down to a width that matched Kimberly’s height. She slowly offered it to her then, but when the tiny woman refused to move, Mia instead left it there.

“I-If you-- In case you want to, err, cover up,” Mia fumbled, rubbing at her elbow and then at her neck.

Kimberly was slow to unfold from her cradled position, but she couldn’t deny that she desperately needed to be robed. In punches did it feel like those memories of Melanie reflect from her bare skin, so in an act that felt similar to rebellion, she whipped at the tissue and dragged it to her body. It was warm, and just her size. She wrapped it over her shoulders and tucked the excess under her arms, between her legs, anywhere that the air touched too freely.

And for a second, she could breathe. So relieved was she in that immediate moment, she almost felt fooled enough to thank the giant for such a humble offering. Instead, she wanted to spit.

While it eased Mia to see some success in communicating with her, there was still a notable space between the two. Clearer than ever was it that this was frighteningly real, as unexplainable as it seemed. This woman was burdened with a history, it rocked her to her very core. A dagger-like pain struck Mia in the chest; What am I doing to her? Just picking her off the street like that, and…

She bit her lip just as that thought formed. She gravitated towards the hole in her conscious, which existed in the direction of her phone like a void. Although she feared how awkward it would be, it was what must be done. She crawled over to her phone from that same bedside counter and swiftly flicked through its menus.

Kimberly watched her with immense distrust, conserving all her energy into her legs just for the possibility of needing to run for her life. She almost did when Mia aimed the intimidating screen at her to see, the motion alone spooking her, but the image presented held her in place. It was from Mia’s gallery, the most recent picture taken: Kimberly, her naked body hugged by Mia’s fingertips while she grappled them for safety.

Kimberly was ready to snap until Mia proceeded to delete the picture. The image grayed away while a loading screen signalled its removal, replacing the photo with a landscape shot of a morning sun. Mia placed the phone down, directing Kimberly’s attention towards her.

“I’m sorry,” Mia whispered. “That was… just, way wrong of me. I don’t know why I did that back there-- surprised, I-I guess, but that’s… that’s no excuse.”

Kimberly exhaled. Some emotions simmered, but something volatile remained in wait, relentlessly prepared for the worst. Yet, the gesture had undeniably impacted her. She hated that it did, she hated to think that this was a sign of genuine kindness.

“C-Can I just… seriously get one answer?” Mia spoke needingly, a feeling that seemed to reach Kimberly enough to lift her head. “Are you real? A real human? Because I’m… I’m actually scared, you know. I-I just need to know if this is actually happening.”

A shiver ran over Kimberly, urging her to hold the tissue even tighter around her. She didn’t want to reply, it ached to give in, but she nodded. When a verbal answer formed in her mouth, she swallowed it right back -- that would be too much.

The response, as small as it was, eased Mia’s mind. That was one question answered, assuming that, too, wasn’t just part of this hallucination. Regardless, many more questions awaited, with much having to wait. It was clear that pressing too boldly too soon was going to throw the woman into a panic, and so she buffered her next question with a decent pause.

“Do you-- um, what’s your name…?” Mia swallowed halfway through those few words. “I’m Mia-- I, err, I think I already said that…”

Kimberly felt a pain resonate from having that question proposed again. Like a rash, her skin felt irritated in a hot chill, but the tissue paper robe combated the symptom. She tried to look Mia in the eye, but the sight was too heavy. She spoke down in a quiet mutter, “Kim…”

“W-What was that?” Mia barely made her voice out at all, so she leaned in just slightly with her ear aimed at her. “Kim--?”

“Kimberly,” she interrupted.

“Kimberly. Okay. I’m bad with names usually,” Mia chuckled, “but I’ll remember yours. Definitely. This type of thing has never happened to me before. Which sort of reminds me…” She glanced away, hesitant to unload her next question right away. “So… what’s going on here? What happened to you to make you this small?”

Kimberly twitched, not because of the question -- logical and reasonable for Mia to ask about -- but because of the answer. She inhaled deep into her lungs, a long breath that swiftly retraced her steps from the past several weeks. She thought of the library, and how Melanie played her shrinking game with Adrian. The day before that, she remembered Erin and Candi. She thought of Nicky and how huge she first appeared, she thought of Adrian and how they met just after Melanie had claimed her obsession, and she thought of Scarlet and the horrible name she was given.

But before all that, when this twisted tale all began, she had to think of what it was like to be normal again. Her mouth opened, unsure of what words could describe what she was feeling, and in turn, she was lost on what the topic even was. Her eyes became blind to anything but those memories, the very last things she saw before a dizziness plagued her. Melanie was right there, waiting in the lobby outside the elevator like always, and it was her that ushered her back into her office as she nearly slipped into unconsciousness. So immersive were these thoughts that her muscles itched in reflex, following through the motions she had taken so long ago. Those final minutes were so fleeting; she had no idea what destiny had in store for her ahead of that point.

Yet, what struck her with such gut wrenching force was one small detail, something she had forgotten so quickly. Her lips slipped into speaking aloud, “It was… supposed to be… my v-vacation…”

Mia blinked. Her smile blissfully remained. “A vacation? D-Did I hear you right?”

“A vacation…”

“Enjoy the time off, Kim.” “You deserve it~ You’re always coming in early and staying late!” “Don’t accidentally come into work while you’re off now, that sounds like something you’d do.” “Remember to relax, Kim! The office will still be here when you get back.” “Have a really good time, Kim.”

“I…” Kimberly coughed; she was shaking more than she knew. “I was… just… going on vacation…”

Mia had little to make a conclusion. “A-And then…?”

“Then… She…” The stutter in her throat became too much to speak through. Kimberly lurched forward, anxiously tightening the tissue paper around her body. Waves of emotions ebbed and flowed in her mind, draining her spirit through the process of reliving so much horror, until she could no longer control herself. She fell forward, pushed up by one arm until that gave way, and she was left huddling into herself in a squirming, itching puddle. “She… She…!”

What few words Kimberly had ready to say were flattened into a whine, a whine that sharply rose to a roaring cry. Every barrier in her had been let down, and she now wailed openly. Every inch of her skin begged for her attention as her memories were brought back to the present. She felt every abuse against her all over again, every betrayal of trust and misuse of power and opportunity. For so long, she wanted to be the strong one among the other shrunken women, knowing she was the eldest of the group and thus a sort of responsibility befell her. After weeks of such brutal torment, however, that will had finally be worn to a dull point. Everyone was gone, and only miraculously had she been able to get this far -- this far, being the bed of a college girl’s dorm room, like nothing more than a bug being lured into captivity.

It would all happen again. Her mind was broken trying to process this, under the stress of confliction she felt. Mia, with her sweet voice and gentle gestures, was still a giant. Another species to Kimberly, a fickle and young creature that could easily destroy anything she still had. It would all happen again, she was certain, and it was only a matter of time before those true colors came to life.

A fragment of this reached Mia, significant enough that the depth of Kimberly’s cries were not amiss. The depressing reality that was hidden behind Kimberly’s scream was unmistakable, clearer than before. She tried to imagine this unreal scenario happening to herself; dwindling in size until she was no bigger than a doll, scrambling across the floor of a gigantic world, and so easy to manipulate, so easy to hurt. Mia swallowed; she had been bruised before in life, but nothing on the magnitude that Kimberly had almost surely survived.

“I won’t hurt you,” Mia promised. Her hands, careful in their speed, were placed around Kimberly like two shields. She didn’t hold her or make any contact, merely providing a shelter, or at least the sense of one. “You… You’ve been through a lot. It’s okay. You can tell me anything. I-I’m not gonna hurt you or try anything on you. I’ll ask before doing anything. I don’t know what all I can do, b-but I’ll be here, I’ll try to help any way that I can.”

Kimberly was still in shivers as she uncurled her head from her body, noticing the wall of fingers around her and Mia’s face hovering closer than it had. She could look into the woman’s eyes, if only because they were forced upon her -- big and striking blue eyes, a concerned bend in her brow, and pillowy cheeks on either side. It scared Kimberly to have this titan upon her, but the smooth way of her words had blanketed her pleasantly. Mia had already adapted her volume appropriately, speaking in a soft tone that was also warm with its generosity.

It was only enough, however, to keep Kimberly’s sanity preserved. The sheltering hands did not lose any of their potential to crush, nor did Mia’s height shrink to a less intimidating form. The situation was the same, Kimberly thought. The dangers she feared hadn’t been beaten.

But it was easier to breathe. Kimberly exhaled a moist breath into the green bedsheet, and with that air gone so too did much of the shakes no longer riddle her body. She moved to rise, only getting as far as sitting up with her legs stretched behind her. But despite having mostly overcome the physical ailments of her anxiety, she still had nothing to say, and a glare was hardened into her expression at Mia.

“Is there anything you want right now?” Mia asked, but there was no response. “S-Something to drink? Or, i-is there a way I can help you get back to normal…?”

Kimberly refused to answer, and Mia read the silence aptly. She sat back away from the bed and retrieved one hand away from Kimberly, leaving just one by her. At first, she had begun to grab Kimberly, her fingers aimed to pinch her body just like it had before. Having considered how inhumane and impolite that was, she instead opted to lowering her hand flat for Kimberly just a few feet in front of her. Kimberly still didn’t move, but she didn’t ignore the palm presented to her.

“Here… Just step on, I’ll take you to my desk,” Mia explained. “I can’t have you on my bed forever… a-and my roommate is gonna come back eventually, so I’ll need to hide you somewhere, if th-that’s okay. I don’t think she’d be, um…” Mia abandoned the sentence, realizing that she could possibly bring more worry to Kimberly than necessary.

Kimberly closed her eyes, inactive still. Mia sighed, but was diligent, reaffirming her hand’s position as it began to grow tired. “I can wait,” she lightly giggled, “I understand where you’re coming from. You don’t need to say anything. I’ll prove I’m not scary first, and then, maybe we can talk about… what to do from here.” She bit her lip. “If there’s anything we can do from here…”

It went against every instinct branded into her, but Kimberly’s arm twitched towards the platform of a hand. Like trusting a bear trap, she told herself, why would I walk into that? It was difficult to lift herself off her knees and onto her feet, just long enough so she could creep into Mia’s hand. Her first step onto her skin was hesitant, flinching back in defense, until she felt more comfortable stepping completely into Mia’s grasp.

Mia rolled her fingers inwards to form a short barrier to protect Kimberly as she started to rise slowly. Her breathing became especially controlled as she walked cautiously from her bed to the desk, like transporting a delicate piece of art. That was the comparison Mia herself made, until she realized how that didn’t quite capture just how serious the situation was. Afterall, it wasn’t an inanimate object she was holding, but a living person utterly defenseless against the huge world.

Kimberly was lowered to the desk when Mia sat down in her chair. She weakly looked at the flat surface, already predicting its cold touch while she surveyed the giant objects around it. The will to move just wasn’t there, and so she remained where she did, her chest hollow and her mind weary.

Mia didn’t voice her concern to the woman laying in her hand. Rather than push Kimberly to move, she instead kept her hand still, bringing her torso closer to the edge on which it rested upon. Her body provided a firm wall, an extra level of defense just behind Kimberly, without imposing it onto her.

“Take your time,” Mia whispered sweetly. “Rest a bit, if you need it.”

Kimberly chuckled without realizing it, only turning onto her side to wrap an arm around herself. Rest, she repeated to herself, like a humble wish. Even if this was a lie, a prelude to a still uncertain fate, she found this opportunity to repair her soul, if just a fraction of it. After so long of tending to others and watching over them, she nearly fell asleep under that same comfort, a precious moment where she finally felt acknowledged.