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Wednesday, June 2 (cont.)
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Reese was practically trembling with the realization that it was his mom’s socks that he was smelling. He didn’t know if she’d gone on a jog or worked out at the gym, or if she’d gone while he was at school or while him and Olivia were at the mall that afternoon. But it was definitely recent, since the stench was still potent and bitter. Having smelled Olivia’s socks and feet plenty of times over the last few weeks had been one thing; she’d been helping him out and doing him a massive favor, so he didn’t have too much of a problem serving her while occasionally indulging in her quirks and games. But this was different. His mom wasn’t doing anything for him; she wasn’t even aware he had her socks! Wait… what if Mom comes in the room instead of Olivia. He started freaking out at the idea, imagining the horrified look his mom would give him if she stumbled upon her own son sniffing her dirty socks. Even if I told her Olivia made me do it, hell, even if Olivia told Mom herself that she made me do it… Mom would probably never look at me the same way again. And I probably couldn’t look at her the same either. Reese had no idea how common it was for siblings to “punish” each other like Olivia was doing to him, let alone with some kind of gross and humiliating element like their mom’s socks. But he was positive it was less than the amount of weirdos and perverts in the world who would do what he was doing willingly. That’s why he was terrified of Mom finding him. That slim possibility suddenly became even scarier than the idea of sniffing her dried up sweat for the next hour.
Not to say that smelling the socks was anything light. Besides how rank they were, he felt like he was under psychological torture by having to hold them there himself. Because there was absolutely nothing stopping him from just lowering his hands, even for a second. At least not physically. And yet he held them up to his nose anyways, scared of what Olivia might do if she found him. Olivia had thought that her last-minute plan of retribution would be half-assed compared to if she could administer the punishment herself, but in the end, it proved to be even worse. Because ultimately, she’d forced Reese to punish himself.
Even though he could hear them talking downstairs over the next half hour, sometimes laughing, he could never quite tell who was who. His sister’s voice was close enough in pitch to their mom’s, so it was difficult deciphering between the two of them. By the time another 20 or 30 minutes had passed, Reese was starting to worry about something else. By now, his arms were incredibly tired from having to hold them up for so long without getting to rest his muscles. She’s definitely gotta be done with dinner by now though. She’s probably just taking her time relaxing afterwards to make it worse for me. But… I can’t even blame her. I deserve it. He tiptoed over to the door and put his ear to the wall, hoping to maybe be able to hear a little extra. But it didn’t do much. But he had to rest his arms, at the least, so he rested his elbows on her table next to the door, while still making sure to keep his mom’s socks pressed firmly against his nose. She just wants me to be smelling socks, he reasoned with himself. He didn’t think she’d be unfair enough to punish him for the limitations of his own body, something that he couldn’t control.
More time passed, and the downstairs was more quiet now. Dinner was obviously over, and the conversations were slower and more sporadic. Although he was keeping his ear to the wall pretty regularly now; it was pushing his luck, but he still had his mom’s socks to his face at least. Considering his mom didn’t know what was going on with him, she wouldn’t try anything sneaky like Olivia might. So being on the lookout for her coming in the room, to avoid her catching him, was without question worth whatever his sister might do.
But as he listened earnestly to any possible sounds, he heard something faint for a second… something low and barely metallic somehow. And then a few seconds later, he heard a very similar sound again, slowly… It sounded like it a noise from the house. He recalled how when he slept at night, he could hear movements on his bed way louder than movements elsewhere. It seemed that things connected to whatever his ear was against would have a stronger sound, probably because of vibrations or some other scientific shit. Wait… was that the front door then? As soon as the idea crossed his mind, he realized that that was exactly what it was. It clearly sounded like someone was trying to hide it though, which meant it was definitely Olivia. But was she actually trying to sneak off somewhere without him knowing? Or was it a trick? It can’t be a trick, it was way too quiet. The perfect noise would be a lot quieter than normal, but still loud enough to hear. But I barely heard it, and that was with my ear pressed up against the wall. Still, Reese didn’t want to take any chances, so he kept the socks up against his nose—until he heard someone coming up the stairs.
“Hey Stuart, have you seen my phone? You might need to call it for me,” Tracy’s voice called as it made its way up the stairs. SHIT! This was exactly what he’d worried about. His sister coming in without the socks to his nose would mean he’d have to suffer some more, but it’d be temporary. Whereas his mom finding him with her socks had the potential to spoil their mother-son relationship. Permanently. Maybe Tracy was alone, or maybe Olivia had tricked him and was secretly right behind their mom, but either way, that was definitely his mom’s voice and he HAD to get rid of the socks. As his mind went into panic mode, with the footsteps only a few seconds from the door, Reese quickly pulled the socks away and rushed over to Olivia’s bed, jamming the socks under her covers and quickly climbing onto her bed and assuming a position like he’d been sleeping, but with his eyes to the door, peeking open. He’d had to put the socks somewhere, and in the split seconds he had, his brain had decided that lying on her bed asleep could be a good alibi. If his mom was going to find him, alone, in the dark, in his sister’s room, AND while he was supposedly at a friend’s house… the best idea he could come up with was that he’d come back quietly because he had a migraine, and came in through a back door to keep the noise level down, and then was sleeping in Olivia’s room because her bed was more comfortable. It was dumb, it was shabby, but it was relatively plausible, and hopefully wouldn’t come off as weird.
All of that went through his mind in the short moment of him removing the socks and dashing over to Olivia’s bed. But with the socks away from his nose now, he finally breathed in his first breath of fresh air, for the first time in over an hour. It was such a pleasant, clean, and refreshing feeling, that his exhaling was raggedy just from the excitement. With every new breath, he was able to cleanse his memories of his mom’s foot sweat. As his mom’s footsteps grew closer, he prayed that she or Olivia wouldn’t open that door and find him there—and they never did. The footsteps just kept on walking along the hallway. Then they headed into the master bedroom, and Reese listened as she started rummaging around her closest, her dresser, trying to find it. But that didn’t mean he was safe. Maybe Olivia WAS trying to trick me and snuck up right after her, and is gonna bust in this room any minute now. Fuck! He felt like he made the smart decision as he pulled the socks out from under her covers and rushed back to the middle of the room where his sister had originally left him, jamming the socks back into his face. He groaned softly as the smell instantly returned to him, just as bad as it had been a minute ago. Although with his mom in her room trying to find her phone, at least he knew she wouldn’t be the one to come in. He could even hear the phone vibrating after his dad called it for her, while she continued trying to find it amongst her stuff.
“Oh wait, got it!” he heard Tracy yell, as the buzzing stopped and Reese heard the closet close. “Thanks!” she called down to her husband, closing their bedroom door as she started to make her way back down the hall to head downstairs. Which meant Reese had to dash over to the bed again, stuffing the socks beneath the blankets and go back to pretending to sleep as she passed by his door. Which, luckily for him, meant a few more seconds of fresh air again. He breathed in every breath gratefully, truly savoring what pure, clean air could smell like. Something most people take for granted. And then the footsteps passed Olivia’s door before fading again as his mom passed right on by. So with a big sigh that gave him his last clean breath of fresh air again, he jumped back up and ran over to the middle of the room so he could continue smelling his mom’s socks. Just in case Olivia popped in. But he gritted his teeth in frustration as once more, for the third time, the putrid smell returned. And he’d put them there himself. The disgusting and undignified odor filled up his lungs once more. After just being reminded for the second time of how nice clean air was, he’d had to go back to misery once again, because as quiet as the front door had been, there was still a tiny chance that Olivia hadn’t actually left.
“Hey Olivia!” rang out his dad’s voice this time from somewhere in the kitchen. “Are you still here?” Reese piped up, realizing that she might’ve really left after all. “Has she gone to get the milk yet?” he loudly asked his wife as she made her way down the last few steps of the stairs. “I should have her pick up some stuff while she’s there.”
“Yeah, I saw her head out before I went upstairs, you should text her,” Tracy answered. So it’s true… Holy shit, THANK you Mom, he thought, screaming with joy in his head as he dropped to his knees to finally give his legs a break too. It wasn’t the end of his plight, but at least it meant another break of solitude and fresh air, and for way longer than when he was pretend-sleeping on the bed. She might try to sneak back inside like how she’d tried to sneak out, so he didn’t want to risk giving himself too much time, but he threw the socks away from him in disgust, knowing that at the very least he’d have at least 10 minutes of peace where he—
“Oh wait nevermind, there she is.” Reese’s heart truly skipped a beat upon hearing his mother’s voice correct herself, and he desperately crawled over to the socks in an attempt to grab them again. But just as his hands reached ahold of them, the door swung wide open, and Reese saw two giant, hauntingly familiar feet standing before him on the other side of the door. His heart was racing faster than it ever had before as his gaze ascended the tall, muscular, unfairly massive body of his sister, before landing on her face staring down at him. It all came rushing to him in a flood of emotions: Why did I have to be the one who shrunk? Why did I have to be the one who was too lazy to finish school on my own? Why couldn’t I have just trusted her and never used that fucking computer? Her eyebrows were furrowed as her gaze ripped right through his heart, her nose flared as she breathed faster from her rising temper, and her jaw was clenched so tight he was sure she’d be able to bite right through him if she tried. And why... why… He dropped his head, closing his eyes as they started to tear up. Why do I always fail my family over, and over, and over? He was in charge of his fate; he couldn’t control the fact that he shrunk, but he could control how he reacted to it. And instead of becoming determined and not letting it affect his life, he’d allowed the shrinkage to consume his emotions, driving him to self-pity and getting his sister to fix his mistakes instead of addressing the root of the problem. He had nobody else to blame for being where he was except for himself. His graduation was in jeopardy, his relationship with his parents had gotten worse, Olivia’s laptop had been completely destroyed… and now he’d fallen through once again. Even by his own admission, he’d deserved what his sister had done, and yet when she’d given him the chance to discipline himself completely on his own and prove his remorse, he’d still let her down. It was just a pair of socks; it hadn’t hurt, it wasn’t supposed to be for a long time. Hell, it wasn’t even the worst pair he’d smelled over these last few weeks. And yet, still, he’d been a failure.
“Why were you walking up the stairs like that?” Tracy asked, looking up at her daughter from the bottom of the stairs, oblivious to the small, crying boy just around the corner.
“I dunno, just messing around,” Olivia answered flatly, not even bothering to move her head.
“Well OK then,” Tracy chuckled. “Whatcha lookin at?”
Olivia didn’t respond for a few seconds, and then pulled her head away from her trance to look back down at her mom. “Nothing. Just lost in thought,” she lied. “I realized I probably won’t have any coffee tomorrow morning, so I changed my mind about heading to the store tonight if that’s OK with you guys.”
Her mom shrugged. “Sure, I don’t even like oat milk,” she scoffed, and turned to head back to the living room.
Olivia turned her attention back to her brother, still on his hands and knees in front of her feet. He was shaking slightly, trying to blink the tears out from his eyes as he stared at the floor, unable to bear looking up at her face. He knew he’d fucked up. And she knew that he knew.
She walked calmly into her room and closed the door behind her, committed to making sure it was the last time he ever failed her again.