Mandy left home early in the morning, making another call to Sean on the way. Still no response. Perplexed, she walked down the sidewalk towards the bus stop. She was wearing a white polo shirt, jean shorts and flat shoes, the morning air feeling cool on her bare legs. She decided to pass by his place on her way to the lab. For all she knew, he could be home at the moment and it was worth checking. She reached the bus stop, took the right line and after a few minutes of ride and another few of walking she was standing at the front door of Sean’s house. She rang the bell and waited, then did so again. After ten minutes of waiting no one came to open the door. Many brought her ear closer and listened in, but she couldn’t hear anything, or anyone, inside. She then looked at the doormat at her feet and an idea popped in her head. She knelt down, looking underneath it and sure enough, there was a key lying there. ‘Of course’ she thought, she thought and shook her head at the professor’s absent-mindedness as she unlocked the door.
‘Hello? Professor Darnell? You there?’ she called out as she walked inside ‘It’s Mandy. Are you there?’
She closed the door behind and took a few steps in. Still no sound of any human activity. She decided to look around and check every room, promptly doing so. But Sean wasn’t there, not even in the bedroom or the bathroom. His bed was made and Mandy figured no one had slept in it the night before. There were no dishes in the sink. All in all, the place looked as if no one was there for at least twenty-four hours.
‘Better luck at the lab, I guess’ she thought and was about to leave, but something got her attention. As she passed the kitchen, she noticed a bunch of papers strewn around the table and chose to look them over. Some of the stuff in them was familiar; she remembered most of the formulas in the papers, but there were more than a few she had no recognition of. Yet they all related to the size modulation and the project they’ve been working on. Was the professor keeping secrets from her? She gathered the sheets into a neat pile which she then put in her purse, to go through them later on at her place. She left, locking the door and putting the key back under the doormat. She walked to a different bus stop nearby, taking a ride to the lab. Once she made it there, she noticed nothing has changed, especially in terms of the professor’s presence. His phone was still on the desk and as Mandy approached it, she noticed something lying underneath it, a small, rectangular leather object. She picked it up. ‘He left his wallet too?’ she thought, looking inside. There was some spare change in, as well as his ID and driver license. The situation was getting more worrisome with each discovery, Mandy growing anxious. She noticed some more research papers on the lab’s desk and gathered them too, adding to the mix in her purse, to peruse later.
‘What if he’s missing?’ she suddenly thought. Things like this happened before. People leaving, seemingly just for a while, and disappearing for years. ‘Maybe someone had seen him. Some of the locals’ she thought as her attention turned to a laptop standing nearby and the printer it was connected too. She had an idea. She turned the laptop on, then took out Sean’s ID from his wallet and scanned it, then printed out a resized picture of his face. She folded it and hid it in her purse. She would take it and ask people living nearby whether they had seen a man like this, hoping someone had at least glanced him. Mandy left the lab, but not before looking through it for a spare key to lock the door, cursing herself for having forgotten to do so yesterday. With that settled, she turned to walk towards the houses standing nearby.
Sean woke up amidst the pile of pillows, slowly getting up and rubbing his eyes. Looking around he noticed his matchbox was missing. More importantly though, he also noticed Kristine’s bed was empty. He was somewhat surprised that he slept through the giantess waking up, but figured the exhaustion of the previous day contributed to that. He stood up and did a few stretches, then sat back and waited for her to come pick him. He didn’t have to wait long, as Kristine’s giant frame soon appeared in the entry. She was already dressed up, having showered while he slept. She was wearing a black, buttoned sleeveless shirt, with a small breast pocket, which she tucked in her light grey skirt, her legs and feet being bare, her wavy hair as always loose. He watched her approach the nightstand with a smile.
‘Hello, little one. Did you sleep well?’ she asked, crouching to get on his level, her face filling his vision once more. As Sean nodded, she continued ‘Happy to hear that. I’ve made some breakfast. And found something better to carry you in’ she pointed to the breast pocket ‘Oh, and – I’ve a surprise for you. I think you’ll enjoy it’ she added, her smile growing even wider as she stood up and placed a single finger on the nightstand. She waited patiently for him to climb on top of her fingernail, then carefully deposited him inside the breast pocket, which to him was the size of a vast cavern. A warm and comfy cavern, though, as Sean noticed while the giantess walked to the kitchen.
Once there, she took a seat and carefully picked him out of the pocket, transporting him to the table on her fingernail. She set him down near a surprise she prepared for him, namely a plastic coffee scoop filled almost to the brim with water and a drop of detergent mixed in, the matchbox lying nearby. ‘You can take a bath before breakfast. Don’t worry, I won’t peek’ she said, smiling at him. Sean approached the scoop and undressed, leaving his underpants on. Kristine brought her index finger down and told him she could wash his clothes, so he picked them up and put them on her fingertip. He walked up the scoop’s handle and into the warm water, swimming and bathing at the same time, as Kristine dipped his clothes in a spoon and laid them on the matchbox to dry. When he was done, he walked down the handle and she handed him a tiny piece of a paper towel to wipe the water off. As his clothes dried, she offered him a breakfast: a crumb of toast too big for him to finish whole and a drop of tea she dipped her fingertip in, from which he gathered a few handfuls to drink. She then proceeded to eat herself, her eyes not leaving the little man for even a moment, as he dressed up and strolled around the table.
Suddenly, they both heard a sound of a car stopping by. She stood up and looked out the window, seeing a yellow mini cooper parked in the driveway. ‘Nicole’s here!’ she exclaimed and turned her attention to Sean. ‘Don’t go anywhere, I’ll introduce you in a moment’ she said, passing the table by and walking to the front door. She opened it before her niece even had the chance to ring the doorbell.
‘Good morning, Nicole. You’re quite early’ she said with a radiant smile. The person standing before her was a tall (a good two inches taller than Kristine, as a matter of fact) nineteen year old, with long, straight dirty blonde hair and eyes of the same deep blue colour as hers. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white stripes, mid-thigh length, and a pair of white sandals. Her oval face was that of a plain beauty, with wide nose and thin lips and a few freckles scattered around her cheeks.
‘Hey, auntie. Not too early, I hope?’
‘Not at all. Come in. And follow me, there’s someone very special I want you to meet’
She followed her aunt to the kitchen and saw her lay a hand on the table, then approach her with her palm open and held at the eye level.
‘This is Nicole, my niece’ Kristine said, her eyes focused on a spot in the middle of her palm. Nicole followed her gaze and noticed something in there, something very, very small.
‘You’ve got a pet ant?’ she asked, perplexed.
‘Look closer’
Nicole brought her face forward. Her eyesight being better than Kristine’s, she immediately realized what her aunt was holding in her palm. Or rather who.
‘No way!’ she exclaimed, forcing Sean to scowl and cover his ears ‘Is that a man? Why is he so tiny?’
‘I don’t know. Somehow he shrank himself and wandered in here yesterday’
‘Why would he do such a thing?’
Kristine shrugged, gently, having Sean’s safety in her mind. ‘I haven’t been able to determine that. I don’t even know his name yet. He’s too small to be heard by us’
‘That’s messed up’
‘Quite. Let’s take a seat, I’ll make some tea and tell you everything’ Kristine said, pointing to the table. Soon after, Sean was once again stranded on the vast plain of the kitchen table, as the giantesses above him were drinking their tea, Nicole listening intently to Kristine’s recollection of yesterday’s events.