James lead his longtime friend Max into his garage, where they spent most of their free time.

“Where’s your sister” Max asked “I didn’t see her”

James rolled his eyes. His twin sister was nothing but a pest. He looked forward to leaving for college so he only had to see her occasionally.

“Lucky you, I don’t know” he snarked as they started work. They had been working on something truly groundbreaking: a way to communicate with all creatures. When aimed at an animal and a human, the machine could transform the human impulses and matter into an animal for a period of time. It was confusing even to the high school seniors building it, but success could mean huge advances in biology.

“If we pull this off, we’re going to be so rich” James said as he punched code into a fat laptop he borrowed from his father.

“Yeah plus we can hear the thoughts of animals – of INSECTS man” Max said as he tweaked the device itself.

The duo had been terrified to test it. How are you supposed to shoot a person with a laser and see what happens. They’d tried it with other bugs as best they could – turning flies into cockroaches and back. That had worked, so they prepared to try it out on James. It required a lot of adjustments, and much more energy than their previous work. 

James adjusted his safety goggles. Max couldn’t help but think about how useless they would be if things went bad.

“So down, and back, right? Real quick.” James asked, he knew the answer, but Max could tell he was nervous.

“Yep.” Max began charging the device.

The analog screen displayed:

10 - %

This was clearly taking longer than normal

20 - % 

The lights flickered

30 - %

“We’re at 30 hold tight” Max announced

40 - %

Max wondered what he would tell his parents if things went wrong

50 - %

It would probably be difficult to explain

60 - %

The machine made a loud sound similar to that of a dental drill. Everything was going to plan.

70 - %

A light indicating a heat overload popped on, not the worst thing

80 - %

The machine made an unfamiliar noise. As it slipped past 84% Max heard a deafening bang and everything went black.

Max awoke on his back. It felt like he had been hit by a bus, the world spun around him.

He felt a sharp pain, but it wasn’t anything like anything he’d felt before. It flowed through him evenly and he sat on his back writhing in it. He remembered the machine, and the explosion. He opened his eyes and rolled onto his legs.

Everything was giant. The machine was the size of a large office building. James looked across the room and saw that Max was completely gone. The room was now the size of the sky, and a light layer of smoke drifted through the space. James only now saw the sheet metal on the wall next to him, and in the reflection he saw himself for the first time.

A cockroach.

How hadn’t he noticed, he wondered. His sight was different, his body was hardened, and his new legs twitched as he saw his new body. He looked across the cement floor and eyed another cockroach. It must’ve been Max, also transformed and shrunk.

James yelled: “Are you okay?” 

Max responded, still on his back “We’re cockroaches, what do you think?”

Suddenly there was a distant and growing rumbling, like a small earthquake. For a moment, James assumed the machine had restarted. Instead the reality presented itself as the giant door leading into the house swung open, the wave of air it caused forced James and Max to tumble.

When he got to his senses, James looked up to see something that stunned him: his sister.

His giantess sister.

At James’ eye level, a set of pink converse, visibly dirty, faced him. Just past her dainty ankles her skirt, and a tank top that she wore too often, was her giant face staring out above them. 

“What was that?” his sister announced, the entire garage vibrating. Behind her, James recognized her friend Kelsey peering into the room. He watched in slow motion as his sisters giant shoe lifted off the floor, swept forward, and landed on the concrete. The boom sounded like a bus had just been dropped nearby.

James shifted his attention to Max, who was still on his back near the door. He was completely helpless as a cockroach and knew it.

Once again James watched as his sister’s shoe lifted off of the ground and swept forward, this time the shadow of her towering body cast over Max as he twitched on the ground. James could tell she wasn’t looking where she was walking, instead her gaze fell on the machine that put them in this situation – still steaming.

The patterned sole of the shoe enveloped Max as small bits of dirt not even big enough for a human to see pelted him. In an instant it obliterated his lower half with a deafening crunch. Kelsey screamed.

“Oh my GOD grossss” as she covered her heart and looked down at the half wriggling bug she didn’t know was Max.

James watched his sister not react, but instead bend over the crippled Max, her hair fell all around him as she scrunched her nose. Her arm swung forward and her dainty fingers, each with a pink colored nail, plucked the remaining half of Max off of the ground. They couldn’t hear it, but James could hear his screaming well, his internal fluids dripping out onto the concrete floor.

James watched as she straightened her back, her giant face peering curiously at the tiny Max wriggling between her cruel fingers. Suddenly, she brought him to Kelsey’s face, who immediately yelped and ducked away in fear.

“NOT COOL—that’s gross” she said, now halfway across the room.

Jamie’s sister laughed, her breath washing over the top half of Max, now yelling and pleading inaudibly. He didn’t know it, but she was done with him – back to investigating the machine. Without even thinking, she took Max and grinded him against her skirt, he screamed in pain the first time, but by the third run he was silent. Reduced to a long goey mass stuck to a skirt. Soon to be washed off.

James was so stunned he couldn’t move, his new body shook in fear at what had just happened half a room away. The girls meanwhile, were back to investigating the noise.

“What was that?” James sister asked she once again rumbled James’ world by taking small steps around the machine. As she approached him he finally could see the enormity of the teenage girl – It was as if a skyscraper rushed toward him only a skyscraper wasn’t carried by two dainty feet and didn’t smell of perfume. In just a moment he was faced with two giant sneakers attached to skinny legs that rose toward the ceiling sky.

She was far too busy looking at the machine trying to figure out what happened. Kelsey peered from the doorway, afraid to enter the room after the ‘bug’ situation.

James realized that if he stayed here he would end up like Max, now a long dried patch of blood. He began crawling away from his sister but slowly as to avoid her attention. Then he heard a voice from across the room: 

“Oh my god there’s ANOTHER one” it was Kelsey, and she was pointing at him.

James watched as his giant sister smirked and with one step reached him. As she bent down he prayed to himself that she would just crush him and get it over with. It didn’t stop him from begging.

“It’s ME, JAMES! The machine turned me into this. HELP ME”

But his sisters smirk persisted. Her fingers plucked him up into the air, crushing his hardened body.

“What are you going to do with it?” Kelsey asked, voicing a similar concern James was considering.

“I’m gonna put on a show” his sister responded “you take the video!”

Kelsey pulled out her phone and started recording in an instant, a grimace taking over her face as her phone flashlight illuminated the garage. 

“Go ahead!” Kelsey announced.

James’ sister had been trying to expand her social media presence, and she had begun to realize that being gross or weird was a great way to get clicks. As the phone recorded she dangled the cockroach in front of her.

“Hi everyone! Look what my little brother let into the house. I wonder what I’ll dooo with it” she said, knowingly wagging her hips and tilting her head. “I’m AWFULLY hungry right now” she said as she brought her brother down to her exposed tummy and gently pulled her skirt down slightly to tease her audience. She had also realized that being a tease was a good way to get views.

“Do you hear that little guy? I’m REALLY hungry” she said as she unknowingly pressed her little brother against her stomach.

James was disoriented. The crushing claws her of hand had already caused him to yell out in pain, but being pressed against a gurgling, roiling stomach was an entirely different type of torture. He kicked his legs in protest but only received a faint giggle in response. The shining light increased as he fought for his life.

Kelsey got a close up of the bug as it struggled, she was already thinking of how to edit the video to make it the most entertaining.

Jame’s sister then began to bring the bug to her face. “It just looks so tasty” she said as she looked into the camera and licked her lips. She carefully licked her brother, pretending to enjoy the taste. “Yumm, so big” she said, knowing the obvious implications for her watchers. She never considered herself this type of person, but to be successful you have to make sacrifices, she thought.

James felt the bumpy surface grind against him, the muscle not only tearing at his shell but also soaking him in saliva to the point where he felt as if he was drowning. The smell was overwhelming and it was clear his sister hadn’t been caring for her mouth at all. The bright light continued to shine down on him as his sisters mouth opened again, and in her went. 

She happily popped in the bug like a piece of candy, swishing it around her mouth as she smiled for the camera, then, very carefully, she swallowed. She traced the bug down her throat as she made a loud “mmmm” sound and swayed her body. When it was over she patted her stomach and looked into the camera one last time.

“Don’t forget to like, comment, and follow!”

And the camera went off. The girls happily skipped out of the room to upload their video as James slowly melted in his sisters stomach.