Thomas and Gloria's mouths dropped wide open. This woman... yet another victim of Melissa, who resided in this dollhouse set up in the basement, claimed to be Melissa's mother. Neither one could believe it. Was Melissa so heartless as to shrink her own mother? Apparently so, if this woman was telling the truth.

"M-mother?!" Thomas said, shocked. "But Melissa said that you left her and her dad when she was young!"

"She told me that you were dead," Gloria said.

"I see..." Claudia said, melancholically. "I had no idea that she was telling those kind of lies to everyone... My friends... my family... I'm sure they're all wondering where I am..."

Bruce placed his arm around her shoulders. "Cheer up. Melissa hasn't killed you. So I'm sure that sometime soon, she'll make you big again. After all, you are her mother."

Claudia sniffed. "Thank you. Yes, I know. I am her mother."

Thomas stood at awe at this scene. Was Bruce actually being nice to this woman? Are the two having an affair? More importantly, considering the long periods that he is down here, does Melissa know about him?

"Why don't you two come in?" Claudia said. "I'll try my best to explain how all of this started."

Claudia then stepped away from the door, and soon out of sight. Bruce gave Thomas and Gloria a slight glare before he followed her. Thomas and Gloria briefly looked at each other before walking inside of the dollhouse, closing the door behind them.

The four sat in the living room. Even at their size, the room seemed rather small, especially compared to the living room of Melissa's house. Thomas and Gloria sat on a plastic couch, covered with a kind of padding. Claudia and Bruce sat in seperate plasic chairs, Claudia across from them, and Bruce to the side. Between them all was a plastic table, and in front of Thomas and Gloria were two glasses of lemonade. However, the beverages were not lukewarm like the water Thomas has been drinking for weeks; they were actually cold. How was this possible?

"Umm..." Thomas said. "I don't get it. What kind of place is this? You have lights, cold drinks, supplies, and apparently food. How are you getting all of this?"

"...Do you know about my... ex-husband?" Claudia said.

"Only what Melissa told me," Thomas responded. "That he was an inventor."

"I see... Well, I don't know if you've heard of him or not, but his name is Edgar Cruz."

"I think I've heard of him," Gloria said.

"He created this dollhouse for the girls a long time ago, though I never understood why they would ever need one like this," Claudia said. "And the food and supplies? Melissa-"

"Hold on!" Thomas interrupted. "'Girls'?! Melissa has a sister?!"

"Yes." Claudia turned to Bruce. "I know it's late, but could you go get her for a minute?"

"Sure." Bruce stood up and left the room. Thomas could hear him walking up the plastic stairs.

"As I was saying, Melissa supplies us with food and drinks. Despite all she's done, she still feeds us. I can't really hate her. After all, she's my daughter."

"Mrs. Cruz..." Gloria said. "Do you have any idea what Melissa is doing up there?"

"Bruce has told me bits and pieces." Claudia sighed. "But I'd rather not know the rest..."

"I see... Then I won't say anything else about that..." Gloria picked up her glass and sipped at the lemonade inside.

Bruce came back into the room, being followed by a tired, and annoyed, teenaged girl. However, to Thomas and Gloria's surprise, this girl had a somewhat lighter skin complexion and brownish hair, unlike the dark skin and black hair of her mother and sister.

"Who are these people?" The girl rudely asked.

"I'm Thomas," Thomas said. "And this is Gloria."

"I'm Rebecca." She turned to her mother. "Can I go back to bed now?"

"Okay. Good night, dear." Claudia said.

"Mm." Rebecca then walked out of the room, and back upstairs.

Bruce sat back down in the chair he was sitting in earlier. "I know what you're thinking: 'But how come she doesn't look like her sister and mother?' I hope you're not stupid enough to not figure it out." Bruce was looking at Thomas as he said this.

"Please, Bruce," Claudia scolded. "Yes... I did have an affair... 17 years ago, Edgar had been away for a long time, and I... went out and met this blond man... and I think you know the rest."

"Yeah..." Thomas said.

"Actually, I think my affair may have led to all of this."

"Really? How so?"

Claudia let out a sigh. "It started... about 7 months ago now..."

~~~

It was mid-January, though you all know how the weather here is. I was in the kitchen, washing the dishes. Rebecca was in there with me, reading a book for her English class. It had been a quiet, uneventful Wednesday afternoon, when we heard the doorbell ring. I was too busy, but Rebecca didn't move, either. The bell rang again, and I heard footsteps running down the front stairs.

"I got it!" Melissa called out.

I heard some talking, but I didn't pay it too much mind. A few minutes later, Melissa walked into the kitchen, holding a box.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"Some UPS guy," she answered.

She then began to open the box. We were all curious as to what was inside. I actually stopped washing the plate I was working on, and stepped to the table. After drying my hands, of course.

The box was open, and we were shocked to find this strange gun. It was a greyish color, with what looked like a satellite dish as the pistol. There were also a few buttons on it, and of course, a trigger.

"What the hell is that?!" Rebecca asked. Curiosity had gotten the best of her, too, as she had stopped reading her book, leaving it flipped open on the table.

"Wait, there's more." Melissa reached under the gun, and pulled out some sheets of paper. She began to read. "'Hello, my Princesses.' It's from Dad!"

"Edgar sent us this?" I asked. "Why? And what is it?"

Melissa continued to read. "'I'm sure that you're wondering what it is that I sent you. Well, for the past few years, we at the lab have been working on size altercation technology. The gun in this box is the fruition of half of our efforts. I'm sure you've heard of such a thing in cartoons and the like, but it's called the Shrink Ray.' 'Shrink Ray'?! He can't be serious!!"

"Why would he send us something like this?" Rebecca asked.

"Read on, dear," I said to Melissa.

"'Now, I don't want you all to go out and shrink half of the town. In fact, I'd rather you all not use it at all, except in energencies.' ...So, this is supposed to protect us?"

"That's no fun," Rebecca complained. "I wanted to use it to get revenge on my ex. I'd love to see him beg for mercy when I'm holding my foot above him..."

"Rebecca! That's inhumane!" I scolded.

"What? I wasn't going to kill him..."

I heard Melissa flipping through the papers. "Here are the directions."

Both Rebecca and I walked closer to Melissa, and looked at the paper with her. Surprisingly, the directions were pretty simple. Press the red button to activate the shrinking process, and afterwards, pull the trigger to shrink the subject down to 1/40th of its original size. Pressing the green button, however, activated growth, though it could only return the subject to its original size, and not make it bigger. The gun apparently ran on a supply of radioactive chemicals, and the letter said to mail the gun back to the lab when it ran out of power. I admit, that part worried me the most. I didn't want any toxic waste in my house, around my children.

I had no idea that that would soon be the least of my worries...

So, Melissa and Rebecca tried it out on several things. The couches, their beds, the TV, one of my plants, and some books. Though Rebecca still wanted to try it out on her ex, thankfully Melissa quickly talked her out of it.

After about an hour or so, they got bored with the Shrink Ray, and put it back in the box. Melissa then said that she would keep it in her room. I didn't mind. After all, Melissa would never do anything irresponsible with it. I raised her to be an upstanding, intelligent, young woman, and I believed that I had succeeded.

About two weeks later, in the middle of the night, I awoke to a loud shattering sound. I immediately slipped on my slippers and pulled on my bathrobe, and rushed outside of my room. Despite the lights in the house being turned off, I saw my daughters croutching at the balcony overlooking the front room. They were looking down below, and when I saw what they were looking at, my heart sank: a man dressed head-to-toe in black clothing had broken into our house.

I quickly backed to the wall behind me, my heart racing. Luckily, he didn't see us. At least, not at that point.

Melissa quietly walked back into her room, and as she disappeared, so did the burgular. According to Rebecca, he had gone into another room. Though my heart was beating ever faster. I did not know what this man wanted. Was he going to just loot our house and be on his way? Or, if and when he found us, would he rape us? After all, my daughters and I were the only ones living there, so I'm sure that he would have, and could have, had his way with all three of us. And if he did, what would have became of us? Would he try to silence us?

Melissa came back to the balcony, holding something in her hands. At that point, I remembered about the Shrink Ray. I had completely forgotten about it, since I don't think the girls had touched it in the two week after the day it came. I heard a powering-up sound, and saw Melissa stand closer to the edge of the balcony, aiming the gun towards the lower floor. I crept closer to the edge, and watched the floor below closely, yet nervously.

The man then walked back into the room. I gulped as Melissa briefly looked at me, and as the man walked into the center of the room, Melissa fired.

The man glowed with a white light, a light that became smaller and smaller. Suddenly, as quickly as it started, it was over. The now small ball of light had disappeared in the darkness. We immediately rushed down the stairs. Rebecca switched the light on, I went to check the alarm system, and Melissa stood over the now small man, observing his unconscious body.

"Rebecca," I said, breathing heavily. "Why didn't you turn the alarm on?"

"Sorry, Mom," she answered. "I was too busy with my essay."

"Don't ever be that irresponsible ever again."

"I won't, Mom..."

Both of us joined Melissa and the man, who was now coming to. He looked around, and once he looked up, he began to scream. I tell you, even though he had been shrunken down to less than 2 inches, his scream filled the room. Amazing what fear can do.

He began to run away from us, but Rebecca ran ahead of him and slammed her foot in his path.

"Where do you think you're going?" she said in a somewhat cruel manner. "You're going to pay for breaking into our house like that."

Rebecca raised her foot over the man, but I stopped her.

"No, Rebecca!" I pulled her away from the man.

"Why not?! He deserves it!"

"Doesn't matter. He's still a human, and you can't kill people."

"So, what are we going to do with him, then?!" Rebecca pulled away from my grip. "Give him to the police? They're going to ask how he got like that! Oh! I have an idea! Why don't we just grow him back to normal!? I'm sure that he'll be so thrilled that he'll thank us!"

"You don't have to be so sarcastic." I began to think. "You're right. We can't give him to the police. Not like this. And I don't want to find out what he'll do with us if we restore him. Especially if he were to get a hold of the Shrink Ray... Oh, dear..."

At that point, Melissa spoke up. "Rebecca does bring up a good point."

After she said that, I heard a crunching sound. I turned around and saw Melissa, twisting her foot on the floor. I looked down at her foot, and saw blood, shredded black clothing, and a now barely recognizable body being grounded-up under her flip-flop sandal. Afterwards, she pulled back, and smeared the blood and remains on the floor. I covered my mouth, and almost threw up at the sight.

"Wicked," Rebecca said, in awe. "I so wanted to do that! No fair!" She stomped the floor. "I wanted to feel him squish under my bare foot!"

"Rebecca!" I scolded, and turned back to Melissa. "Melissa! How could you?! Didn't you just hear what I said?! It's murder!"

Melissa sighed. "Yeah, I heard you. But Rebecca's right. The cops would ask us how he became so small, and growing him back to normal was out of the question. And we also couldn't've thrown him outside. If he was found, it'd cause a news sensation, and if Dad saw it, he'd know right away. Besides..." Melissa stamped on the bloody, flattened remains of the man. "I doubt anyone would give a shit about a robber being killed. Plus, he would be using up our tax dollars rotting in jail. I just did society a favor."

I found it hard to counter her argument, so I just remained silent. I admit, it was pretty solid. But still... Murder is murder.

"So..." Rebecca walked closer to Melissa. "What was it like?"

"What?" Melissa said.

"What did it feel like stepping on a man?"

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed in disgust, and began to walk away from the two.

"Well, it was like stepping on a bug. A large bug. And it was a bit more squishy, probably because there's more blood and..." That's all I heard before I left the room.

I headed to the kitchen, looking for a cleanser or something to wipe up that mess Melissa left. I also had to do something about the hole that was left in the broken window. I ended up staying awake for the rest of the night. Partly because of the messes I had to clean up, but mainly because I was still shaken-up about the break-in, and how the man had met his end at the feet of, of all people, my own daughter, who, more-or-less, had the same ideals as me.

At least, she did up until that point.

~~~

"Wow..." Thomas said. "So... Did killing that guy give her some kind of high or something?"

"I don't know," Claudia responded. "Surprisingly, none of us talked about the incident afterwards. I was almost as if it had never happened. I don't think Melissa used the Shrink Ray after that. But then... a week-and-a-half later..." She wimpered a little.

"If this is too much for you, you don't have to tell us the rest," Gloria said. "We can sort of piece together the rest."

"No..." Claudia wiped a tear from her eye. "I said that I would tell you how it started."

"Then..." Thomas leaned forward. "What happened?"

Claudia let out a depressed sigh, and continued her story.

~~~

I was once again in the kitchen, wiping off the appliances, when Melissa walked in. She had her hands held behind her back, but I didn't pay it too much mind.

"Have you seen Rebecca around here?" she asked.

"Isn't she in her room?"

"No."

"I see... Then I guess she left without telling me." I sighed and shook my head. "I told her to stop doing that."

"Yeah..."

I turned back to the stove I was cleaning, when I heard Melissa call me again.

"Hey, Mom?"

"What is it, dear-" As soon as I turned around, I was blinded by a flash of light.

I awoke on a large brown surface, the kitchen table. I heard crying nearby, and looked to my right. There was Rebecca, on her knees and weeping. I looked up, and was horrified at the gigantic face of my eldest daughter looming over us. She was smiling at us, though this was not the sweet, innocent smile that I have known her for. No... This was a much more sadistic and twisted one. It shot daggers in my heart.

And like the man before, I screamed. As loud as I could.

Then I heard Melissa's now loud voice: "Shut up." She then flicked me with her finger, and knocked me back along the surface. Rebecca, witnessing this, rushed to me. Through my now blurry eyes, I looked into hers. I had never seen them so wide, watery, and scared in my life. She was usually arrogant and conceited, but here she was, crying her eyes out like a small child.

I was in a state of shock. My body was shaking, and I was having a hard time breathing.

Suddenly, Rebecca looked up to Melissa as she held me, and her fiery personality returned. "You bitch!! How could you do this to us?!"

"'Bitch'?" Melissa calmly repeated. "Careful, now. You don't want to piss me off. Especially since I could easily crush the life out of you. And, believe me, I want to."

My heart sank as I heard this. How could my own daughter have had this desire to kill us, her flesh-and-blood? This was not the daughter I had known for 22 years.

"But... I'll let you guys live for now." Melissa reached out towards us. Both Rebecca and I prepared to back away, but we were both surprised when Melissa rubbed my cheek with her finger. "After all, you are family." At that moment, her sweet, sincere smile returned.

"Stay there. I'll be right back." Melissa then walked away from the table, leaving us there to wonder what was happening. We were convinced that it was a dream. There was no other explanation for it. What could have caused her to lash out at us like that?

Of course, as time passed, we realized that this was reality. That my own daughter, and Rebecca's sister, had shrunken us. She had dug out an old doll house from her closet, this one that we're in now, and shrunken down some of our belongings and placed it inside. She then brought the doll house here in the basement, so that we'd be "out of her way." I wasn't sure what she meant at the time, but now...

~~~

"...And that's pretty much been the story of our lives since," Claudia concluded. "Since then, I wondered what triggered this sudden change. Then I realized something."

"What was that?" Thomas asked.

"It didn't happen immediately after my affair, since she was around 5 or 6 at the time, but as she got older, Melissa began to grow a bit distant from me. I don't know... I do know that Melissa absolutely loves her father. More than anything in the world... More than me..."

"If she loves her father as much as you say she does," Gloria said, "then, as she got older and understood what happened, I guess she felt that you had wronged her best friend in the world. And it accumulated with her shrinking you two."

"Yes... I came to that same conclusion..." Claudia sighed. "I underestimated my daughter."

"And why shouldn't you?" Thomas said. "You had no idea that she would be capable of this. Sure, she may have resented you for doing what you did, but how were you supposed to know that she would shrink you? especially if you raised her to be an upstanding person?"

"Yes, but-"

"Hey," Bruce interrupted. "It's starting to get a bit too depressing in here. I bet little mamacita here is famished, and that lemonade isn't going to cut it!"

Gloria rolled her eyes.

"Oh!" Claudia stood from her chair. "I can't believe that I didn't give you poor souls anything to eat! I'm sure that you haven't had a decent meal in months! I'll prepare something for you!" She then rushed into the kitchen. Bruce stood from his chair and followed her.

Thomas turned to Gloria. "So, what do you think about all of this?"

"What do I think?" Gloria responded.

"Yeah."

"...I think we're dealing with one evil bitch."