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Story Note: I'm in college now, but because of when I started writing this story (before I even posted here), there are characters between 13 to 18, so if you'd rather read a version where they're all 18 and up, there's an adaption on my DeviantArt where everyone's a senior in high school.

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Thursday, October 15

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     Marcus Tilden drove home silently on Thursday morning. For the first time in his life, he had lost his job.

     The local news agency where he had previously worked as a camera operator had let him go. But it wasn’t because of a workplace dispute, or another round of layoffs; it was because over the last several weeks, Marcus had shrunk to a height of only 2’7. 

     The size change had occurred because of Hypocorpoplasia, also known colloquially as DSD (short for Diminutive Size Disorder). The disorder had three main differences to Achondroplasia, the genetic disorder that was responsible for most cases of dwarfism. Firstly, dwarfism usually resulted in people having shorter arms and legs, but maintaining an average sized head or torso, whereas DSD caused a size diminishment across the whole body. Because of this, people with the disorder might look smaller than a dwarf of the same height, because their body had less mass. Secondly, DSD was almost never present at birth, and didn’t typically appear in individuals until adulthood. Some people would go their whole lives knowing they had it, but wouldn’t experience any change in size during their lifetime. But lastly, and to some the most important and noticeable difference, DSD would result in a lot more broad results in regards to its effects on those who developed it. Some people would shrink by less than an inch, and hardly even care since it wouldn’t affect any part of their day to day lives. But some would reduce to only several inches tall, far smaller and more dangerous than the world’s shortest person with dwarfism.

     Marcus was glad that the shrinkage had seemed to stop several days ago, but at a height that was less than half that of other men his age, it was hard for him to truly feel grateful. After he started noticing the change in size during the first couple days, Marcus had told his employer he had to go on sick leave for a few days. After he shrunk past the 5 foot mark, he wondered just how small he would be able to get while keeping his job. Obviously someone a few inches tall couldn’t operate a studio camera, but someone who was 5 feet tall still could. But the diminishment didn’t stop at 5 feet, and as he continued to shrink, he began to suspect that he might be in trouble. He couldn’t remember exactly how tall the handles were for operating the rig, but he knew they were around his waist height beforehand. But even though he could likely still reach them at his new height and maybe even manage to roll the cameras around, he would still be far too short to see through the eyepiece at the top. For a little while, he thought his boss might let him transition to field work instead, operating a camera that he held on his shoulder as he filmed reporters and and their stories around the city. But even if he was strong enough to hold one of the cameras (which, after losing half his size, would be far heavier than normal), he wouldn’t be eye level with people when he filmed them. He'd have to carry around a ladder everywhere -- while still carrying the heavy camera gear -- just to match someone’s height. It was completely unrealistic to legitimately pursue.

     So it came as no surprise to him really when he got canned. He had returned to work yesterday, after the shrinking had stopped, to admit to his employer the real reason he had taken a sick leave. He liked his bosses well enough, and he believed their compassion was genuine. But when they told him to take the rest of the day off, he knew they were probably just discussing with their legal department whether or not they would get sued for discrimination if the let him go. And since he clearly wasn’t able to perform his old duties, even with significant and unreasonably complicated assistance, it was pretty unanimous that they wouldn’t be in the wrong. Legally or morally. 

     So that was it. After years of building up a career and working in an environment that he enjoyed, it was over. He wouldn’t even be able to get another job in his field, whether it was with another news agency, or any media companies that needed camera operators. It was a job that simply didn’t work for people of his size, so he’d have to file for unemployment. He had already applied for disabilities from the state, but it wouldn’t be enough on its own if he wanted to keep paying the mortgage on the house and maintain a relatively comfortable lifestyle for him and his daughter.

     Shit. His daughter, Jessie. At 13, she was his only child, and he was her only parent. Her mother had skipped out on Marcus days after their daughter was born, leaving him to raise her solo since nearly day 1. Her mother’s absence wasn’t something that he dwelled on very often; being a single parent was a hard job, but it was the only way he’d ever known how to be a parent. And being a parent would’ve been a hard job already even if he had had a helping hand, so he didn’t really feel like he was able to know how much harder he had it compared to most couples he knew with children.

     If Marcus was being honest, he actually thought that Jessie was handling the situation pretty well. She had little to no problem accommodating most of his needs, which for the most part just boiled down to helping him reach or hold things. Marcus had set up lots of ladders and stools throughout the house, so he was still able to cook on his own, take showers, fold laundry. Whatever typical everyday chores and parts of life that needed to be done. Taking out the trash was pretty much impossible, but that was a quick, once-a-week thing that Jessie was doing most of the time before he shrunk anyways. He had worried that her attitude might change for the worse, and that she’d stop respecting him as a father now that he was half her size. Marcus was aware that most teenagers had rebellious streaks or phases, and while she seemed to have maintained a normal, bubbly personality for as long as he’d raised her, he wondered what life would be like trying to parent a child that was twice his size. Would he even be able to punish her? He hoped that it was just paranoia that clouded his mind, but his imagination still ran wild as he realized that she could easily overpower him if she really wanted to. If he tried to take away her phone, there was nowhere he could put it that she wouldn’t be able to just take it right back. If he tried to ground her, she could just leave the house anyways and he’d be physically incapable of stopping her. Jessie was a good daughter, a great one, and she seemed far from being the kind of person to behave the way he feared. But it was something he kept in the back of his mind. He was still in charge of the finances for the household, and she was still a few years from being able to drive a car. So there were still a few things that gave him leverage. Hopefully, it was leverage he’d never need.

     As Marcus arrived home in his car that he had just had modified with pedal and seat extensions, he wasted no time in heading to his liquor cabinet and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. A definite upside to shrinking was that his portion sizes were a lot smaller, meaning his grocery bills for the last few weeks indicated he'd be saving at least a thousand dollars a year. Although the downside was that it took a lot less alcohol to get him drunk now. His years of drinking beers solely to party with his friends and get plastered had ended over a decade ago. After Jessie had been born, drinking turned into a leisurely activity, a rare time to unwind with friends instead of go crazy with them. But now he would get pretty tipsy just from a single bottle. As he swirled his drink around and headed to his recliner that felt like a throne when he sat in it, he reckoned he’d be pretty wasted within the hour. And for the first time in awhile, being drunk was just what he wanted.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “Daddy?”

     Marcus jolted awake, his empty glass getting knocked to the carpeted floor. His daughter was standing over him, a mixture of confusion and concern on her face. At 5’5, his daughter was a couple inches taller than the average girl in her class, but far from being a standout height. Although to Marcus, that obviously didn’t make a difference. Everyone was a standout. And he already felt tired of having to look up at everyone he talked to. What I wouldn’t give to just look someone in the eyes, face to face, at a normal height, he thought miserably. One last time. Jessie’s hair was a straight, golden brown, and she was wearing an off shoulder blouse with ripped blue jeans and checkered red Vans. He blushed a little, embarrassed at having been caught. But if she was home, then several hours must have passed since he fell asleep. “Did you pass out? Are you… drunk?” She said that last word like she was scared of it. 

     He laughed nervously. I’m not drunk now, but I definitely was this morning. “No, no, I only had one drink.” He hoped she wouldn’t make the realization that the smaller someone’s body size, the less alcohol tolerance they had. And when you’re barely two and a half feet tall, it’s not very much. That one drink sure went a ways...

     “In the middle of the day? Why?” Fuck, why are children always so curious?

     “Well, yeah, but I…” He trailed off, biting his lip as he worried about how to break the news. She waited patiently, still looking confused and with bated breath, as he wallowed in her shadow. “I got laid off today.”

     Jessie gasped, then bent forward, practically falling onto her dad as she tried to give him a reassuring hug. But he was so small compared to his recliner, it almost felt to her more like she was hugging a chair. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Daddy. Were you fired?”

     He rubbed his temples, “No, people get fired if they did something wrong, being laid off just means they don’t have work for you anymore. I’ll get a few weeks pay at least, and I can get on unemployment, but…” He breathed in slowly and sighed, getting up from the chair to put his glass in the sink, having to hold the cup with both hands. “I can’t just get another job at some other news company. I’m too small. I’ll need to find a new career, and finding a new job is hard enough, I don’t even wanna know how hard it’ll be when I’m like… this.” He motioned his hands along his body after having put the glass in the sink, bringing attention to his size. Jessie assumed a sorrowful look on her face, unhappy to see her dad distraught.

     “Ohhh, Daddy,” she whispered, bringing him in for a hug, almost tearing up at seeing her dad so miserable and depressed. In just a few weeks, he had gone from the chipper, loving father she loved more than anything in the world, to a despondent wreck that was too discouraged to even get out of bed some days. Even with the help of standing on a mini-ladder, Marcus only came up to her chest, but she still wrapped his head up against her beating heart. She didn’t know how to soothe her father and her father didn’t know either, but Jessie still wanted to make sure her dad knew that he was loved, and that she’d be here for him to help him through. After a tender moment together, Jessie released him from her bind, and he withdrew his head from her chest. “Let’s do something together,” she said, smiling simply as she held his hands.

     Marcus couldn’t help but return the smile, truly thankful for a loving daughter like Jessie who was trying her best to help and cheer him up. “I appreciate the gesture, honey, but I don’t feel much like going anywhere today.” He glanced longingly at the bottle of whiskey that was still on the living room table. 

     “OK, then we’ll stay in,” she replied cheerily, not losing a beat. “How about watching some movies together?”

     Marcus wrinkled his face at the idea. Didn’t she just come home? “At what,” he said, turning to look at the clock on the oven, “5:15?”

     Jessie shrugged, “I’m just trying to get your mind off of things. We can have a marathon. What’s your favorite movie?”

     “Jurassic Park,” he answered, fondly remembering his dad taking him to see it when he was a kid.

     “Great! That’s a series, how many are there?”

     “Well, five I guess, but I mostly only liked the first two.” He paused, remembering what day it was. “And it’s a school night, I don’t want you staying up. And don’t you have homework?” 

     Jessie sighed, she felt like even when she was trying to help her dad, he would fight back without even realizing it. “Yeah, just math. I can do it while we watch. And if we’re only watching three movies, I’ll still be in bed by 9.”

     “I don’t know, the movies are kinda long…”

     Jessie rolled her eyes, beginning to grow impatient but trying to keep her cool. All this back-and-forth was at least distracting her dad from his troubles. She’d rather see him be uptight and a bit annoying than moping around though. “Three movies aren’t gonna last til midnight Daddy. I can handle going to bed at 10 or something for one night.” She stepped forward, dawning a caring face, making sure not to pet his head or fondle it, something he was very vocal about disliking as he was shrinking. “I know losing your job sucks.” How could she know, she’s never even been old enough to have a job, he thought stubbornly. “But there are plenty of people with DSD who have normal jobs. You’ll find something else. And having DSD sucks, but you’ll always have me, Daddy. You’ll get used to it. Maybe we can get you to see a therapist. But for today, let’s just have a relaxing father-daughter movie night. Normally when I have a bad day, I just go to sleep and honestly, a lot of the time my mood’s better in the morning.” 

     They looked at each other for a few seconds, as Marcus thought about what she had said, lowering his gaze to his own eye-level, looking around the house in thought. She’s right. I’ll feel better in time. And I need to be better for her. If I’m a mess, she’ll eventually be a mess, and she doesn’t deserve that. “OK,” he conceded, “you’re right.” He looked back up at her and did his best to smile again. “There’s a frozen pizza in the freezer, we can have that for dinner later.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and just seeing her light up was already improving his mood. “I’ll see if I can rent it,” he said, heading to the couch in the living room. “Go get your book bag and get your homework,” he told her, and she smiled and spun around to fetch her backpack before settling in for a night with her dad.

 

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