While looking around for an escape route, a bright light flashed across me, then again, and then repeatedly. I’d heard stories of dying people who said they’d seen a bright light just before being resuscitated, but this looked different. It was more like the beam of a lighthouse than a heavenly glow, and it was coming closer as well. Then I heard a voice above the din of the rain, a voice calling my name. When the voice came close enough for me to hear who it was, I let out a scream of joy.

“Rachel, help!” I shouted, my lungs almost bursting with the effort. “I’m here! Help me!”

Her voice kept on calling my name, so she couldn’t have heard me. No wonder: I could barely hear her and she was twenty times my height. But her voice and the light of her flashlight beam were coming closer. She must have seen which way the wind and rain were moving, so she was looking for me in that direction. How did she know where I’d gone? I had no idea, but that question could wait until later. Right now, I had to both stay alive until she reached me and get her attention somehow.

Soon I could see a dark figure approaching me, behind the bright hovering light. She was so tall that I couldn’t see her face clearly, but I knew it was her. She gave another cry of “Sam!”, which sounded like it came from directly above me. I tried to wave my arms to get her to notice me, but I was terrified of falling and drowning in the torrent below. Another small twig bumped against mine and for a second I thought it would knock me loose from the pebble, but it just kept getting swept along. It did move my twig and the pebble another inch or two closer to the drain, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

I could see a pair of black boots now towering over me. She was standing right next to me, but she didn’t know I was there. I kept on screaming as loudly as I could, but she couldn’t possibly hear me. However, she did check the area thoroughly, and when she shone her flashlight on me for a few seconds, I knew she had to have seen me. She crouched down for a closer look, the bright light almost blinding me. The rain suddenly stopped, but I could still hear it falling against something far above my head. She must be carrying an umbrella, I thought. It was a much-needed relief for me, since my strength was almost completely sapped. When I couldn’t hold on a second longer, I let go and fell into the cold water below me. But less than a second later, just as I was about to disappear forever into the storm drain, I was scooped out and lifted high into the air. She had rescued me and was safely carrying me in her hand. But I had reached the end of my tether and, no longer afraid for my life, I let the cold and the exhaustion overcome me and drifted off into unconsciousness.

When I came round again, I was somewhere warm and dry. The noise of the rain had stopped. I was lying on a soft fabric surface and I was covered by heavy blanket of the same fabric. Also, to my shock, I was completely naked. I opened my eyes and looked around me, and found I was back on the coffee table inside Rachel’s living room. She had placed me on a cloth napkin and had covered me with another one. I grabbed my makeshift blanket and wrapped myself up in it. She must have taken my clothing away, I thought. Did she look at me while I was naked? I felt rather violated at the thought. She’d seen me without my clothes many times before – naturally, since we were in an intimate relationship – but now I was only a few inches in size, and she could have done anything she wanted to me while I was unconscious. This thought so upset me that for a moment I forgot that I owed her my life.

I heard a sniffing sound behind me and turned around. Rachel was sitting on the floor next to the table, her head and torso looming large over me. I stared up at her, her immense size still an awesome thing to behold. She’d been crying again, even more than before: her eyes were red and her cheeks were flushed. I had no idea what to say to her, no clue what to do next.

“Sam…how could you?” she whispered, and her voice sounded strained. I immediately looked down, unable to meet her eyes.

“How could you do something like that?” she continued. “Do you know how long I looked for you? Sam, you could’ve died!”

“Rachel, look…I left you a note…I wanted to leave…”

“Why?” she burst out, and her voice rose to a terrifying level. “Sam, why would you ever, ever do something so incredibly stupid? I love you! I still love you, despite what’s happened! Did you think I was so…so goddamn selfish that I’d dump you at the first chance, because I no longer wanted you? I mean, God…is your ego so fragile that you can’t handle the thought of being smaller and weaker than your girlfriend? Is that it? Do you think that my feelings for you, after knowing you and loving you for months, would suddenly change overnight, just because of this stupid accident? I stood by you, Sam, even when I thought you were in a coma, even when I began to think you’d never come back to me, I kept on hoping…but you haven’t even been back ten minutes, before giving up on us!”

She was crying properly again by this point, while I kept on staring at my own legs, feeling smaller and more worthless than a grain of dust.

“Sam, I have no fucking idea if we can still have a relationship! None at all! But I still love you, more than ever, and more than anything else I want you back! If things don’t work out, if after everything we can’t be together anymore, then that’s the way it is…but you didn’t even want to give us a chance! Do you even love me anymore, sweetie, even a little bit? Or do I look like some…like some hideous monster now, to you? Please, please just tell me how you really feel!”

She dropped her head into her arms and broke down again, and this time I was crying too. I couldn’t imagine how horrible she must be feeling, and I knew all of it was my fault. I had never been as close to any other as I’d been with Rachel. I had loved every second I spent with her, when we were still together, when I could still do all the things any man loved doing with the one he loved. Of course I still loved her, as much as I’d always done, but how could we still carry on if I was stuck like this? I had no idea where things would go from here, but I knew what I had to do first.

I stood up and walked over to her, leaving the napkin behind. Her forearms were resting on the table, and her head above them, her face buried behind her arms. She was so massive compared to me and I felt genuinely afraid of her. Her whole body was shaking as she cried, which cause the table to shake beneath me. I walked up to her right hand. Her fingers were nearly as long as I was. I sat down and took the tip of her little finger in my hands and kissed it. Though I used all of my strength, I couldn’t even move one little finger of hers, but I kissed it over and over and hugged myself against it. Feeling a little bit braver, I wiped away my tears and climbed up her hand and onto her arm. I used the fabric of her coat to pull myself up, until I was sitting right next to her ear. I stroked it, just to let her know where I was, and her sobs grew a little quieter. Now I felt was the right moment to talk.

“Rachel, I still love you too,” I said into her ear. “I love you and I want to spend every second I have with you. You look as beautiful as ever to me, darling, even more beautiful than ever…but you’re so big compared to me now and…oh God, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I treated you like that, I should never have done that! And I’m sorry for trying to leave, that was the most idiotic thing I’ve ever done! If you hadn’t found me when you did, if you hadn’t saved me…Rachel, I could never, ever repay you for that. You saved my life! If I could make it all up to you right now, I would…but how could I ever be with you again, when I’m like this? I can’t be close to you, I can’t make love to you, I can’t do anything anymore with you. I’d just be a burden to you, and every day you looked at me, you’d regret still being with me. I don’t want you to go through that, baby…I can’t live with that knowledge, that I can never again make you as happy as I did when I was still…normal.”

She turned her head to look at me, which caused me to lose my balance and tumble down her arm. I grabbed hold just in time and lowered myself onto the table. Standing before her, I felt incredibly self-conscious and tried to cover my nakedness with my hands. She looked at me with a mix of sorrow and understanding.

“You’re wrong,” she said. “You’re not just some cheap fling to me, Sam. I’ve known you for almost a year now, I know the man you really are! You were always so warm and considerate and funny and full of life, and you know you helped me through some dark times in my own life recently. You think I can just go out and find someone to replace you, just like that? Someone who’d make me feel like you did, who would be there for me whenever I needed him, just like you were?”

I didn’t know how to answer that, so I just stood still, awkwardly holding my hands in front of my exposed private parts. She moved her open right hand behind me, forming a wall as high as I was, preventing me from leaving.

“Sam…I really want to hold you again,” she whispered. “I want to hold you in my hand and…and I want to kiss you. I know how strange and upsetting this must feel to you, but I just want us to become close again, and I don’t want you to keep on staring at me like that, looking so scared of me. I will never hurt you, I swear…and if I do, please know that I didn’t mean it. If you’re ever uncomfortable, just tell me, and I’ll back off, I promise.”

She sounded so honest and emotional that I couldn’t protest. I just nodded silently and she understood. She pressed the palm of her hand against my back and folded her four fingers around my body. I was now completely enveloped in her hand, with only my head poking out above her fingers. Her skin felt warm and sensual, a wonderful feeling after all that time in the chilly rain and wind. She then lifted me up and brought me all the way to her lips. Her strength was phenomenal, even though I knew she was barely using any of it to carry me or hold me tightly. That dreaded feeling of helplessness returned: I was now thousands of times weaker than her and she could effortlessly crush me between these fingers. But she’d sworn never to hurt me, and I believed her. I also knew I wanted to be close to her again, even intimate with her.

I took a deep breath as her moist lips pressed down on top of my head, just before my whole face was covered by them. It was an unearthly feeling, but strangely arousing at the same time. I wriggled around in her grasp until I could free my arms, then reached up and stuck them in-between her lips, caressing them as hard as I could. It felt like being smothered by a warm, fleshy waterbed and, after the awful night I’d just been through, it felt invigorating. My head and arms were covered by the moistness of her mouth, but for me it was anything but a bad experience. This immense being, this goddess on Earth, was kissing me, because she loved me, and I forgot about all my problems and my fears. I never wanted that kiss to end.

When she lifted me up to her eyes, I breathed in deeply again and, for the first time since I got back, looked straight back and met her gaze. The tears were all gone now, but her eyes still looked like they could start flowing with them again at any moment. I rested my arms on the knuckle of her index finger and stroked her fingernail. Every part of her body was colossal in comparison to me, but I was no longer afraid of that. I suddenly found myself anxious to be even closer to Rachel, to explore this wonderful new environment of my lover’s gorgeous body.

“How was it for you, sweetie?” she asked. “Please tell me it wasn’t too bad!”

“No! No, not at all! Rachel…oh honey, that was incredible!”

“I didn’t hurt you, did I? I tried to be as careful as I could!”

“No, you didn’t hurt me, not even a little bit! You were so soft and gentle…I loved it, Rachel, every second of it! I had almost completely forgotten what that feeling felt like, to be close to someone you love…”

“Really? You liked it? Oh, thank God!” She let out a massive sigh of relief and we both did something I hadn’t done in what felt like forever: we laughed.

“I want to give us another chance too,” I said, as she carried on laughing in relief. “If you can forgive me for the horrible way I behaved earlier…yesterday…I have no idea how long ago it was…just that I’m so, so very sorry for being such a complete and utter monster to you, and for doubting you.”

“I’m sorry too,” she said, sounding suddenly serious. “I have no idea what it must feel like, to be shrunk like this, not knowing if you’ll stay like this forever or not. But I’m here for you now, Sam, and I’m not leaving you, I can promise you that. We’ll make this work, somehow…I don’t know how yet, but we’ll figure it out, together. Don’t worry, I forgive you. I don’t want to dwell on that anymore, okay? It’s over now, and you’re back with me, where you belong, safe and sound.”

She gave me another, shorter kiss on the head, then pressed me gently against her chest. My whole body was squeezed into the fabric of her coat, but it didn’t hurt. It just felt incredibly comforting. My desire for her came again and I wanted her to hold me even closer, against her bare breast itself, but this was plenty good enough for now. Each time she breathed in I was pressed a little tighter, as though with every breath she embraced me once again.

But after my exhausting ordeal in the outside world, and all the anguish we’ve both been through, Rachel and I both felt the need to get some sleep first and foremost. She stood up and held me about a foot in front of her face, so that she could talk to me.

“I didn’t get any sleep last night either,” she told me. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you…I was so scared you might do something…something terrible to yourself…but that’s all over now. Come on, let’s get some sleep, okay? Luckily it’s Sunday today, so I don’t have anything else I need to worry about.”

“Sunday? Then you came by the hospital…”

“…on Friday. I got the call Friday morning and I left early from work. You only woke up yesterday morning, though.”

“So I basically ruined your whole weekend. I’m sorry, Rachel, I really am.”

“No, don’t be! I’m glad you decided to call me and I’m so happy to have you back in my life! I told you to forget about everything that’s just happened. There’ll be other weekends, don’t worry!”

She began carrying me in the direction of her bedroom.

“Rachel…please don’t put me back in that box!” I cried out suddenly. “I’m so sick and tired of that goddamned box, I don’t think I can stand being cooped up in there another second!”

She gave me another brief kiss and squeezed me just a teeny little bit tighter in her hand.

“Don’t worry, it’s gone. I threw it in the trash after I rescued you. Your hospital clothes too; besides, they were so soaked and dirty, I didn’t think you’d want to wear them again.”

“I felt like some kind of animal, whenever they put me in that thing. Like I was just some creature for them to study, not even human.”

“Did they treat you badly, the doctors over there? That nurse I spoke with when I came to pick you up seemed really friendly…”

“No, they didn’t – but they weren’t much for talking to either, and I could tell they only acted friendly because it was their job. They really did want to help me and find a cure, but like I said, I felt like I was just something for them to study.”

We were now in her bedroom, and she sat down on her bed and put me down on the little bedside table. She took off her coat and I saw she was still wearing her nightclothes underneath.

“Rachel…I promise I won’t mention the events of last night again…but, how did you know where I was? How did you find me out there?”

“I didn’t know where you were, but I found your note, so I thought you’d probably crept underneath the front door. But it was already raining, and I was so scared something horrible had happened to you, so I just ran all over the yard, along the fence, everywhere I thought you could be. When I got to the street without finding any trace of you, I saw how much water there was, and which way the wind was blowing, so I just went and looked in that direction. I was so afraid for you, Sam, I had a horrible feeling that you were dead, or that I’d never find you again! But there you were, hanging on for dear life, only five yards from the gate!”

“Five yards? God, it felt like I was carried for miles by the water!”

“Sam, I really don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay? I found you and I brought you back, and you’re here now, and that’s all that matters. Please, darling, I feel so tired. Let’s both get some rest, then we can start when we’re both feeling like ourselves again.”

“Start? Start with what?”

“Start fixing our relationship, and getting the life that we had together back! I mean, you haven’t got any clothes, for a start. I’ll need to find some things for you to wear, and a place for you to sleep…speaking of which, where would you like to sleep now?”

I looked around to see what else there was on top of this table. A tree-sized bedside lamp rose above me, and behind me were an alarm clock, a little makeup case, an empty coffee mug, a paperback novel and several other items, all of them larger in size than I was, but none of them able to serve me as a bed. So I just looked up helplessly at my gigantic girlfriend. She stood up and cleared away some of the items on the table. Then she took her coat, folded it up as small as she could and put it down beside me.

“I promise this’ll only be for the time being,” she said. “But you can sleep on top of my coat for now. I can put one of the sleeves over you, like a blanket. As soon as I can, I’ll find you something better, or I’ll think of some other plan…”

“Thanks, Rachel. I know you’ll do your best, and I’ll do my best too to make this relationship work again. Thanks for not giving up on me, you don’t know how much that means to me.”

“Don’t mention it!” she said. “I’m just happy you and I are together again, and even if things aren’t what they used to be, we’ll find some way to make it all work. Good night, Sam.”

She knelt down beside the table and lowered her lips to my level. I pressed my head and chest against them, revelling in the warm feeling. I was then lifted up by her hand and placed in my makeshift bed, and before she even turned out the lights I was asleep again.