Chapter 18

“Em! Emmmmmmm!”

The sound of her mother’s voice echoed strangely in Emma’s ears. Her eyes were still closed. Why did the voice sound so far away? So out in the open, like they were outside? Emma knew that she was snuggled up in her old room, under the covers, next to Daniel. She sighed out and smacked her lips softly, her movements still heavy with sleep. She didn’t want to be woken up just yet…more snuggle time with Daniel. Still with her eyes closed, she reached over for him in the bed. A splitting sound cut through the air as Emma felt her hand smack into something hard. Her brow furrowed, pausing her motions. The gentle prickle of something became more and more obvious all over her skin…hay. That’s what it was — she was lying on a huge bale of hay…and right then, everything came flooding back into Emma’s head. She wasn’t inside at all — she wasn’t sleeping in a bed, and she wasn’t with Daniel. She was outside in the barn, sleeping on the hay like a freaking animal. She opened her eyes and saw that she had unwittingly put her hand through the barn wall, leaving a gaping, splintered hole.

“Oh god damn it,” she muttered, feeling annoyed at everything. Her body was still aching mightily, and she was so hungry that her stomach hurt.

“What?” she called out at the ceiling, in response to her mother’s voice. She hadn’t intended on speaking so loudly, but she saw, from the disturbed dust that kicked up from the rafters above her, that her voice had literally shook the barn. It was a good thing for her spirits that she hadn’t seen her mother stagger back a little in response to her voice, or the rest of her family wince in unison as they ate breakfast in a circle outside the barn.

“Uhh…j-just…just letting you know that we have breakfast all ready!” Maisy responded a few seconds later, after recovering herself. Emma closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, blowing it out into the barn air as she pulled her hand back in through the hole it had made in her sleep. Her hand made a loud series of cracking noises as it broke and splintered more stray, jagged edges of wood, noises which startled her family. Daniel and Daisy exchanged concerned looks as they heard Emma shuffling around inside. As Emma exhaled, both Daniel and Daisy had turned towards the barn, and were shocked to see that the barn roof was actually shaking.

“E-Emma!” called Daniel, the concern cutting through his voice like a knife.

“Em!” joined Daisy, almost in unison with Daniel, and with no less worry. They simply didn’t know what was going on in there. Was the roof about to collapse in on her!? Maisy and Jim looked stonily on, their eyes wide and penetrating in their disquiet.

‘God, what is with them?’ Emma thought to herself, perturbed. ‘It’s like mom and dad nagging me to get up for school all over again.

“Whaaat!?” she called out again, this time with a little more edge to it. A family of nesting birds in the corner of the barn scattered, and the horses bowed and raised their heads, neighing nervously. The barn roof shook still more, and a fine cloud of dust levitated off the old exterior, unshaken and unmoved for so many years previously.

“Oh my god, Daniel!” whispered Daisy, grabbing ahold of his arm as she stared aghast.

“The barn’s about to collapse on her,” Daniel muttered, even as he registered that he was slightly taken aback by the sudden grasping touch from Daisy. “Emma…Emma!!”

Together with Daisy, he leapt to his feet, and they started running together, with Daisy still partially holding onto him, toward the barn. Their actions were irrational, since if the barn had been collapsing, they wouldn’t have had any hope, either in preventing its disintegration or in helping Emma escape. But they were both acting on pure, protective instinct. Maisy and Jim had struggled to their feet as well, watching in fear as the scene unfolded.

“Oh my god, what’s the deal?” sighed Emma in irritation, reaching out her arms up towards the barn ceiling as she stretched the sleep from her limbs. She felt the large pile of hay beneath her give way as she stretched, and she sank all the way down into it, so that it gathered in clumps around her face. She chuckled to herself, rolling her eyes at the silliness of her situation. After a few seconds she sat up, straw in her hair and a little grin on her face, and she saw Daniel and Daisy standing in the entranceway of the barn, grasping onto each other, staring up at her in evident distress.

Immediately, the grin dropped from Emma’s face. A primal urge shot through her in reaction to seeing her boyfriend and her sister holding each other like that. In that moment, it didn’t matter why they were acting that way — what mattered to Emma was that they looked like two peas in a pod, just the right size for each other, with Daniel rising over Daisy by a good 8 inches or so. That was what she and Daniel used to look like, before all of this had happened. That was what she and her boyfriend should look like. And they were rubbing it in her face.

“E-Emma…Emma are you…are you ok?!” came Daniel’s shaking voice. Emma just sat there, straw in her hair, as she blinked blankly.

“What?” she asked flatly, with no humor in her voice whatsoever. “What are you talking about?”

“The…the barn, Em,” said Daisy timidly, extricating herself from Daniel as she stepped forward, “We were…it looked like it was about to…to —”

“To collapse,” finished Daniel, stepping forward with her.

“Huh?” asked Emma, crinkling her eyes in puzzlement as she let out a confused sigh. “Why would it collapse?”

“Because you were moving around and being so lou—” began Daisy, but Daniel had reached out to touch her arm, giving her a cautioning glance.

“It…uh, just looked like as you were…waking up,” said Daniel carefully as he looked up, “That the barn roof, um…was shaking a little.”

Emma just sat there in her pile of hay, staring back and forth at Daniel and Daisy. She could feel the anger and resentment building up in her, even as she recognized it as unfair and misplaced. She tried to distract herself from these emotions by honing in on the absurdity of what Daniel was saying.

“So?” she asked, shrugging her shoulders as she spoke her question. “So what if it was shaking?” She looked up at the barn roof, and around at the barn walls. A sudden exhale of bubbling laughter escaped her lips as she regarded the rickety wood.

“So what if the whole freaking barn collapsed on me?” she asked, laughing.

“Y-you…you’d be hurt!” piped up Daisy, her eyebrows coming together in genuine concern.

“Ha! Are you kidding me?” burst out Emma, looking around at the barn’s interior as she spread her arms wide. “This barn’s a bunch of matchsticks! If it fell on me when I was sleeping, I bet I wouldn’t even wake up!”

Daniel and Daisy didn’t seem to know how to respond to these words, even as Emma mirthfully gave them a few seconds to respond. She looked out past them, towards her parents, who were standing around the outdoor table, watching from a distance.

“Morning mom, dad!” Emma called, ignoring her annoyance at their timid behavior. “And god damn it,” she added frustratedly, looking down on Daniel and Daisy, who had both stepped back a couple paces and put their hands to their ears, “Would you two quit being so dramatic!?”

“We’re sorry Em!” squeaked Daisy, who had unconsciously grabbed ahold of Daniel again.

“I wake up, you freak out,” said Emma, extending a long index finger to symbolize the number one. “I say hi to mom and dad, you freak out,” she continued, extending out her middle finger for number two. “I do anything…anything at all, and you two can’t help but snug up to each other.” Emma shook her head, in the moment not caring what effect her words had. “I’ve been awake for less than two minutes and already you’re both pissing me off.”

“W-well, just…come on out, Emma,” said Daniel carefully. “I’m…we’re sorry we’re annoying you. It’s just…we…we care about you, and we, uh, we want to know that you’re…feeling ok, is all.”

Daisy nodded vigorously in agreement and Emma looked up again into the barn rafters, sighing again.

‘I’m already the asshole, and I haven’t even had breakfast,’ she grouched to herself internally. But then she looked back down and could feel herself beginning to soften. They were legitimately afraid of her…or for her…or both…she couldn’t really tell. They weren’t trying to lord anything over her. They were just clinging to each other like that out of instinct. She knew that she needed to stop injecting her own paranoid delusions into the interactions she witnessed, particularly those between Daniel and Daisy. It wouldn’t do anyone any good. And besides, there was a perfect way to diffuse this whole situation.

“Aww, I’m sorry baby,” she intoned in quite a different voice, making an effort to sound gentle and loving, “I just…had bad dreams and didn’t sleep well and, haha…just woke up on the wrong side of the…uh, hay…heheh. That’s all.”

Daniel just stood there, unmoving, with Daisy still holding onto him. Emma blinked, inflating herself with a long, calming exhale. It wasn’t quite working yet. She had to be a little more insistent. She spread her arms and smiled toothily.

“Come over here, Daniel,” she cooed in a sweet drawl, beckoning him with her outstretched hands. “I want a little good morning kiss.”

Daniel hesitated a moment longer, but he knew better than to delay any more than that. He felt a strange sense of parting as he broke away from Daisy towards Emma — he couldn’t help but feel like he was leaving the safe comfort of Daisy’s normal human touch and venturing into the frightening unknown, the uncertain and mercurial frontier that his relationship with Emma had become. He almost looked back at Daisy with a kind of longing, but he knew that such a gesture would have been damaging, and even dangerous. Instead, his eyes set on Emma as she sat there in her haystack, he walked up to her, doing his best to smile.

“Get up here, you,” said Emma in a voice she had intended to be sexy. To Daniel, it came across as artificial and stilted. For the first time, he felt the unmistakable conviction that she was using him as a prop for something. But all of these thoughts were thrust into the background as she picked him up with both hands and brought him up to her puckered lips.

“Heheh…e-easy Emma,” Daniel chuckled, realizing with a strange sense of fascinated dread that she could definitely fit his entire head in her mouth now. But of course, she just kissed him, covering the entire side of his face in a damp smooch. Daniel kissed back, even though her huge lips had turned the side of his head completely, so that he was kissing nothing but air. He hung there, suspended in space, letting Emma gently maul his face with her lips.

‘She’s not using you…she loves you,’ he told himself, feeling ashamed for the thoughts he had had only moments before. ‘She’s going through…a lot. So of course she’s gonna be weird and awkward sometimes. Just… be patient…be patient with her.’

His face had turned to the side, such that he was looking down on Daisy, who was watching everything with unadulterated anxiety. She looked so much like Emma…the eyes, the shape of her face…the way that she moved around and had her odd little tiks. He could feel himself becoming closer to her…and wanting that closeness. The two of them were bonding over their shared concern and love for Emma, and, as Daniel hung there in Emma’s grasp, the side of his face getting covered with kisses, he couldn’t help but realize that Daisy’s look of genuine concern wasn’t just for the situation in general — it was for him. She cared about him.

Daniel’s thoughts turned immediately back to Emma, however, because she was standing up now. His organs did backflips inside him as Emma rose, up and up and up, way faster than he was comfortable with. Top her, of course, she was merely standing up, but as far as Daniel was concerned, the whole world was rushing and spinning in a dizzying and overwhelming array.

“W-woah! E-easy there Emma!” was all he managed to shakily say.

“What?” she asked genuinely, holding him out in front of her face with one hand. “I’m just standing up.”

“But it was…you were…um…nevermind,” Daniel surrendered finally, realizing that it was best just to leave it be. He realized that the arched barn roof was suddenly very close to him. At its highest point, in the middle of the barn, Emma’s head was still about 3 feet below, but at the descending slats of the roof on either side, her head became much closer, and eventually would have hit the ceiling if she had walked closer to the walls. Daniel glanced down and saw Daisy way, way down on the ground, backing away slowly from her sister, with a surprised and fearful look on her face.

“Haha, now you see things like I see them!” chuckled Emma genially at Daniel, squinting her eyes at him in affection. To prove her point, she turned him around, so that he was looking out at her line of sight. “I bet everything looks pretty tiny to you now, huh?”

“I…uh, y-yeah…yeah it does, actually,” Daniel agreed, finding Emma’s words to be true. “It’s just…so high up here.”

“Aww, are you a little scared?” cooed Emma in his ear.

“A…little,” he admitted, smiling despite himself. It certainly was surreal, to have his girlfriend holding him by one hand, more than 15 feet off the ground.

“Well let me just put you down here,” said Emma, “So I can…uh…I guess crawl out of here.”

She had realized that she wasn’t going to fit through the barnyard door. This puzzled her a bit, since she had managed to fit the previous night. But she quickly just chalked it down to a little overnight growth. Even remembering the reality of her condition was enough to wake her mind up to the fact that the white toga sheet wrapped around her felt tighter than ever. Her whole body was aching…undoubtedly growth pains from the previous night…and from the fact that the spurt was still ongoing.

“Could you just…back up a little, please?” she asked Daniel, trying not to sound irritated at him as she got down on her hands and knees. He had just been staring there, gaping up at her, and he was in the way. But Daniel could hardly be blamed for his reaction — after Emma had put him down, the results of her nighttime growth spurt were made clear: he was staring straight into the strong, developed underside of her thigh, her huge knee rising up to his chest…and maybe even a little higher. She looked huge.

“Oh! S-sorry!” he exclaimed, hurrying to back out of the barn, and bumping backwards into Daisy in the process. Emma kept crawling forward, determined to get out of the stifling barn, and as she did so, with Daniel and Daisy retreating, she couldn’t help but feel like she was some kind of animal stalking her prey. She briefly considered baring her teeth and growling, pretending like she was a tiger, but she thought better of it, reasoning that they already looked freaked out enough.

‘For what though?’ she thought to herself, squeezing her shoulders together so she could fit through the barn entrance. ‘It’s just me — why are they acting so weird?’

She breathed in the fresh, cool air of the morning and immediately felt her spirits rise. Gathering herself, she stood up slowly, savoring the crispness of the morning sunlight as it melded wonderfully with the light breeze that was blowing. She didn’t realize how imposing she looked, standing next to the barn. Her head rose up a good 2 feet above the yawning entrance, and at its topmost point, the barn itself was only just over 3 feet taller than she was. Emma sighed and stretched her hands high up over her head, her whole body quivering and rippling slightly in the stretch. Her family watched in awe from below as the 16-foot girl’s hands rose up above the barn’s roof, their minds not quite able to process what they were seeing.

Emma lowered her arms a few moments later and saw that everyone was looking at her.

“Uhh…helloooo,” she laughed down at them, shaking her head a little to herself at how silly…and how tiny…they all were.

A few minutes later, the whole family was sitting around the makeshift outdoor table, eating breakfast. Emma’s father had cut a huge hunk of wood from a massive log and turned it into a table that they could all sit at, at least reasonably well. Emma still had to sit back a good deal from the table, and she still had to lean down on one arm as she tucked her bare feet underneath her big ass…but in any case, the table itself represented some semblance of normalcy. Emma had made it a point to sit in between Daniel and Daisy, and as she leaned down on her left arm, which was positioned directly next to Daisy, her older sister couldn’t help but gawk at the sheer size and power that was clearly inherent in the massive limb. It was all proportional, and yet Daisy was uneasy to realize that Emma’s arm, hand splayed on the grass beneath, was taller than she was.

“Sorry about the barn, dad,” Emma muttered, moving a few melons absently between her fingers before popping them into her mouth. “I guess…uhh…I guess I was just moving around in my sleep too much.”

“Don’t worry about it Em,” said Jim kindly, shaking his head as he looked up at her, smiling slightly as he chewed his food. Emma blinked down at him and smiled back. Her father had always been a sweet man, but he had also never been one who sent much for emotion. To see him smile like that at her, even after she had smashed a big hole in his barn wall, made Emma feel warm inside. Daniel was eating next to her, looking cuter than ever using that little fork of his to bring tiny bits of egg and grits up to his small, precious mouth.

‘Come to think of it,’ Emma realized, glancing around the wooden table at her family as she chewed on three whole melons at once, ‘They’re all adorable…just look at them, nibbling away at their little morsels…how cute.’

“Something got you tickled, Em?” asked Maisy, who was holding up her coffee cup to her lips as she sipped.

“Uhh…haha, I mean,” chuckled Emma, swallowing her melons as she marveled at the tiny coffee cup her mother was holding, “Just…just everything, I guess.”

“Everything?” asked Daisy, confused, crunching a little nervously on some bacon as she stared up at her gigantic younger sister.

“Well…uh, heheh…yeah,” giggled Emma plainly, feeling her bulk shake slightly from her laughter as she stared around at everyone, including Daniel (who had put down his fork and was looking up at her curiously, with an ever-present hint of trepidation that Emma chose to ignore).

“It’s just that…” Emma continued, but then she paused. She realized that they were all looking up at her anxiously from far below. They had all stopped eating, and only Maisy was still making a semblance of sipping her coffee. All of the power lay with her. Emma knew why she had been giggling: the sleepy irritation of her first waking minutes had been abruptly dissipated by this fresh, clear morning breakfast out in the open at her old family home. The sun was bright and young, warming her skin and giving some relief to her aching bones and muscles; the air was wonderfully crisp and refreshing, and Emma was just now remembering how much she missed the clean country air.

But more than anything else, Emma was realizing just how special the camaraderie around her was…even if everyone’s awkwardness had bothered her at first. The emotional epiphany came rushing forward, from her subconscious into her conscious mind — Daniel had literally been driven from his home…his job had been put on hold…his whole world turned upside down…and there he was, sitting next to her, his eyes averted up towards hers, full of care. Emma felt her heart turn over in her chest…she looked over at Daisy, who was nervously playing with her food. Glancing down her chest, Emma saw the red braids that Daisy had woven through her hair the previous night…and then Emma looked to her parents, both of them silently regarding her, their eyes full of something like anxious anticipation. They were all so, so tiny, so clueless as to her condition. They had no idea…not the faintest clue. But in that moment, none of that mattered to Emma. Their tininess compared to her only underscored the well of affection that was bubbling up from within her. She blinked and looked down at the wood in front of her…Her dad had put a lot of effort into making that table…and he had even polished it!

Emma tensed her stomach and set her jaw and cheekbones hard as she felt a massive tidal wave of emotion sweep over her. She could feel big, fat tears beginning to form behind her eyes, and try as she might, she could feel them migrating inevitably toward the corners of her eyes, where they became visible. She knew she couldn’t hide her emotion, but as she glanced down at Daniel, and saw that he had put his hand on her hip, she realized that she didn’t need to hide it this time. She genuinely felt happy.

“I’m just so happy that you’re all here with me!” she said thickly, blinking the fat tears out of her eyes, and sending them splashing down to the grass below. “I d-don’t…I don’t mean to get emotional and all, b-but…but it just means…m-means so much to have you all here, and j-just…just eating together outs-side on a…a morning like this.”

“Awwwww, honey,” replied Maisy, putting down her coffee, tilting her head, and giving her daughter a genuinely sweet look, “Of course we’re here for you. Nothing else matters to us. Nothing.”

“We’re here for you Em,” adjoined Jim, a bit stiffly. He had never been much good with dramatic, emotional moments, but Emma heard the warm affection behind his voice and burst out with a single tear-soaked laugh.

“You’re just…you’re just all so sweet,” she laughed, wiping her eyes as she recovered herself. “Even though…haha, even though I’m just getting too big for pretty much everything. I mean, heheh, you all look like…little kids to me now!”

“I bet we do!” responded Maisy, nodding her head as she joined in her daughter’s laughter. Emma realized that both Daisy and Daniel were being quiet on either side of her, and she glanced down at them, only to realize that neither of them were there. She panicked for a moment, but then saw that they had both gotten up and were standing slightly behind her, staring at the ground. The reason why was plain to see: Emma’s big tears had inundated the ground on their side of the table with water, so much so that Daniel and Daisy had gotten their feet soaked.

“Oh…oops, hehe, I’m sorry!” she laughed, wishing that the two of them wouldn’t stand so close together. But really, though, the ground was barely wet! Why were they making such a big deal out of nothing, especially in a nice little moment like this?

“It’s…nothing, babe,” said Daniel uneasily, smiling as he shook his head. “Just a little…wet down there, haha.”

“You sure you’re ok?” asked Daisy searchingly, peering up at her younger sister. She seemed to be having trouble grasping how Emma could have possibly cried out such a volume of tears in a matter of seconds.

“Oh she’s fine,” answered Daniel for her, stepping closer and touching Daisy’s arm with his hand, looking up at Emma. “I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time, actually.”

Emma couldn’t believe it — Daniel had actually had the gumption to just reach out like that and touch her older sister, in a familiar, causal kind of way, like it was the most natural thing in the world. She felt the tidal wave of emotion in her begin to boil, as the perimeters of her eyes hardened, becoming more intense. But she knew that Daniel had meant nothing by it…she knew that. The thought-free, casual nature of his touch, however, almost made it worse for her. The breeze kicked up, sending a cool, sweet gust upon her cheek, and she caught a dank, vegetation-laden whiff of the pond water in the distance.

‘Get a grip,’ she ordered herself internally, ‘This is a good morning, and you’re not going to let anyone screw it up! You can call the shots.’

“Well you know what would make me even happier?” she asked, with a flirtatious little grin.

“Uhh…what?” asked Daniel, trying not to make it obvious that he feared the answer.

“If my wonderful, awesome boyfriend came up here and fed me some more melons!” she laughed, pointing to the large rack of her protruding breasts.

“I…uhh, ok Emma, but —” began Daniel, but Emma didn’t even give him time to finish. Reaching swiftly down with one hand as she smiled broadly, she caught him up by the torso, wrapped her long, strong fingers around a good half of his upper body, and lifted him swiftly up off his feet.

“W-woahhh!” exclaimed Daniel in alarm, feeling embarrassed by Emma’s behavior, even as he felt his organs jostle uncomfortably in his ribcage.

“There!” chirped Emma, plopping him down on her soft, squishy boobs, “Right where you belong, haha!” She reached down and grabbed a handful of melons from the pile next to her, about 10 or 12 and presented them in an open palm to Daniel. He stared at them blankly, momentarily stunned at how small the honeydew and cantaloupes looked in her hand.

“Well go on!” she laughed, opening up her mouth and extending her tongue slightly. “Aaaaaaaah!”

Daniel knew he didn’t really have a choice, but he wasn’t able to keep from pausing for a few seconds, to stare in perplexed awe at just how big Emma’s open mouth was. There wasn’t any question that, if she wanted to, she could fit his whole head in her mouth. Having such a huge maw gaping open at him was therefore more than a little unsettling. The horseshoe line of her bottom teeth seemed to smile at him, and he felt something uncomfortable lurch in him, something that warned him of a primal danger.

‘It’s just Emma,’ he reminded himself over and over again. ‘It’s just…Emma.’

Feeling the warm squishiness of her breasts beneath him, he picked up a honeydew with two hands and placed it deliberately down on her tongue. Emma pulled her tongue slightly inward and bit down, swiftly splintering the melon into many pieces. Daniel felt a bit of the sweet juice spray into his face as he smelled the crisp, bitter musk of the annihilated outer rind, swallowing nervously as he watched those huge, bright white teeth working in front of him, filling a good portion of his vision.

“Mmmmm, taaassssty,” she purred at him, licking her lips. “Give me some more, Daniel…I want some more.”

He gave her more, and she crunched and split the melons with equal ease, chuckling and laughing softly as she drew them into her mouth, licking up the juices that now coated her plush lips.

“Oooh, but Daniel, I’m sorry!” she said suddenly, bringing him up closer to her eyes. “I’m totally spraying you with melon juice, haha! Here, let me take care of that for you.”

“N-no, Emma, it’s alrig—” tried Daniel, but Emma had already extended out her long, luscious tongue and was licking his upper body and face in one slow, lewd motion. Daniel’s eyes darted everywhere, feeling heartily embarrassed by Emma’s shameless display, but there was nothing he could do. He felt the large, marble-sized bumps of her taste buds against his face, and, despite himself, he felt himself harden slightly in his pants. The effortless power of his girlfriend, coupled with her size, was enough to make him feel submissively aroused, even if it was against his will.

For the next several minutes, he fed Emma the rest of the melons in her hand, making sure to look down at her parents and share some good-natured laughs to keep the mood light. Daisy seemed a little out of sorts, and had decided to go back into the house for a bit.

Emma basked in her victory. This was turning out to be an even better morning than she had thought it would be, even when compared to the wave of positive affection she had been feeling before. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she was aware enough to be concerned by the sudden and seemingly-uncontrollable shifts in her mood, but right now, she was simply enjoying herself. She had re-claimed Daniel, and she was still just hanging out, eating breakfast with her family. So what if Daisy was going to go back into the house and pout? What was her problem, anyway?

“So…Em,” ventured Maisy, after all the melons were gone, “You had mentioned wanting to maybe…go for a swim in the pond after breakfast?”

“Oh yeah, totally!” exclaimed Emma, a bit too loudly, since everyone winced slightly at her voice.

“Heh, sorry!” added Emma, lowering her voice a little, and not even feeling annoyed this time. Her spirits were too high. “I’ve been looking forward to that, actually!”

“Why don’t we give it a go, Jim?” chuckled Maisy, looking over at her husband. “When was the last time we took a dip in there?”

“Can’t remember,” answered Jim, cocking his head slightly at his wife as a slight smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, “So…as long as you don’t mind the fish nibbling your toes…”

“Oh you just beat all,” laughed Maisy, giving him a little shove.

“And you?” Emma asked Daniel, putting her index finger into his back, “Are you game?”

“I…can’t wait!” he said, having no idea how he felt about the prospect of swimming in a pond with his 15-foot — or was she 16 feet now…or taller — girlfriend.

“Well get ready,” laughed Emma, standing up and catching him falling backwards off her breasts. “I’m gonna do a cannonball!”

Fifteen hundred feet above, a drone was buzzing quietly, hovering unseen by everyone below. Attached to the drone was a tiny, pinpoint camera, and this camera beamed the live footage hundreds of miles away, into the dark intelligence rooms, where graven-faced men in suits were steadily eying the monitors.

“Well what do you think?” asked one of the men, coming around behind the seat of another as they both peered closely at the screens. “Is she taller?”

“Oh yeah,” answered the other man immediately, drawing up the data as he spoke, “She’s definitely taller…and bigger…she grew 2 whole inches just in the last 10 minutes.”

“Did she realize it?” asked the first man.

“Who can say?” answered the second. “At this point, it’s becoming routine for her.”

They both turned back to look at the screen, as more people, both men and women, gathered around them, all staring silently as the footage of Emma hopping forward in 30-foot bounds towards the pond, with Daniel grasped firmly in her right hand, helplessly along for the ride.

“Yep,” said the first man after a few silent seconds, “We’re getting close, everyone. It’s almost time.”