I stared down at my latest test subject, at a loss for words. There were two things odd about Romeo, my pet hamster. One: he was nearly the size of a cat. Two: I was pretty sure he’d just spelled out “food?” on my phone. Of course this meant my first ever animal trial was a complete success but I was not prepared for the degree of change I had just witnessed. After administering PED-14, the latest iteration of my work, I witnessed Romeo rapidly increase in size over a period of about 5 minutes. It wasn’t just his size either, his fur was softer and shinier and a new intelligence flashed behind his big brown eyes. It was like everything about him had been….enhanced. 

I was broken from my shock by Romeo urgently tapping my arm, almost in the way a person would. 

“R-right….food. I guess I haven’t fed you yet huh?” I said. I often spoke to Romeo as a pet but now it felt like a real conversation. As if to affirm this he actually nodded and squeaked, sitting back on his hind legs. I used a small cup to place some hamster food in his bowl. Rather than just start eating, Romeo only looked between myself and his bowl a few times, before holding his hands close together and pulling them apart. “More? Ah, right. You’re quite a bit bigger now.” I added a few more cupfuls and watched as Romeo started eating. This was all so surreal. How would I explain this to my parents? 

I moved over to my bed, leaving Romeo to his feast. I lay down and closed my eyes. This was how I preferred to tackle difficult problems. My parents rarely came into my room so as long as I could continue to find food for Romeo his increased size shouldn’t be a problem. Now about PED-14. Obviously it worked. That meant I could remove the “P”, which in this case stood for “Prototype” and just stick with “ED” for “Enhancement Drug”. The obvious next step would be to refine the dosage and start human trials. The way the drug worked the actual amount ingested really only affected the speed of the reaction. That meant I could likely dilute it by about 1000 times and still reproduce the results shown on Romeo. A 1/1000th dose would achieve the final results in about three and half days, give or take. Now, who to test it on.  

There were a few candidates. Obviously there was myself. But there’s something a little uncouth about testing one’s drug on oneself. It’s a little too “Mad scientist” for me. In my immediate family there was my younger sister, Julia, but the last thing I needed was for my 14 year old sister to double in height. My parents were out, they were too old. The drug needed a host still within a few years of their growth cycle. There were options at school though. In my senior class there were a number of people on the tail end of puberty or within a few years of it. Who then? I pretend to consider a few other candidates before falling on the inevitable conclusion. Sarah Miller. 

I’m a bit ashamed to admit it but I’d had a crush on Sarah since the 8th grade. Back then I was quite small, only around 5 foot. Sarah was a couple inches taller than me and was the only member of our class that made an effort to befriend me. Since then I’d grown to a rather unexciting height of 5’8” while Sarah remained much the same. We grew apart over time as we made our ways into other friend groups. It must’ve been over a year since we last spoke outside of class. My feelings for her though, were as strong as ever. Somehow I felt that if I could see her as I did all those years ago, from a few inches below her, I could say what I so desperately wanted to say. So, if I were going to use ED-01 on Sarah I’d need to prepare a few things. 

I stood up and walked over to my chemistry station, ready to mix. First the dosage. 1/1000th dilute in water. Next the delivery mechanism. The drug didn’t really care how it entered the body but I needed some way of getting Sarah to take it that wasn’t either creepy or violating. I mused for a few minutes before coming up with the idea of a spray. I could add a scent to the mixture without affecting the compound and voila, a perfume. I didn’t actually spend much time thinking about what to make it smell like. I just swapped out the water for some rose water and called it done. After adding the mixture to an emptied colgan spray bottle I sat back to admire my work. Now only one thing remained. How do I get Sarah to use it?

Romeo, in all his newfound wisdom, gave me the answer. I felt him claw at my leg and looked down to see him holding a calendar. He’d nibbled out a hole in one of the dates. I took it from his mouth to get a closer look. February 14th, Valentines Day.

“Romeo you sly dog. I mean….hamster.” I grinned down at the oversized rodent and I swear that he winked up at me. I decided not to question how, exactly, Romeo knew what I intended and instead girded myself for action. The game was set. Hopefully my achievements will absolve me of my sins.

I’d prepared in every way I could. Not ED-01, that was the easy part. No, I meant prepared myself for giving Sarah Miller, my crush of over 5 years a Valentine’s day gift for the first time. I was giving it to her anonymously of course. Otherwise she might immediately figure out who was responsible for her changes but also it allowed me to calm my nerves. It was the day of and I was sitting in my seat two rows back and three columns over from Sarah’s. She looked the same as ever. 

Her short auburn hair fell neatly around her shoulders and her small 5’2” frame was hunched over some class work. I really meant it when I said she stayed largely the same over the past 5 years. Despite turning 18 last September she still looked about 12. Her body was slender and flat, with barely any curves to speak of. If she wore a bra it was whatever came before an A cup. I don’t say this to be mean. Sarah was, in my mind, the most beautiful girl at this school. Not because of how she looked, it was hard to explain. I like big boobs and curvy bodies as much as the next guy, more so even. But there was just something about Sarah that other girls just didn’t have. I knew she was unhappy about her body and now I had the power to fix that. 

I was having second thoughts though. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see Sarah slowly grow into the woman of my dreams but there was something nagging at me. I felt….dirty. Like a creep who obsessed over a girl so much that he altered her body without her permission so she could fit his vision of his ideal lover. I couldn’t just give her the drug knowing what it would do without warning her first. It was immoral. But I also couldn’t tell her to her face, not with my nerves. So, I did the only thing I could. I wrote a note and attached it to the perfume bottle.

This is a gift from someone who cares about you deeply.

It has the power to change you.

If you choose to use it you will grow beyond your wildest dreams

If you choose not to, you will remain as you are.

Whatever you choose, find me.

2/18 where night cannot reach. 

It was more than a little cryptic, there was the possibility that she simply wouldn’t take it seriously. Nevertheless it did the job. Hopefully she could decipher to a location I’d included, it related to a place we used to frequent together. I looked over at Sarah one last time before the bell rang for lunch. As I did she just happened to glance behind her and our eyes met. She smiled lightly before turning back to her work, I returned the smile only after she had looked away. 

As the bell rang and the other students stood to head to the cafeteria, I snuck out to make my way to the lockers. I found Sarah’s and pulled the perfume from my bag. I suddenly realized I’d made a slight oversight. Her locker was, well, locked. And I didn’t know the combination. I paused and closed my eyes to think. Sarah had mentioned in the 9th grade that she used the same combination every year. What was it? I peered deeper into my past, searching for a clue. Then, I got it! I could hear her voice as though it were yesterday. 

“It was a long time ago Sam, you don’t have to feel sorry for me.” Sarah and I were walking side by side as we trekked to school. 

“Even so!” I pouted. “It’s just too sad that you can’t remember him…”

“Aw, you’re sweet! But don’t worry I have my own way of remembering.” Sarah spun around to face me. “ One one, two, fifty-eight.” She said, grinning. 

“What’s that?” I asked

“That’s my dad’s birthday!”

I entered the numbers and the lock clicked. I let out a sigh of relief and quickly placed the bottle on top of her books. I hesitated for a moment, staring one last time at the bottle containing ED-01. Hopefully she wouldn’t resent me. Hopefully all these years of testing and failure would finally help her. I closed the locker door and sprinted to catch up with the lunch crowd. I wouldn’t know anything until tomorrow at the earliest.

The rest of that day went by as all others. While I received a number of Valentine’s day stuff from the people who handed things out to the whole class I didn’t get anything personal. Or at least, so I thought. As I was gathering my stuff at the end of the day I was nervously checking across the hall to see if Sarah had found my gift. If she had she gave no indication of it. She had just about packed up her bag when the trouble started. 

The three girls who approached her were your standard cheer squad types. Tiffany, Clair and Jessica. Original names I know. Clair and Jessical stood around 5’6” but always wore 2” heels. Tiffany, the leader, was 5’10” and like her friends, boosted her height with heels. For some reason the three girls had made it their life’s mission to bully Sarah. As I understood it Sarah was actually the cheer squad leader in 8th grade but was quickly replaced when she failed to keep up with the other girl’s growth. My face turned red with anger as I watched Tiffany purposely bump into Sarah, knocking her to the ground. 

“Oops, sorry twig. Didn’t see ya down there.” Tiffany smirked down at Sarah. Clair and Jessical laughed in unison. As they walked away Clair kicked Sarah’s backpack across the floor, where it rested at my feet. My fists were clenched and I wanted nothing more than to give Tiffany and crew a good smacking. But my bravado faded as they walked past me. Clair and Jessica were my height and Tiffany was at least 4 inches taller. All three were toned and fit from their cheer practice, I would’ve just made a fool of myself trying to tussle with them. Instead I leaned over and picked up Sarah’s backpack. I walked over to her as she was picking herself up off the floor. 

“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice smaller than I’d intended. 

“Oh Sam. Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” She smiled weakly up at me as she took her bag from my hands. For a moment I wanted to tell her everything. What I’d spent the last 4 years doing. That I’d done it all for her. And I almost got the first word out. But she spoke first.

“Anyway, I gotta get home. See you.” Sarah darted away before I could respond. As I watched her go I cursed myself for not having the strength to go after her. I went back to my locker to get the rest of my things and that’s when I noticed the bag. 

It was a small pink gift back, the kind with a piece of string threaded through the neck to keep it closed. I’d been so focused on Sarah before that I hadn’t even noticed it. I took it out and emptied it into my palm. A small medallion fell out. It was about the size of a dollar coin and was shaded a light yellow. On one side there was an inscription. It read:

Del’a von. Treya zet. 

A promise remembered is a promise kept.

Something stirred in the back of my mind. I had no idea who could’ve put this in my locker or what it even meant but it seemed familiar. The memory was just out of my reach when the last bell for the school busses rang. 

“OH SHIT” I slipped the mystery medallion into my pocket and ran for the door. This puzzle would have to wait.