The Story That Justin Earned For His Review

[Tina Tempest]

Hey Gang,

Thanks for the reviews on Amazon! Justin won himself a short story for reviewing "Tiny Pauses" He wanted something featuring a teacher or parent shrinking on a schoolyard and being mistaken for a toy -- Here is the result. He gave his permission to post it here, for which I thank you, Justin.

XXOOXX, Tina Tempest

Amanda’s Wish


Little Amanda patrolled the playground feeling a bit glum. She had no idea what to get her big brother Joey for his birthday. Today he would turn fifteen, a whole eight years older than Amanda herself. Joey was a wonderful big brother. He told Amanda that she didn’t have to get him anything, that just helping blow out the birthday candles would be enough. That was a sweet answer, but it did not satisfy Amanda. She wanted to get him something, but what? It seemed that all that Joey cared about besides his family was action figures. He collected all kinds, especially the action hero ones, but Amanda had no way to buy one of those for her brother, who she loved like crazy. The bright sun fell or the playground. Amanda loved recess or days like this, although she was not playing, her contemplative mood took precedence. She waived at Mrs. Emily over by the fence. She was supposed to be supervising the children, but the slim, pretty, blue-eyed, strawberry-blonde, volunteer mother was doing what Amanda was used to seeing so many adults do, studying her cellphone.
Amanda got on all fours and ran her fingers through the grass, one of her favorite activities on days like this when she noticed something. There was a five-leafed clover! “If four-leafed clovers are lucky, what do five-leaf clovers do?” Amanda asked herself. “Maybe they grant wishes!”
Amanda pressed the clover against her chest, close to her heart, and then kissed it. She spun around and around in a circle until she was dizzy before moving the clover in front of her lips and holding her breath for a long time before she said as earnestly as possible, “I wish I had an action figure to give Joey!”
As her dizziness went away, Amanda heard a funny sound. It seemed to be coming from the edge of the fence. Amanda followed her ears to the source of the sound and found … “A present for Joey!” she squealed, picking up the pretty little doll she found there. True, thought Amanda, she does look more like a Barbie than the sorts of figures her brother usually collected, but she thought he would like it anyway. “Everybody loves opening presents even if they are not excited about what’s inside,” reasoned Amanda, repeating something Joey had once told her.
“Amanda! Amanda Richards! Come away from the fence, recess is over!”
“Right away, Mrs. Denton!” replied Amanda smartly as she hastened towards the school door.
**
Emily Hendricks had no idea what was going on. One moment, she was playing candy crush or her phone, the next moment, she was lying face-up on the grass feeling very strange. She found that she could not move a muscle, try as she might, neither could she speak or make any sound at all, but she still seemed to be breathing and could see and hear. Had she suffered a stroke? At her age? Then the sudden nightmare took a turn for the positively horrific! Little Amanda Richards was looming above her, a giant in every way! “Oh, my God!” the young mother screamed silently over and over again as she felt herself rise in the air, felt Amanda’s palm about her middle while her other hand, ran its grubby fingers through her hair. “This can’t be happening!” screamed the voice in Amanda’s head.
The rest of the day, Emily’s mind compensated the only way it could, by taking her out of herself. Being passed from hand to hand and inspected by the rest of the girls in Amanda’s class, the curious groping, the fingers everywhere, their often-ungentle flexing of her limbs and twisting of her head, were experienced as events happening to someone else, a stranger. Emily wondered if she was no boneless as well as tiny! There was the bus ride home in Amanda’s backpack, reminding Emily that she should be picking up her son Jeremey from his classes right about now! Emily thought about her husband, her son, her pretty little house; would she ever see any of them again? Had whatever been done to her be undone? Emily felt the bump of every step as Amanda raced upstairs after getting home. The bright, raven-haired moppet brushed and smoothed out Emily’s hair and placed her in a shoebox, Emily’s head resting on a makeshift pillow. Amanda placed the lid on the box and began wrapping it in brightly colored paper. In the darkness, Emily had the cry she had so desperately needed from moment one. Although her eyes did not actually tear up and her gasps were not audible, it gave her a cathartic release. She soon tumbled into slumber.
There were loud voices and a sudden return of brightness. Emily was instantly alert. Staring down at her was the acne adorned countenance of a teenage lad. He was gazing at her first in puzzlement, then in wonder, then with something else, a look Emily had encountered from strange men often!
“It’s Pepper Potts!” the boy exclaimed. “Oh, thank you, Sis!”
Joey ran his hands through Pepper Potts’s hair, it felt wonderful. He noted as he brushed her leg that the doll was clad in authentic nylons. He wondered where his sister found it. Action figures like this sold for hundreds even thousands of dollars! Pepper was already the star of his action figure ensemble. Joey had heard rumors that some of these elite action figures were anatomically correct in exacting detail. He could hardly wait to find out if that was true! Joey reluctantly placed Pepper back into the shoe box.
**
The house was finally quiet. Joey had been feigning sleep for hours, the curiosity about the Pepper Potts action figure burning a hole in his psyche. He opened the box and gazed anew at the expensive action figure. The bright light woke Emily from her slumber. The inability to move on her own had produced an outsized lethargy on the shrunken woman.
“Come here!” said Joey in a voice he hoped was appealing to the opposite sex. Emily was fully awake now! Joey prized off the action figures, tiny, flat-heeled shoes. “Don’t you DARE!” squealed Emily in silent horror, almost imperceptibly her now tiny body flushed crimson head to toe. Joey didn’t notice, his mind was elsewhere. It was now residing in a place where teenage boys’ minds quite often resided. Under the bright light of his desk lamp, he began the delicate maneuver of parting the buttons of the tiny pink blouse revealing a pair of nicely stacked tits restrained by a lovely and quite lacy brassiere. Emily was praying fervently that the earth would open up and swallow her as joey manipulated her arms to remove the blouse. She felt the fevered fingers of the strange teenager’s hands struggling with the catch of her bra and Emily knew exactly how this evening would end. Silently, she began bargaining with the universe for some sort of release, any release at all… The universe remained remote and impersonal.

[Bloodthirstybutcher]

Minus the naughty bits this wouldn't at all be out of place as a Twighlight Zone episode. Well done.