by Xinunar » Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:49 pm
Russell gathered up the three tiny guys, along with about half the clothes. He had to leave some of the clothes behind; it was just too much to carry on a mile hike back to the road. The guys were buried inside the bundle of clothes, and April sat on top of it. She sat with her lower half inside a shirt sleeve. After a few minutes, she pulled it up around her and settled down for a nap. Inside the bundle, the three guys yelled, pleaded and threatened for April to grow them back, but their voices were muted and didn't bother April or Russell.
Approaching the road, they could see the flashing lights from police cars and fire trucks at the Michaels'. Russell and April were glad that the car was a few blocks away from it. When they got to the car, they were surprised to find Daryl sleeping in the back seat.
"Dude, you were supposed to go to the hospital!" said Russell.
"I'm fine," said Daryl, sounding weak. "I didn't want to be part of all that. April, you're small again!"
"Yeah, and guess who else is," she said.
Russell set the bundle down in the passenger seat and put the tee shirt with April in it into his lap. Daryl saw the bundle of clothes. It took him a moment to think why they had a bundle of clothes. He figured it out when he saw Dave wiggle his way out of the bundle.
"No way!" he exclaimed.
- - - -
"You better have one hell of an excuse," said Jack Farber, as soon as Russell stepped into the den. His mother, Marie, and April's parents, Wil and Pam Watson, were also there, glaring at him.
"April got kidnapped, and we had to rescue her," said Russell. He had a tee shirt in his hands, with April hidden inside it.
"Hi," said Daryl, coming in behind him. He headed back to Russell's room to put the jocks, still buried inside a bundle of clothes, in Russell's gerbil cage.
"That… would do," said Jack. "What?"
"What!" exclaimed Pam and Will together. Pam jumped out of her chair. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
Wil glared at Russell suspiciously.
"She's fine, but uh, you might want to sit back down," said Russell.
"I will NOT sit down!" said Pam.
April stood up, in the middle of the shirt sleeve, holding one side of it in front of her. "Hi Mom. Hi Dad," she said. She waved at them with one hand, while holding the cloth in front of her with the other.
Russell grinned because he could see her cute tush.
Pam sat down. Then she leaned forward to peer at April in disbelief.
"Mom," said Russell, "could you go borrow one of Jenna's Brat's outfits for April? She's kind if naked, right now." He sat down in a chair near Pam Watson. He pulled the other side of the sleave up to cover April's bottom. If the 'rents hadn't been there, he wouldn't have done that; he could stare at April's tush for hours.
April recounted what had happened to her. She glossed over some parts; she didn't go into any details about how Brad treated her, other than that he molested her and wouldn't let her go. She got to when she fainted, when Russell first got her away from Brad, and let Russell tell his part of the story from there.
"I hated scaring her like that," said Russell. "But I had to make Brad and his crew think I just wanted in." He continued his narration from there.
"Why didn't you bring her straight home?" asked Wil. He held himself rigidly in his seat. He was angry, but he knew he should hear Russell's side before he reacted.
"I… don't know, exactly," Russell admitted, hanging his head because he knew he should have. "My heart was pounding a hundred beats a minute, and April was lying there unconscious, and I wasn't sure if I should take her home or to the hospital, and I didn't know if you and Mrs. Watson would be home, and I just needed to catch my breath."
Wil settled back in his seat. He could understand that.
Russell felt ashamed of himself. What he said was true - mostly. But the biggest reason he had pulled off the road with April was just to spend time with April. She looked so cute lying there, unconscious, vulnerable and adorable. And he wanted her to wake up with him - not in a hospital bed, and not back home with her parents. He had rescued her, and he wanted to be the first person she saw when she woke up. He knew that was selfish of him, and he didn't want to confess that selfishness to April's parents.
He continued to tell his part of the story, up to the point where a gigantic April exploded into the room. April took over the story from there, again glossing over… a few things.
"Then I held the three guys - uh, in my lap, and I started to shrink; and when I got back to normal, they were as small as I had been, about six inches tall. I set Dave and Jeff down, but I held on to Brad to, uh, have a talk with him. But then I felt myself shrinking again, so I set Brad down, because I didn't really want to make him the size of a bug."
"I do," said Pam Watson, fiercely.
"I want to kill them, all of them," said Wil. "Where are they?"
"No, Dad," said April. "They're being punished enough. And we already gave them to Daryl, as his reward for rescuing me, so we can't do anything to them, now. They belong to him."
"Daryl?" asked Marie Farber. "What's he going to do with them?"
They looked over at Daryl, who was standing in the entryway to the hall, leading to the bedrooms.
"Keep them for decoration, mostly," he said, "and pets. I've got a fifty-gallon fish tank in my room, but the fish all died. They'll look good there - much better than fish."
The adults all stared at him.
"I know he's a jerk, but Brad is sooo gorgeous," said Daryl. "Dave and Jeff aren't half-bad either."
He shrugged sheepishly. Wil and Pam smiled. They were satisfied with the arrangement.
- - -
"You don't think the Michaels know who you were?" asked Jack.
"I don't think so, we both wore hoodies and I looked down, when I talked to them. like I was shy," said Russell.
"I'm sure Mrs. Michaels hardly noticed me," said Daryl, "and I kept my head down too."
"They looked right at me," said April. "But it was dark, and I was huge, and they wouldn't know me anyway. They probably think it was an alien."
"Or a demon," said Daryl. "Not that you look like a demon, but when you were fifty-feet tall, and back-lit by moonlight, you were pretty scary looking. Hot as Hell, but scary."
"I thought you were gay," said Wil.
"Hot is hot," said Daryl.
They talked late into the night. April tried several times to grow again, but with no luck.
"We should try again later, at my cousin's farm," said Marie.
"Why would she have any better luck there?" asked Jack.
"She might be afraid that she'll overshoot and wind up fifty feet tall again," she said. "That fear could be holding her back. Outside, with us all standing way back, she can relax and not worry about it."
That night, April slept in a make-shift bed, in a shoe box, beside her parent's bed. They called the school and said she was sick. Mrs. Watson stayed home for two days to take care of her, and that weekend they went to Marie's cousin's farm. Marie told her cousin that Russell wanted to launch a homemade rocket. The rocket was just a dummy, but April sat in a box beside it, on a picnic table, in the middle of a field - and tried to make herself grow.
Nothing.
That evening, the Farber's had the Watson's back over for dinner. They knew their neighbors had to be stressed, trying to deal with this. Pam Watson looked like she hadn't slept in days.
"We'll keep trying, of course," said Wil, "but I don't know what are we going to do, in the meantime. Pam and I both work; we can't take many more days off, right now. But I can't stand the thought of leaving her at home, all alone. Also, April is going stir crazy. I hate to say it, but she might be better off in some kind of facility, than to be a prisoner in her own home, indefinitely. We could go public. Say nothing about the boys, of course; but if April is a celebrity, the government won't dare lock her in a lab. I don't like it, but we're running out of options."
"I could take care of her," said Russell.
"The hell you will," said Wil.
"While you're at school?" asked Jack, dismissively.
"Yeah…. Wait, I've got to get something," said Russell. He ran to his room to grab something. As soon as he opened his door, Dave, Jeff and Brad started shouting to get his attention. He gave barely a glance at the three naked boys in his old gerbil cage. He hoped Daryl would get them some clothes before the next time he visited, at least loin cloths or something. Or he could just toss a cloth over the cage; that would work.
"Notice anything?" asked Russell. He stood in the middle of the group, held his arms out and turned around slowly. No one saw any difference.
Russell reached into his shirt and pulled out a hard-plastic glasses case. He reached his hand down to April, and she climbed into it, from her mother's lap. Her mother was surprised that she went to Russell so readily. If she was shrunk to five inches tall, she'd want her mommy!
Russell put April in the case and held it up for people to see how roomy it was. April pressed her hands against the plastic, in a classic terror pose, and yelled, "Help! Help! Let me out!" She was obviously playing, but Russell handed her back to her mother because the woman looked so anxious.
"Is she supposed to stand up all day?" asked Wil Watson. "Or lie down?"
"I'll put two together, with plenty of air holes, and a mat and cushions down at the bottom, so she can stand up OR lie down. She'll be more comfortable in class than I am," said Russell. "And the hard plastic will protect her from any accidental bumps."
"No way," said Wil. "I'm not having a sixteen-year-old boy keeping my daughter under his shirt all day."
"But Daddeee!" April cried. "Russell wouldn't let anybody hurt me. Shouldn't this be my decision?"
"No. You're sixteen too," said Wil.
"Grandma was already married when she was my age - and pregnant with you," she said.
"That was a different time," said Wil.
"I don't know, dear," said Pam. "April has special circumstances."
"I'll take real good care of her, Mr. Watson," said Russell. "I'd never let anyone hurt her."
Wil knew he was fighting a losing battle. He saw the looks of love pass between the two kids. Russell had crushed on his daughter for years, but she hardly even seemed to notice. 'Ha! She's still Daddy's girl,' he had thought. But he always knew it was only a matter of time before this boy or the next knocked him off the top of the hill.
Wil changed his position from objecting to negotiating. He wanted to make sure that Russell was taking every precaution and would attend to April's comfort, but especially safety. He and Pam weren't thrilled about the arrangement, but they didn't see many options. This way, she could keep up with her classes, for however long it took before she got back to normal, and she'd be able to talk to Russell throughout the day, and to Daryl at lunch time. April also wanted her best friend to be included, but her parents asked her to wait a bit before telling anyone else.
The following Monday morning, Pam had to get back to work; Russell came to get April about twenty minutes before the bus was due. He showed them the carrying case his mother had made. Marie Farber had worked through the weekend, making things for April. She did a lot of crafts, as a hobby. She sewed, and had experience melting and molding plastic to make artificial flower arrangements. The case was made of clear plastic, about seven inches by seven inches. The back was slightly curved, to fit snugly against Russell's chest and abdomen. The front was more curved, so that the case was almost two inches thick in the middle, but less than an inch thick on the sides. There was a quarter-inch-thick mat on the bottom and several cushions that would help April be comfortable. She also sewed several button holes in one of Russell's shirts, so April would be able to see out.
Pam Watson gave Russell a note, to give to the school, saying that April still had the flu.
April's first day back at school was mostly uneventful. There was a lot of talk about the three jocks who went missing. Brad had been BMOC, so most of it was about him. Also, half his house had been destroyed, and the papers said it was a gas explosion, but the neighbors said it didn't sound like an explosion, more like a tree falling on the roof. And the boys were just missing - no bodies in the wreckage. The Michaels weren't talking to anyone. The news report said this was unusual, but they didn't speculate.
There wasn't any talk of a giant girl.
"That could be good, or it could be bad," said Daryl. He and Russell were apparently sitting by themselves, in the lunch room. They kept their voices down. But they weren't at all suspicious looking; everyone was speculating about what happened. "Maybe no one believed them, or maybe they even thought it was a hallucination. But maybe the men in black are looking into it and told them to stay mum."
"The Men In Black," said April, giggling. Her voice came from Russell's chest, sounding like he had a tiny cheap speaker there.
"Hey, it's not like in the movies, but the men in black are real. Black helicopters are real."
"And giant black girls," said April.
"Yeah. Huh," said Daryl.
"I wonder what kind of footprints she left," said Russell.
"Hey, I'm right here," said April.
"People will get suspicious, if I'm always talking into my chest," he said into his chest.
"Maybe you should put me in your pants," said April. "Then people will just think you're talking to your willy: 'Grow. Grow. Come on, Grow!'"
Daryl and Russell laughed.
"Still no luck with that? Growing, that is?" asked Daryl.
"Do I look like I had any luck with it?" asked April.
"I can't see you," said Daryl. "You could be like eight inches under there, for all I know."
A guy passing by shot Daryl a look.
"And it would be none of my business," said Daryl, more loudly. The guy walked on, and Daryl dropped his head against his chest.
"I wonder if it's kind of like that," said Russell. "I mean, April's impotence joke. I can't 'grow' whenever I want to; I have to be horny."
"Which you are, just about all the time," said April.
"You just think that because I am, whenever I'm around you," said Russell.
"Aww," said April.
"Will you guys get a room?" asked Daryl.
"Anyway," said Russell. "Maybe it's the same way for April. Maybe she just needs to be in the right mood, or have the right stimulation. She got giant sized, when she was angry…."
"Maybe we can all get beat up again, and April will spring forth and save us," said Daryl.
Imagining that, April felt the falling sensation that she now associated with changing size. She suddenly remembered where she was. If she grew now, she might crush Russell! The feeling left, as quick as it came. She told Russell and Daryl what happened. This was exciting news, and they decided to experiment with it later - when they weren't in a crowded lunchroom.
Pam and Wil Watson were stressed. Obviously, they were worried about April. What if she never grew back? What should they do?
"Maybe we should take her to see someone," said Wil. "If she has some mental control over it, and it certainly sounds like she does, a psychiatrist might be able to help her. Maybe hypnosis, or something."
"Yeah," Pam agreed. "I just don't know who we could trust. Anyone who sees April is going to see fame and dollar signs - or scientific discovery or patriotism, or some such nonsense. None of those end well for our little girl."
"And we're letting a sixteen-year-old boy take her to high school, tucked under his shirt?" said Wil.
"What are we supposed to do, keep her in a bird cage, while we're at work?" asked Pam.
"Who says she needs to be in a cage?" asked Wil.
"We've had rats get in this house before," said Pam, "and a raccoon. She can't use the phone if there's a fire, or even if she just needs help. And there are twelve people who know about her, and two others who saw her, even if they don't believe what they saw. I wake up five times a night to check on her, and that's with her sleeping on our dresser; I'd be a wreck if she was all the way over in her room. She needs constant protection. And I trust Russell."
"Yeah. He's a good kid," Wil grumbled. The Farbers had lived next door since Russell and April were toddlers. Russell used to sleep over, on a regular basis. He was almost a part of the family. Almost.
"Speaking of her sleeping on the dresser…," said Wil.
"I know," said Pam.
"I need some relief!"
"I know!" said Pam. "So do I!"
"We could let her sleep over at Russell's," said Pam.
"The hell we could," said Wil.
"They used to do it all the time."
"When they were pre-teens!"
"Either we trust him with her or we don't," said Pam. "They've got a good three hours, unsupervised, before we get home in the evenings. What could he do, at night, that he couldn't do then?"
"Guys think different at night," said Wil. "End of a long day…. End of a long day, hanging out with his cute girlfriend, he's going to need relief, just like I do. Think he's going to settle for jacking off, with April sitting on his bedside table? And how could he even do that, without her noticing? And what if she gets pregnant?"
"He's not getting her pregnant," said Pam. "But if he does, he'll marry her."
Wil ignored her self-contradiction. "You want our daughter to get married at sixteen?"
"If she can't grow back, I want her to have a protector," said Pam. "One I trust. One who's devoted to her. Can you see her dating any other boys, in her condition?"
"No…," said Wil.
"Let me talk to Marie about the possibility of sleepovers," said Pam. "If she'll allow it, we'll set some ground rules."
Russell and April could hardly believe their parents were letting them have a sleepover. They had put a stop to that, when they were about ten. The new rules were freaky, but still… April would be in his bedroom - all night!
The first rule was that his door would be left open, at least three inches. His parents would be able to peek in on them, and they would hear if they got rowdy - or passionate. That was bad enough, but the second rule was that April would be sleeping in a cage!
It wasn't a very strong cage; it would fall apart if April grew too big for it. And there was no lock on the door. But there was an electric bell, that would ring in his parents' room, if the door was opened, and actual bells all over the cage, that would ring if it was jostled. The cage would be anchored to Russell's bedside table with a bicycle lock.
April yelled at her parents, when she saw the cage. How could they dare do such a thing to her? She was not an animal. She was not a prisoner. She was not a slave! Her father looked down at his feet and said nothing. Her mother simply said that she didn't have to go to Russell's, if she didn't want to, but if she did, this was where she'd be sleeping. She explained that it was not just to limit their opportunities for hanky panky, but was for her safety. The idea that someone could slip into Russell's room and grab April, without him even knowing it, terrified Pam and Wil.
The weird thing was, even though she yelled and whined about it to her parents, when they weren't looking, April looked like she kind of liked it. Russell guessed that it made her feel more secure, even if it was humiliating. But out of the corner of his eye, she didn't just look okay with it, she looked turned on by it.
Standing on Russell's bedside table, April eyed the cage suspiciously. April wore a simple dress that Russell's mother made for her. The doll-sized girl had gotten Marie's crafting energies going; it was a joy to make tiny clothes for her. She remembered what a help Pam and even Wil had been, when Jenna was born. With all that was going on, the Watsons had to be stressed half out of their minds, so the Farbers were happy to help out. In less than two weeks, since the shrinking, Jack had already fired up the grill three times - which, as Marie recalled, had been Wil's main contribution, when she was expecting Jenna.
She looked at the cage warily, but also embarrassed and maybe even excited. Russell would never admit that he was looking forward to seeing her in it. It wasn't like he was going to lock her in, or anything. It was just…. Damn, it was going to look hot! He wondered if he could talk her into posing in it, while he took some pictures.
"Why didn't you want to tell your parents that you felt like you were growing earlier?" asked Russell. They had a couple of hours, after school, before his mother would be home. This was why Russell thought it was dumb for his and April's parents to worry about them doing something at night. He had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted to do with April, right now.
"I didn't want to get their hopes up, for one thing," said April. "Or give them any reason to change their minds about me spending the night. Also, if it's controlled by my feelings, I thought we could explore our feelings a little better without them around."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Russell. He ran his finger up and down her side.
April's dress was made of the softest silk Russell's mother could find, because she knew the material would seem twelve times thicker and courser to April. The sheer silk felt like a puff of air against Russell's finger. With no bra or panties, and the thin fabric clinging to her skin, she could have just about been naked. The side of his finger rubbed down from April's shoulder, while she steadied herself by holding onto his thumb. As he went lower, he curled his finger to rub her bum with his fingertip. April hummed contentedly and leaned forward, so her silk-covered breasts rubbed against the pads of his thumb.
"I… don't think that's helping," said April between deep breaths.
"You could've fooled me," said Russell, as he ran his finger back up to her shoulder. The dress lifted with his finger, and he caught a peek of her milk-chocolate colored bottom before it dropped back down. Russell had seen April fully naked, so many times in the past two week, he was surprised a little peek was still such a thrill to him. But it was. It so was.
"No, I mean not helping me get big again," said April. "You're making me like being small too much."
"Hum, let's see," said Russell. "You got big, when you got angry and aggressive. Maybe we need to get you a little bit angry."
April asked, "How do you meemf?" But Russell squeezed his thumb and finger together, so his thumb pressed her from the front and his finger from the back, and he lifted her dress right over her head, leaving her completely naked.
"Russell!" she yelled. She blushed and tried to cover her tits and pussy with her hands.
Russell dropped the dress and went back to stroking her with his finger. This time, he didn't just use one finger; all four fingers ran lightly around April's back. Lightly to Russell, that is. April had to grab his thumb for balance. Russell pulled his thumb down and away from her, making April bend over and thrust out her bottom. Russell slid his pinky up and down the crack of her ass. He could feel wetness, as the side of his finger brushed against her taint. He crooked his finger upwards to rub her pussy from the back.
"Russellll," she complained, between moans and sighs. "Oh, Russell, no…." Her protests were weak and meaningless. She knew that if she yelled at him sharply, he would stop. She tried to do that, but oh! Yesss. No, she shouldn't. Ahh, yes. That was the spot.
Russell's pinky felt like a man's leg to April. There was no way he could penetrate her, but it slid between her lips and brushed against her clit. She thrust herself against it. It was almost enough. Almost…. Russell brought his index finger around, to rub her right tit and used his thumb to rub her left. To April, it was almost like he was standing behind her, bringing his knee up between her legs and rubbing her tits with each hand. She bent down and bit the side of his thumb, bit it hard.
Russell could feel the bite. He wondered if it would leave a mark. He hoped so. A little eighth-inch crescent on the side of his thumb, to remind him that this was real. Something that, even if she broke up with him later, she could never take away. April bit down even harder, as she came. Then she slumped into his hand.
Russell carefully reached into the cage, with April in his hand, and placed her on the tiny bed there. Silently, he thanked his mother for her attention to detail. The bed looked like a bed, with silk sheets and silk-covered pillows. He thought about putting her under the cover, but that would have been difficult, with one hand. And she just looked so pretty, lying naked, on top of the covers. The light-blue silk made a perfect background for her light-brown skin. He closed the door of the cage and grabbed his camera.
Russell gathered up the three tiny guys, along with about half the clothes. He had to leave some of the clothes behind; it was just too much to carry on a mile hike back to the road. The guys were buried inside the bundle of clothes, and April sat on top of it. She sat with her lower half inside a shirt sleeve. After a few minutes, she pulled it up around her and settled down for a nap. Inside the bundle, the three guys yelled, pleaded and threatened for April to grow them back, but their voices were muted and didn't bother April or Russell.
Approaching the road, they could see the flashing lights from police cars and fire trucks at the Michaels'. Russell and April were glad that the car was a few blocks away from it. When they got to the car, they were surprised to find Daryl sleeping in the back seat.
"Dude, you were supposed to go to the hospital!" said Russell.
"I'm fine," said Daryl, sounding weak. "I didn't want to be part of all that. April, you're small again!"
"Yeah, and guess who else is," she said.
Russell set the bundle down in the passenger seat and put the tee shirt with April in it into his lap. Daryl saw the bundle of clothes. It took him a moment to think why they had a bundle of clothes. He figured it out when he saw Dave wiggle his way out of the bundle.
"No way!" he exclaimed.
- - - -
"You better have one hell of an excuse," said Jack Farber, as soon as Russell stepped into the den. His mother, Marie, and April's parents, Wil and Pam Watson, were also there, glaring at him.
"April got kidnapped, and we had to rescue her," said Russell. He had a tee shirt in his hands, with April hidden inside it.
"Hi," said Daryl, coming in behind him. He headed back to Russell's room to put the jocks, still buried inside a bundle of clothes, in Russell's gerbil cage.
"That… would do," said Jack. "What?"
"What!" exclaimed Pam and Will together. Pam jumped out of her chair. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
Wil glared at Russell suspiciously.
"She's fine, but uh, you might want to sit back down," said Russell.
"I will NOT sit down!" said Pam.
April stood up, in the middle of the shirt sleeve, holding one side of it in front of her. "Hi Mom. Hi Dad," she said. She waved at them with one hand, while holding the cloth in front of her with the other.
Russell grinned because he could see her cute tush.
Pam sat down. Then she leaned forward to peer at April in disbelief.
"Mom," said Russell, "could you go borrow one of Jenna's Brat's outfits for April? She's kind if naked, right now." He sat down in a chair near Pam Watson. He pulled the other side of the sleave up to cover April's bottom. If the 'rents hadn't been there, he wouldn't have done that; he could stare at April's tush for hours.
April recounted what had happened to her. She glossed over some parts; she didn't go into any details about how Brad treated her, other than that he molested her and wouldn't let her go. She got to when she fainted, when Russell first got her away from Brad, and let Russell tell his part of the story from there.
"I hated scaring her like that," said Russell. "But I had to make Brad and his crew think I just wanted in." He continued his narration from there.
"Why didn't you bring her straight home?" asked Wil. He held himself rigidly in his seat. He was angry, but he knew he should hear Russell's side before he reacted.
"I… don't know, exactly," Russell admitted, hanging his head because he knew he should have. "My heart was pounding a hundred beats a minute, and April was lying there unconscious, and I wasn't sure if I should take her home or to the hospital, and I didn't know if you and Mrs. Watson would be home, and I just needed to catch my breath."
Wil settled back in his seat. He could understand that.
Russell felt ashamed of himself. What he said was true - mostly. But the biggest reason he had pulled off the road with April was just to spend time with April. She looked so cute lying there, unconscious, vulnerable and adorable. And he wanted her to wake up with him - not in a hospital bed, and not back home with her parents. He had rescued her, and he wanted to be the first person she saw when she woke up. He knew that was selfish of him, and he didn't want to confess that selfishness to April's parents.
He continued to tell his part of the story, up to the point where a gigantic April exploded into the room. April took over the story from there, again glossing over… a few things.
"Then I held the three guys - uh, in my lap, and I started to shrink; and when I got back to normal, they were as small as I had been, about six inches tall. I set Dave and Jeff down, but I held on to Brad to, uh, have a talk with him. But then I felt myself shrinking again, so I set Brad down, because I didn't really want to make him the size of a bug."
"I do," said Pam Watson, fiercely.
"I want to kill them, all of them," said Wil. "Where are they?"
"No, Dad," said April. "They're being punished enough. And we already gave them to Daryl, as his reward for rescuing me, so we can't do anything to them, now. They belong to him."
"Daryl?" asked Marie Farber. "What's he going to do with them?"
They looked over at Daryl, who was standing in the entryway to the hall, leading to the bedrooms.
"Keep them for decoration, mostly," he said, "and pets. I've got a fifty-gallon fish tank in my room, but the fish all died. They'll look good there - much better than fish."
The adults all stared at him.
"I know he's a jerk, but Brad is sooo gorgeous," said Daryl. "Dave and Jeff aren't half-bad either."
He shrugged sheepishly. Wil and Pam smiled. They were satisfied with the arrangement.
- - -
"You don't think the Michaels know who you were?" asked Jack.
"I don't think so, we both wore hoodies and I looked down, when I talked to them. like I was shy," said Russell.
"I'm sure Mrs. Michaels hardly noticed me," said Daryl, "and I kept my head down too."
"They looked right at me," said April. "But it was dark, and I was huge, and they wouldn't know me anyway. They probably think it was an alien."
"Or a demon," said Daryl. "Not that you look like a demon, but when you were fifty-feet tall, and back-lit by moonlight, you were pretty scary looking. Hot as Hell, but scary."
"I thought you were gay," said Wil.
"Hot is hot," said Daryl.
They talked late into the night. April tried several times to grow again, but with no luck.
"We should try again later, at my cousin's farm," said Marie.
"Why would she have any better luck there?" asked Jack.
"She might be afraid that she'll overshoot and wind up fifty feet tall again," she said. "That fear could be holding her back. Outside, with us all standing way back, she can relax and not worry about it."
That night, April slept in a make-shift bed, in a shoe box, beside her parent's bed. They called the school and said she was sick. Mrs. Watson stayed home for two days to take care of her, and that weekend they went to Marie's cousin's farm. Marie told her cousin that Russell wanted to launch a homemade rocket. The rocket was just a dummy, but April sat in a box beside it, on a picnic table, in the middle of a field - and tried to make herself grow.
Nothing.
That evening, the Farber's had the Watson's back over for dinner. They knew their neighbors had to be stressed, trying to deal with this. Pam Watson looked like she hadn't slept in days.
"We'll keep trying, of course," said Wil, "but I don't know what are we going to do, in the meantime. Pam and I both work; we can't take many more days off, right now. But I can't stand the thought of leaving her at home, all alone. Also, April is going stir crazy. I hate to say it, but she might be better off in some kind of facility, than to be a prisoner in her own home, indefinitely. We could go public. Say nothing about the boys, of course; but if April is a celebrity, the government won't dare lock her in a lab. I don't like it, but we're running out of options."
"I could take care of her," said Russell.
"The hell you will," said Wil.
"While you're at school?" asked Jack, dismissively.
"Yeah…. Wait, I've got to get something," said Russell. He ran to his room to grab something. As soon as he opened his door, Dave, Jeff and Brad started shouting to get his attention. He gave barely a glance at the three naked boys in his old gerbil cage. He hoped Daryl would get them some clothes before the next time he visited, at least loin cloths or something. Or he could just toss a cloth over the cage; that would work.
"Notice anything?" asked Russell. He stood in the middle of the group, held his arms out and turned around slowly. No one saw any difference.
Russell reached into his shirt and pulled out a hard-plastic glasses case. He reached his hand down to April, and she climbed into it, from her mother's lap. Her mother was surprised that she went to Russell so readily. If she was shrunk to five inches tall, she'd want her mommy!
Russell put April in the case and held it up for people to see how roomy it was. April pressed her hands against the plastic, in a classic terror pose, and yelled, "Help! Help! Let me out!" She was obviously playing, but Russell handed her back to her mother because the woman looked so anxious.
"Is she supposed to stand up all day?" asked Wil Watson. "Or lie down?"
"I'll put two together, with plenty of air holes, and a mat and cushions down at the bottom, so she can stand up OR lie down. She'll be more comfortable in class than I am," said Russell. "And the hard plastic will protect her from any accidental bumps."
"No way," said Wil. "I'm not having a sixteen-year-old boy keeping my daughter under his shirt all day."
"But Daddeee!" April cried. "Russell wouldn't let anybody hurt me. Shouldn't this be my decision?"
"No. You're sixteen too," said Wil.
"Grandma was already married when she was my age - and pregnant with you," she said.
"That was a different time," said Wil.
"I don't know, dear," said Pam. "April has special circumstances."
"I'll take real good care of her, Mr. Watson," said Russell. "I'd never let anyone hurt her."
Wil knew he was fighting a losing battle. He saw the looks of love pass between the two kids. Russell had crushed on his daughter for years, but she hardly even seemed to notice. 'Ha! She's still Daddy's girl,' he had thought. But he always knew it was only a matter of time before this boy or the next knocked him off the top of the hill.
Wil changed his position from objecting to negotiating. He wanted to make sure that Russell was taking every precaution and would attend to April's comfort, but especially safety. He and Pam weren't thrilled about the arrangement, but they didn't see many options. This way, she could keep up with her classes, for however long it took before she got back to normal, and she'd be able to talk to Russell throughout the day, and to Daryl at lunch time. April also wanted her best friend to be included, but her parents asked her to wait a bit before telling anyone else.
The following Monday morning, Pam had to get back to work; Russell came to get April about twenty minutes before the bus was due. He showed them the carrying case his mother had made. Marie Farber had worked through the weekend, making things for April. She did a lot of crafts, as a hobby. She sewed, and had experience melting and molding plastic to make artificial flower arrangements. The case was made of clear plastic, about seven inches by seven inches. The back was slightly curved, to fit snugly against Russell's chest and abdomen. The front was more curved, so that the case was almost two inches thick in the middle, but less than an inch thick on the sides. There was a quarter-inch-thick mat on the bottom and several cushions that would help April be comfortable. She also sewed several button holes in one of Russell's shirts, so April would be able to see out.
Pam Watson gave Russell a note, to give to the school, saying that April still had the flu.
April's first day back at school was mostly uneventful. There was a lot of talk about the three jocks who went missing. Brad had been BMOC, so most of it was about him. Also, half his house had been destroyed, and the papers said it was a gas explosion, but the neighbors said it didn't sound like an explosion, more like a tree falling on the roof. And the boys were just missing - no bodies in the wreckage. The Michaels weren't talking to anyone. The news report said this was unusual, but they didn't speculate.
There wasn't any talk of a giant girl.
"That could be good, or it could be bad," said Daryl. He and Russell were apparently sitting by themselves, in the lunch room. They kept their voices down. But they weren't at all suspicious looking; everyone was speculating about what happened. "Maybe no one believed them, or maybe they even thought it was a hallucination. But maybe the men in black are looking into it and told them to stay mum."
"The Men In Black," said April, giggling. Her voice came from Russell's chest, sounding like he had a tiny cheap speaker there.
"Hey, it's not like in the movies, but the men in black are real. Black helicopters are real."
"And giant black girls," said April.
"Yeah. Huh," said Daryl.
"I wonder what kind of footprints she left," said Russell.
"Hey, I'm right here," said April.
"People will get suspicious, if I'm always talking into my chest," he said into his chest.
"Maybe you should put me in your pants," said April. "Then people will just think you're talking to your willy: 'Grow. Grow. Come on, Grow!'"
Daryl and Russell laughed.
"Still no luck with that? Growing, that is?" asked Daryl.
"Do I look like I had any luck with it?" asked April.
"I can't see you," said Daryl. "You could be like eight inches under there, for all I know."
A guy passing by shot Daryl a look.
"And it would be none of my business," said Daryl, more loudly. The guy walked on, and Daryl dropped his head against his chest.
"I wonder if it's kind of like that," said Russell. "I mean, April's impotence joke. I can't 'grow' whenever I want to; I have to be horny."
"Which you are, just about all the time," said April.
"You just think that because I am, whenever I'm around you," said Russell.
"Aww," said April.
"Will you guys get a room?" asked Daryl.
"Anyway," said Russell. "Maybe it's the same way for April. Maybe she just needs to be in the right mood, or have the right stimulation. She got giant sized, when she was angry…."
"Maybe we can all get beat up again, and April will spring forth and save us," said Daryl.
Imagining that, April felt the falling sensation that she now associated with changing size. She suddenly remembered where she was. If she grew now, she might crush Russell! The feeling left, as quick as it came. She told Russell and Daryl what happened. This was exciting news, and they decided to experiment with it later - when they weren't in a crowded lunchroom.
Pam and Wil Watson were stressed. Obviously, they were worried about April. What if she never grew back? What should they do?
"Maybe we should take her to see someone," said Wil. "If she has some mental control over it, and it certainly sounds like she does, a psychiatrist might be able to help her. Maybe hypnosis, or something."
"Yeah," Pam agreed. "I just don't know who we could trust. Anyone who sees April is going to see fame and dollar signs - or scientific discovery or patriotism, or some such nonsense. None of those end well for our little girl."
"And we're letting a sixteen-year-old boy take her to high school, tucked under his shirt?" said Wil.
"What are we supposed to do, keep her in a bird cage, while we're at work?" asked Pam.
"Who says she needs to be in a cage?" asked Wil.
"We've had rats get in this house before," said Pam, "and a raccoon. She can't use the phone if there's a fire, or even if she just needs help. And there are twelve people who know about her, and two others who saw her, even if they don't believe what they saw. I wake up five times a night to check on her, and that's with her sleeping on our dresser; I'd be a wreck if she was all the way over in her room. She needs constant protection. And I trust Russell."
"Yeah. He's a good kid," Wil grumbled. The Farbers had lived next door since Russell and April were toddlers. Russell used to sleep over, on a regular basis. He was almost a part of the family. Almost.
"Speaking of her sleeping on the dresser…," said Wil.
"I know," said Pam.
"I need some relief!"
"I know!" said Pam. "So do I!"
"We could let her sleep over at Russell's," said Pam.
"The hell we could," said Wil.
"They used to do it all the time."
"When they were pre-teens!"
"Either we trust him with her or we don't," said Pam. "They've got a good three hours, unsupervised, before we get home in the evenings. What could he do, at night, that he couldn't do then?"
"Guys think different at night," said Wil. "End of a long day…. End of a long day, hanging out with his cute girlfriend, he's going to need relief, just like I do. Think he's going to settle for jacking off, with April sitting on his bedside table? And how could he even do that, without her noticing? And what if she gets pregnant?"
"He's not getting her pregnant," said Pam. "But if he does, he'll marry her."
Wil ignored her self-contradiction. "You want our daughter to get married at sixteen?"
"If she can't grow back, I want her to have a protector," said Pam. "One I trust. One who's devoted to her. Can you see her dating any other boys, in her condition?"
"No…," said Wil.
"Let me talk to Marie about the possibility of sleepovers," said Pam. "If she'll allow it, we'll set some ground rules."
Russell and April could hardly believe their parents were letting them have a sleepover. They had put a stop to that, when they were about ten. The new rules were freaky, but still… April would be in his bedroom - all night!
The first rule was that his door would be left open, at least three inches. His parents would be able to peek in on them, and they would hear if they got rowdy - or passionate. That was bad enough, but the second rule was that April would be sleeping in a cage!
It wasn't a very strong cage; it would fall apart if April grew too big for it. And there was no lock on the door. But there was an electric bell, that would ring in his parents' room, if the door was opened, and actual bells all over the cage, that would ring if it was jostled. The cage would be anchored to Russell's bedside table with a bicycle lock.
April yelled at her parents, when she saw the cage. How could they dare do such a thing to her? She was not an animal. She was not a prisoner. She was not a slave! Her father looked down at his feet and said nothing. Her mother simply said that she didn't have to go to Russell's, if she didn't want to, but if she did, this was where she'd be sleeping. She explained that it was not just to limit their opportunities for hanky panky, but was for her safety. The idea that someone could slip into Russell's room and grab April, without him even knowing it, terrified Pam and Wil.
The weird thing was, even though she yelled and whined about it to her parents, when they weren't looking, April looked like she kind of liked it. Russell guessed that it made her feel more secure, even if it was humiliating. But out of the corner of his eye, she didn't just look okay with it, she looked turned on by it.
Standing on Russell's bedside table, April eyed the cage suspiciously. April wore a simple dress that Russell's mother made for her. The doll-sized girl had gotten Marie's crafting energies going; it was a joy to make tiny clothes for her. She remembered what a help Pam and even Wil had been, when Jenna was born. With all that was going on, the Watsons had to be stressed half out of their minds, so the Farbers were happy to help out. In less than two weeks, since the shrinking, Jack had already fired up the grill three times - which, as Marie recalled, had been Wil's main contribution, when she was expecting Jenna.
She looked at the cage warily, but also embarrassed and maybe even excited. Russell would never admit that he was looking forward to seeing her in it. It wasn't like he was going to lock her in, or anything. It was just…. Damn, it was going to look hot! He wondered if he could talk her into posing in it, while he took some pictures.
"Why didn't you want to tell your parents that you felt like you were growing earlier?" asked Russell. They had a couple of hours, after school, before his mother would be home. This was why Russell thought it was dumb for his and April's parents to worry about them doing something at night. He had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted to do with April, right now.
"I didn't want to get their hopes up, for one thing," said April. "Or give them any reason to change their minds about me spending the night. Also, if it's controlled by my feelings, I thought we could explore our feelings a little better without them around."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Russell. He ran his finger up and down her side.
April's dress was made of the softest silk Russell's mother could find, because she knew the material would seem twelve times thicker and courser to April. The sheer silk felt like a puff of air against Russell's finger. With no bra or panties, and the thin fabric clinging to her skin, she could have just about been naked. The side of his finger rubbed down from April's shoulder, while she steadied herself by holding onto his thumb. As he went lower, he curled his finger to rub her bum with his fingertip. April hummed contentedly and leaned forward, so her silk-covered breasts rubbed against the pads of his thumb.
"I… don't think that's helping," said April between deep breaths.
"You could've fooled me," said Russell, as he ran his finger back up to her shoulder. The dress lifted with his finger, and he caught a peek of her milk-chocolate colored bottom before it dropped back down. Russell had seen April fully naked, so many times in the past two week, he was surprised a little peek was still such a thrill to him. But it was. It so was.
"No, I mean not helping me get big again," said April. "You're making me like being small too much."
"Hum, let's see," said Russell. "You got big, when you got angry and aggressive. Maybe we need to get you a little bit angry."
April asked, "How do you meemf?" But Russell squeezed his thumb and finger together, so his thumb pressed her from the front and his finger from the back, and he lifted her dress right over her head, leaving her completely naked.
"Russell!" she yelled. She blushed and tried to cover her tits and pussy with her hands.
Russell dropped the dress and went back to stroking her with his finger. This time, he didn't just use one finger; all four fingers ran lightly around April's back. Lightly to Russell, that is. April had to grab his thumb for balance. Russell pulled his thumb down and away from her, making April bend over and thrust out her bottom. Russell slid his pinky up and down the crack of her ass. He could feel wetness, as the side of his finger brushed against her taint. He crooked his finger upwards to rub her pussy from the back.
"Russellll," she complained, between moans and sighs. "Oh, Russell, no…." Her protests were weak and meaningless. She knew that if she yelled at him sharply, he would stop. She tried to do that, but oh! Yesss. No, she shouldn't. Ahh, yes. That was the spot.
Russell's pinky felt like a man's leg to April. There was no way he could penetrate her, but it slid between her lips and brushed against her clit. She thrust herself against it. It was almost enough. Almost…. Russell brought his index finger around, to rub her right tit and used his thumb to rub her left. To April, it was almost like he was standing behind her, bringing his knee up between her legs and rubbing her tits with each hand. She bent down and bit the side of his thumb, bit it hard.
Russell could feel the bite. He wondered if it would leave a mark. He hoped so. A little eighth-inch crescent on the side of his thumb, to remind him that this was real. Something that, even if she broke up with him later, she could never take away. April bit down even harder, as she came. Then she slumped into his hand.
Russell carefully reached into the cage, with April in his hand, and placed her on the tiny bed there. Silently, he thanked his mother for her attention to detail. The bed looked like a bed, with silk sheets and silk-covered pillows. He thought about putting her under the cover, but that would have been difficult, with one hand. And she just looked so pretty, lying naked, on top of the covers. The light-blue silk made a perfect background for her light-brown skin. He closed the door of the cage and grabbed his camera.