Post-Punk and Shrunk

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Bloodthirstybutcher
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Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:41 pm

Hello everyone! I'm a looooong time lurker here and the previous forums. Its not that I haven't wanted to post, its that I have no real artistic talent. That being said, I thought i might try my hand at writing something so I don't feel like such a mooch anymore. I originally thought it might be a few chapters in length, but by the time I felt like I said everything i wanted to (and my ideas got weirder)... it was closer to 30 chapters lol. I'm male but tried to write it from a female perspective as a challenge. I just hope that doesn't offend anyone.

Somehow I ended up putting more of myself into these characters than I was expecting, and before i knew it, a simple piece of semi erotic fantasy turned into something kind of personal. I respect any and all criticism, but keep in mind I don't really know what I'm doing. lol

I hope you enjoy.



Post-Punk and Shrunk



Part 1-"Driftwood"


And I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller everyday
But I look in the mirror, and I'm bigger in every way

-Sonic Youth


I wish I could tell you more about myself.

Trying to recall a past life that my current condition has completely erased is an exercise in futility. Even my memories of it have become hazy, like trying to look through clouded glass into a darkened room. There are shapes there. Blank faces that no longer have familiarity. Places that have lost their meaning. School...a career...maybe. Was I married? It was all gone.

I have a name. That much is still clear. Only through months of repeating it to myself do I feel I was able to hold onto it. Everyday the mental fog threatened to tear it away from me but I kept repeating it every morning when I'd wake up and every night before I went to sleep hoping it will still be there when I woke up.

My name is Emily Green
My name is Emily Green
My name is Emily Green

I think I had a middle name once...

The fog only seems to extend to my previous existence. Everything since is clear as day. Trauma has a way of sticking with you.

I remember walking home late at night. Moving between light and darkness and back again as I passed under street lights. The air was was actually cool, not sticky and hot like it tends to get during a mid western summer. Where was I coming from? That I don't remember. Where was I headed...nope, sorry... that's gone, too.

As I walked, a strange charge went through my body. Like static electricity, only it passed through every inch of me. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up. I stopped dead in my tracks. I examined the hair raising on my arms and backs of my hands... and that's when I started to feel my clothes... shift... move.

"What the fuck was that?!" I asked to an empty street. I felt dizzy... something was happening, "what... what the fuck?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"

I remember thinking I'd been dosed with something, maybe I was leaving a party... I don't know. The short sleeves of my white sun dress continued to move slowly down my upper arm. My feet felt loose inside my thin, flat sandals. The pendant on my necklace was slowly creeping down between my breasts. The dress began to slip off my shoulder.

Panic was taking hold.

Cracks formed in the red polish on my nails and then flaked off. I looked up from my hands to see the bricks in the building I had been walking past were slowly moving upwards. I dropped my purse in shock. I had to be tripping. Just as I adjusted my dress back up onto my shoulder I felt my panties slide down my legs. The bottom of my dress had moved past my shins... then to my feet... and then started to pool up. By this point my bra had completely slipped down towards my stomach. I clutched one sleeve of the dress, but by then one of my breasts was completely exposed. I could feel my sandals expanding around the soles of my feet.

"S-S-SOMBODY! HELP!" I screamed into the empty dark. The sidewalk seemed to be getting closer, but spreading away at the same time. Like that optical effect Hitchcock used in Vertigo during the bell tower scene. ('But Emily, my dear narrator', you say, 'how can you remember a 60 year old film but not your own middle name?' We'll get there, sweetheart, trust me.)

The dress and bra had become too heavy to hold. I let them drop to the ground. I stood there completely naked, too terrified to care. The bricks in the wall continued rising, growing, getting further away. I looked over to my purse which now looked to be the size of a dresser. I continued to fall into the ever growing, ever expanding dress. Before I knew it, I couldn't see over the edge of it. I stumbled and fell directly into a cup of my bra. Looking up out of the dress I could see my purse, towering over me. It was the size of a house! The soft padding of the bra continued to expand around me. Like sitting on a giant bowl shaped Queen mattress. Then a king.

And then slowly everything seemed to stabilize. The world finally stopped growing. The hairs on my arm and neck laid back down. I didn't even know how to process what had happened. I sat there, in my bra...or rather ON my bra...on my back in a state of complete shock. I couldn't move. I'm not even sure for how long. I just laid there looking up at the streetlight shinning down on me from what looked like a mile away. I had to snap out of it and get help.

I creeped to the edge of the bra. Baby steps. I forced myself over the edge. As I did, the fabric buckled slightly and sent me face first onto a stiff, wood-like surface. The smell of leather and sweat filled my nostrils. Baby steps. As I forced myself to my feet I could see that it was the heel of one of my sandals, partially covered by my enormous white panties. Only...it was as long as a trailer. The blackened outline of my own footprint clearly visible. It left a slight bit of grime on the palms of my hands and breasts. I'm sure it was all over my face, as we'll. I looked around at the strange, gigantic fabric... nest, for lack of a better term, that surrounded me. Then back up towards the street light...behind me to the building that now looked impossibly enormous. Each brick the size of a small motor home.

I slapped myself as had as I could across the face. Did I really think that I would wake up from this nightmare? Hope is a hell of a drug. It can be like driftwood in an unforgiving sea. My eyes welled up with tears until I couldn't contain them any longer.

"WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK! GOD, PLEASE WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!" I screamed to the sky as my knees gave out and I collapsed onto the sandal. I knew what had happened. It's impossible. It defies physics. It defies nature. But there I was, trapped in a prison of my own clothing. Getting covered in grime from my own shoe. The world hadn't grown, I had...reduced...shrunk...and by the looks of it...significantly.

Another metaphorical plank of wood drifted into my mind, "MY PHONE!" I shot up off the sandal, my bare rear end now covered in grime. The phone was in my purse... if I could get up there. Baby steps. Gotta try to get out of my clothes first. I walked to where my shoe met the wall of dress. I placed one foot on the first fold in the fabric and both hands on the folds above my head. Easy enough. I started to slowly climb the dress. On me it was thin and breezy, but right right then, the fabric felt stiff, yet unstable. One foot over the other. One hand over the next. But just as I got to the top the fabric shifted and i fell backwards and onto the edge of the sandal, knocking the wind out of me. The pain in the center of my back was brutal...but it had to wait. I had to get out.

As I looked toward the tow of the sandal, I could see a sliver of street light shinning through under the dress. I abandoned my attempts to climb out and crawled toward the toe, grinding my fist into my back to alleviate the pain. As I got down on all fours, the smell became overwhelming. I must have owned them a long time and now years of dirt and stench were collecting all over me. I held my breath and pushed through.

The dress still covered the front of the sandal, but I was able to push the now heavy fabric up enough to wiggle my way out. What greeted me took my breath away and the tears began to well again. A vast plain of concrete, stretching on for what might as well have been forever into the darkness. The occasional street light high above lighting portions just to emphasize its vastness like an armada of flying saucers invading in formation. It was strangely quiet. No cars. No people. Just the sound of my own breathing, my heart beating out of my chest... and the wind. I stood up, feeling the cool night's air cause goosebumps to rise all over my naked body. Holding my arms across my chest to try and warm myself, I walked around the mountain that was my dress towards the purse.

With every step closer the hard, jagged texture of the concrete sidewalk threatened to cut my bare feet open. I had to walk slow and deliberately, feeling out each step before shifting my weight onto the next. I peered over the edge of the curb to see how far down it was. Not a terribly far drop, but if I fell, the concrete might tear up my skin and I was already in enough pain. As I finally approached the purse my next task became daunting. How do I get in?

I felt the surface of the bag. It was dark brown leather, but felt different than my sandals. It was smooth but with typical leather bump patterns on it...except now they were nearly as big as my palm. Looking up, the top of the bag could easily be a couple of stories for me...if not 3. It was a small purse, but it might as well have been a house at my size. My best option seemed to be the corner that was touching the dress. I could get about a third of the way up from climbing the dress, but I still had the rest of the way to climb. Here we go again. One foot on top of the other. My hands gripping as best they could. My whole body sweating making the wind seem even cooler. I hoped I didn't fall again, and especially not onto the jagged sidewalk.

The dress didn't give this time as I made my way up, the slightly more inclined surface helped. I stood up, bracing myself against purse. The corners of the bag at this level had sharper corners for easier folding. Wrapping my arms around the fold, I kicked myself off the dress with both legs at once, gripping it with my thighs. My damp, sweaty bare skin against the leather actually helped me stick to it better. Here we go. Baby steps.

"Both arms first, then the legs, just like your climbing a rope in gym," I said to myself. Now I can't remember if I ever had.

The pain in my back was almost unbearable as I wiggled my way up the purse. The top was in sight. One arm over...then the next, I pulled myself up. Success!

"I FUCKING DID IT!" The urge to jump up and down was only quelled by the fear of falling off. But I was proud. More driftwood floating my way, except now the sea was made of concrete and asphalt.

The zipper was at the other end of the bag. I carefully made my way across the top on all fours. My knee caught on of the teeth and cut it open. At the other end I sprung up on my bloodied knee and grabbed the zipper. I tugged on it... it didn't move. I leaned back might my body weight... nothing. It was stuck.

"You've got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME!" I screamed at the inanimate object, "FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! OPEN GODDAMNIT! AAAAARRGGHFUCK!"

I collapsed to the ground sobbing, screaming at the metal tab which was about the length of my forearm.

"I just want to go home, pleeeease, for christsakes, just FUCKING OPEN!" It would seem this piece of driftwood was out of reach.

Then I heard it.

My head darted towards the sound. From perched on top the purse I could see across the crest of the road. For what seemed like a mile away was a storm drain. The sound was coming from inside... a sort of loud chirping echoing across the asphalt plain, now accompanied by scratching. My heart stopped.

"What... the fuck... is that?"

First the paws appeared... and then the head. Then another pair of paws and another head. Both clawed and squeezed their way out of the storm drain. The bandit masks of these gargantuan beasts was unmistakable. A pair of raccoons were coming out to feed.

Now, I will fully admit to knowing fuck all about raccoons. I don't know what they eat other than garbage, but I sure as shit wasn't going to find out it was tiny redheads. My fear turned to pure adrenaline. I grabbed the zipper tab, planted my feet and yanked backwards as hard as I could.

Nothing.

"FUCK YOU! AAAAARGH!"

Huge mistake.

I turned to look at the furry monsters, both with their ears perked up and their eyes locked on me. They'd heard me.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK!"

The adrenaline coursing through me just then could be bottled. I yanked on the zipper screaming, my back seared with pain. The bastard finally gave! I tumbled backward, nearly falling off the purse onto the street. With the height of the purse increased by the height of the curb, I knew I wouldn't survive the fall. With one last desperate attempt I reached out for something, anything. My hand caught the leather lip around the zipper's teeth. I looked behind me to see the raccoons trotting my way. With adrenaline pumping through me like a firehose, I somehow pulled myself up with one arm... like one of those people you hear about lifting cars to save a trapped loved one.

The raccoons were almost on me. I ran towards the open hole. It was just wide enough to slip through. No time to find a way down, I just had to jump. I sat down, lowered my legs in and pushed myself through. The teeth scratched at my back as I fell. The inside of the bag was pitch black. I landed on something hard and smooth but it was angled so I ricocheted off it onto the leathery bottom of the purse. Lying in a heap in the dark, in more pain than I'd ever known... but that wasn't what was on my mind. The deafening sniffing sounds coming from outside had my full attention. I didn't move, trying to hold my breath. The entire bag shook as the raccoons inspected it. The contents around me rattled, shifted or fell. Then the ground beneath me tilted, throwing me against the wall. Objects I couldn't see piling on top of me. The monsters had knocked the bag over trying to get in.

At this point things get kinda fuzzy. Something had hit my head. I felt weird, kinda sick. The last thing I remember is feeling everything spin like in a carnival ride. At that point, I must have blacked out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pain. Excruciating. Everywhere. That was the first thing I remember feeling. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet. I was afraid to. I was alive so I know the raccoons didn't get in. I still didn't want to open them and find an appendage twisted and broken...or gone. My stomach wrenched and the urge to vomit hit me. I turned my head to try and purge, but nothing came. I didn't eat the previous night so there was nothing expel. A thought of what would have happened if I did eat before I shrank entered my mind. Would it have shrunk with me or expanded in my stomach until I exploded.

I finally forced myself to open my eyes.

Small beams of light shined through the teeth of the zipper and the small, Emily sized opening in the purse. It was morning. It wasn't a nightmare... and that realization, combined with the pain, made me burst into tears. Then I saw it... the phone! It must have been what I fell on last night. I struggled to push my compact off my legs, but managed to pull myself out from under it. I forced myself to my feet only to find that I couldn't stand due to a twisted ankle. I fell back to the ground. I had to drag myself towards the phone, pushing oversized makeup items out of the way as I went.

Having reached the phone, I found that it was too much for me to lift. Pain shot through my back as I tried to wedge my hands under it and heave. I just didn't have the leverage I needed. I spotted a nail file poking out from under a package of tissues. I dragged it out from underneath an slid it under the phone. I tried prying it up, but the phone's slick surface would just cause it to slide off again. A tube of lipstick laid nearby so I scooted myself towards it and then rolled it back to the phone. I wedged it under the file as a fulcrum. I knew it would be excruciating, but i forced myself up into one foot and then dropped my entire weight onto the end of the file. Pain ran up my back in waves as the file hit the floor. The phone flipped up on its side and then down again on its back.

And there it was... the circular button with the little square in it. Only now it was as large as a dinner plate. I pressed it hard with both hands and the lock screen popped up. I tapped in the passcode with the palms of my hands.

Contacts... mom... call....... ringing........ ringing.

"Please, for the love of god, pickup," I pleaded desperately.

Ringing... ringing... "Hello?"

"MOM! MOM! I NEED YOUR HELP! I'VE SHR--"

"Who is it?" She cut me off.

"MOM, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME, I--"

"Is anyone there?"

What the hell was wrong, I was literally screaming into the speaker and she couldn't hear me. It made no sense.

"MOM PLEASE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Emily, have you butt dialed me again?"

"FUCK... NO... MOM, PLEASE..."

The phone beeped. I immediately looked at the battery icon in the corner...1%.

"SHIT NO NO NO NO! MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

The screen went black.

I was stunned. I pounded the "on" button again. The white Apple icon came on for a few seconds and then went black again. I pounded on the glass, screaming. My heart sank out of my chest. The urge to vomit returning.

I had come so far... well, obviously not physically. This entire drama had played out over a matter of square feet from anyone else's perspective. But I'd gone through a goddamn odyssey to get here and now... I was broken. Lost at sea... and there was nothing left to keep me afloat.


End Part 1
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:18 pm

Part 2-"Bargaining Chips"


Come closer and see
See into the trees
Find the girl
While you can
Come closer and see
See into the dark
Just follow your eyes
Just follow your eyes

-The Cure


The tears would no longer come, no matter how much more I felt like crying. Between the previous night's exploits and the constant sobbing, I was feeling completely drained and dehydrated. The small plastic package of tissues I kept in my purse began to look inviting. I crawled towards it and straightened it out so it laid completely flat. I collapsed on it like it was a small plastic covered bed. I rolled over onto my back. I examined my arms... scratched, bruised, and filthy. Then my legs... more of the same. My ankle was swelling up. I rolled back onto my stomach because the burning from the scratches on my back made it unbearable to lay that way.

It was still pretty dark inside the purse, but light enough that I could make out the objects inside. Familiar, but grossly oversized. My compact and makeup. All my feminine products. Loose change the size of car tires. My wallet. Lint and dust. A pack of gum with a single stick left. And of course my phone and my makeshift Kleenex bed. I didn't want to think about how small I was, but given that i was resting on a travel sized pack of tissues, it wasn't too hard to figure out. There were small traces of blood from my back that had soaked onto the paper from the torn opening in the package. As filthy as I was, the fear of infection became real. I rolled off the "bed" and began tugging one of the tissues loose. At the most, I could keep more dirt off me. At the least, I could cover my nakedness. And then, just as the blanket sized tissue came free, the entire bag shifted 90 degrees, throwing me off my knees against the floor of the bag again.

My stomach sank like I was in an elevator. The giant items shaking and rolling around me. Someone was outside... someone was lifting the bag!

"HEEEEEELP, PLEEEASE! I'M INSIDE, PLEASE HELP!" I screamed.

No response. The entire bag began to shake around me, swaying back and forth. Whoever had my purse was walking with it. I slid off the Kleenex pouch and pulled it over me to try and protect myself from anymore harm. The earthquake continued for several more minutes. The g-forces were more intense than anything I've ever experienced. I'd feel myself become slightly weightless... and then not again, and then repeat.

Finally everything stopped moving, accompanied by a loud bang and the floor beneath me vibrating. Whoever had my bag must have set it down. I resumed my desperate shouting.

"HELLO! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! PLEASE LOOK INSIDE THE BAG! I'M INSI--". The zipper quickly opened with a sound like the sky itself was ripping open. Bright, blinding light flooded in. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust but when they did I was terrified.

I was so busy trying to get saved that I hadn't really thought about what it would be like to see another person... and it ran shivers down my spine. Above me was a man, but more of a tower. His face dirty and unshaven. His enormous gloved hand holding one side of the purse open, the other reaching into the purse above me. I shook off the initial shock and crawled out from under the packet.

"SIR, PLEASE HELP ME!" I screamed with more force than I'd ever screamed in my life.

"AAAAAAH!" His eyes grew wide... I'd surprised him. Of course I had. Did I really think he was going to open the bag and expect to find a tiny naked woman.

"FUCK! I'm naked!" The fact was the last of my concerns... at least until I was being stared at. I quickly pulled the tissue over myself. The man slowly peered back into the bag, this time his face was much closer. I could smell the whisky on his breath. I began to suspect this man was probably homeless and my bag was his ticket to an easy meal. It didn't matter, he was still a person... and I still needed him.

"PLEASE SIR, I NEED YOUR HELP, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" His eyes stayed locked on me. "I'M SURE MY FAMILY WOULD BE HAPPY TO REWARD YOU IF YOU TOOK ME TO THEM, PLEASE." Still no response. "PLEASE SIR, LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!"

"I've heard of seeing pink elephants when you're drunk, but this is a new one by me," he quipped.

Really? That was all he had to say?! He lowered a hand into the purse, his index finger pointed at me, and moved it forward. The finger was easily bigger around than I was... it terrified me. Just as it was about to touch me I reflexively slapped at it. He drew it back, probably not expecting his hallucination to fight back. "WOW," he exclaimed, "Good god, its real! Maybe I'm totally losing it."

"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT YOU...Y-YOUR FINGER JUST FRIGHTENED ME! PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE POLICE...OR A-A DOCTOR! PLEASE CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Once again I was finding it hard to fight back tears.

The man's gaze left me and he started looking around... like he was making sure no one was looking. This made me very nervous.

His gaze returned to me, "Hold tight, little whisky pixie, I know someone who's gonna want to see this!" He smiled wide, revealing what few rotten teeth he had left. The purse zipped shut as loudly as when it opened.

"NO! WAIT..."

The darkness returned, as did the quaking of the moving purse. Not as intense this time as he seemed to be taking care not to shake it too much. Where was he taking me? My gut wrenched with fear to add to my aching body. The once small contents of my purse threatening to do more damage with every swing.

MY purse. It's kinda funny to still feel ownership of something that now seems to own me. MY job...MY marriage...MY cell. I guess we all claim the things that bind us. Sorry, getting off on a philosophical side track there. Anyway...

The jostling in the darkness continued for quite a while. Once again I crawled under the Kleenex packet to protect myself. Slightly muffled through the leather bag, I heard the ring of bell. Were we going inside somewhere? Oh thank god! He's taking me to the police. The weightless feeling returned... then left, followed by the loud thump of the purse hitting a hard surface. The giant items around me became stationary again. I could hear the man speaking, but it was muffled from inside the bag. Then I heard another voice. "

Thank god, this must be a police officer," I said to myself.

I tried to make out what they were saying. The homeless man said something about the bag. I couldn't make out what the second man said. Suddenly the zipper ripped open, startling me. Flickering florescent lighting from high above me filled the bag. Then, without warning, the homeless man's hand reached in and flicked the Kleenex pack away like it was nothing. Before I could even turn around I felt the fingertips of his gloves on both sides of my torso. I was pulled out so fast I had no time to grab my tissue blanket. The speed at which the bag dropped below me was incredible. His other hand covered me until I was covered in the darkened trap of his gloves. Almost as soon as I was covered, the glove beneath me fell away. I screamed thinking I was being dropped from a significant height, but for me it was only a few feet. I let out another pained scream as I landed on my bad ankle. My legs buckled and I fell onto my side. I don't know what hurt worse after I hit, my back or my ankle.

The smell in the air was familiar. My eyes strained to adjust to the light after so much time in the darkness. This was no police station. Looking out around me was a flat plain of what looked like green Formica. To my left was a gigantic cash register. A pen holder next to it. Loud chirping sounds echoed all around me. Objects that looked miles away finally came into focus.

"...the fuck?"

I was in a pet store.

"The fucker brought me to a pet store?!"

Various creatures scurrying in their acrylic tanks on the wall. Birds the size of dinosaurs in their hanging zoos. Fish tanks bigger and deeper than any swimming pool in the corner. The unmistakeable and overwhelming smell of animal food mixed with feces that only seems to exist in these places.

With their voices booming, the conversation above me continued. "Look at 'er! Ya ever seen one of these before?!" Beamed the homeless man. I turned to look at what must have been the shop keeper. An overweight, middle aged man with David Koresh glasses and what looked like Cheeto dust trailing down the front of his black Van Halen t-shirt towered above me.

"Well I'll be damned,". Said the Cheeto Man, his eyes growing wide in disbelief. "You've really found something here. I've heard rumors of these things, but I've never seen one. They're extremely rare. No one really knows where they come from."

There were more!? This happening to other people!?

Both men lowered their heads so their faces were closer to the counter top. They loomed above me, surrounding me with their gaze, like two dogs about to fight over a bone. I suddenly became aware of my nakedness again and quickly tried to cover what I could with my arms.

"What'dya think she's worth?" The homeless man asked.

"WHAT?!" My head whipped back towards the homeless man, completely shocked by the question. "WHAT THE FUCK!? YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! YOU CAN'T SELL ME, I'M A GODDAMN PERSON!" I screamed at the homeless man's gigantic face.

"I'll give you a hundred bucks for it." Replied the shop owner.

I whipped my head back towards, who I would begin to refer to as, the Cheeto Man. I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"A hundred bucks?!" The disgust in the homeless man's voice was, probably justified. "You cheap bastard! You said yourself they're rare. I want $5000!"

I was speechless. This was really happening.

The Cheeto Man chuckled, "Sure, and I'll pull the Lambo around front for ya, too. Does this place look like I've got five grand laying around, ya fucking idiot?"

Solid comeback, Cheeto Man.

"I've got... maybe... $500 in petty cash and register change in the safe."

"A thousand," the homeless man countered.

I remember thinking he came down way too far... then wondered why the fuck the thought even entered my mind.

"Look at 'er! You don't see a lot of redheads anywhere, let alone a pixie sized one?" He moved his hands towards me in an offering position and I tried to shuffle away.

"Yeah, I'm sure a ladies man like yourself has 'em comin' and goin." Cheeto Man lands another blow.

"$500 take it or leave it. Look at it... it's in terrible shape. Maybe if it was pristine I could do $1000." His bullshit game was on point.

To be fair... yeah, I was a mess. Cut up, bruised, covered in foot grime that was streaking down my naked body from sweating. He must have worked at a pawn shop at some point.

"Look, I'll even sweeten the deal a little." The Cheeto Man reached one of his massive hands under the counter and raised an opened bottle of scotch.

The Cheeto Man had him.

The homeless man scratched his beard, dust and dried food chunks falling all around me like hail. He stared at the bottle and licked his lips. "Done." I glared at him in shock... I'd just been sold for $500 and a half empty bottle of booze.

I pounded my fists on the countertop, frustrated and furious, "YOU... MOTHER... FUCKERS! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I'M A PERSON, LOOK IN MY PURSE! MY NAME IS EMILY! EMILY GREEN! MY ID IS IN MY WALLET! FUCKING LOOK AT IT!"

Neither man acknowledged me. The homeless man was fixed on the standpipe of scotch behind me. A tiny naked woman, a freak of nature right in front of him, and he's hypnotized by his liquid breakfast.

I know... it's a weird thing to feel jealous about.

The Cheeto Man disappeared into the back room and reemerged with a wad of cash. He slapped it into the homeless man's hand directly above me.

"Pleasure doin business with ya, ya filthy bastard," sneered the Cheeto Man.

"Aaaaah go fuck yourself, ya cheap sonofabitch," the homeless man politely replied. He was about to turn and leave but stopped and grabbed the top of the purse. He reached in and pulled out my wallet.

"YES, YES! MY ID IS IN THERE! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!" I nearly jumped up, but restrained myself fearing the pain it would bring.

He started pulling cards out of the wallet. None were my driver's license. He pulled my credit cards and rustled the cash out of the fold, then casually tossed the wallet back into the bag. He lifted the whole purse above me and tossed it behind the counter into the gigantic waste bin with a crash that made me jump. He smirked at the Cheeto Man as he grabbed his precious bottle.

He looked back down at me and winked, "thanks, little whisky pixie." He turned and walked towards the door, raising his middle finger behind him as he left. I never saw him again. I remember hoping he'd drink himself to death.

"What a fuckin' asshole," the Cheeto Man said as he lowered his gaze back down towards me. I rolled myself back to face him and pushed myself up onto my knees, covering my breasts with both arms. Our eyes locked on each other. I could see my own reflection in my eyes. My face was filled with fear, his was beaming with smug joy.

"Now, my little cash cow," he spoke in a hushed tone, his spit pelting me as he spoke, "let's put you somewhere safe from nasty people like that." He lifted a house sized, clear plastic cage up from under the counter and set it next to me with a bang.

"Oh fuck no no no no!" I sprung from my knees to my feet, despite the pain and turned to run.


End Part 2
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:01 pm

Part 3-"Three Cages"


She's screaming
In the night
There's no one to help her
There's no one to turn on the light

-The Undertones


All creatures have either a fight or flight instinct built into them. My fighting days were clearly over.

The instant I stood up and started trying to run, my ankle rolled again and I fell back onto my stomach. Still, I tried crawling away across the countertop as fast as I could on my hands and my cut up knee. Where did I think I could go? The edge of the the thing might as well have been the Grand Canyon. I could hear Cheeto Man booming chuckle behind me. I didn't get too far before an enormous chubby hand slammed down in front of me, blocking my path. I screamed and flipped back onto my ass. The hand slowly started moving, closer and closer. I tried scooting backwards on my hands and pushing off with my good foot, but my bare skin made it difficult as it would stick to the smooth countertop. His hand kept coming, but not so fast as to overtake me. He continued to chuckle.

He was toying with me like a cat with a mouse.

A sudden crash behind me made me turn my head. There was the plastic cage, turned on its side with its gaping maw awaiting me. Then, just as I looked back up at the man in horror, his hand swept me inside. His hand left me just as he tilted the cage upright and sent me tumbling to the bottom.

That was it. I couldn't move. Whatever nerve I'd pinched in my back was sending what felt like electric shocks of pain through my spine when I tried to move any limb. Laying on my torn up back hurt, but nothing compared to trying to move. The pink plastic lid lowered over me and snapped into place.

Tears filled my eyes once again.

"Be right back," the Cheeto Man assured me. I could hear and even feel his heavy footsteps as he walked into the back room again. I just laid there sobbing and moaning in agony. The booming of his footsteps announced his return.

"Here we go, Little Red." The lid opened back up. His massive hand lowered a huge ceramic tub, which must have been a rodent food bowl filled with baby carrots, each one half as long as I was. "Not sure what you little things eat in the wild, but the rabbits like these."

What did he just say!? "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN 'IN THE WILD' YOU GODDAMN MORON!? SOMEONE DID THIS TO ME! I'M NOT SOME WILD ANIMAL! I'M A PERSON JUST LIKE YOU!" Well, not JUST like him obviously. His disregard for basic hygiene was so committed you could almost admire it. Yelling at him just made more electric pin pricks shoot through me.

The Cheeto Man turned around to pick up something off the back shelf. He returned with a plastic cylinder filled with liquid. He screwed a cap with a metal tube attached to it, then brought it towards the cage. He pushed the metal tube through a small hole in the plastic and the bottle snapped into place, shaking the cage.

A water bottle. I was being given a hamster's water bottle. Jesus Fucking Christ.

"What am I missing... hmmm... ah, duh." He stomped back into the rear room and returned with another rodent bowl. He placed it in the corner at my feet. From my position on the floor I couldn't see what was in it.

"All set." He lowered the lid and snapped it back into place.

I heard the handle of the lid swing up and the countertop dropped below me. I turned my head enough to see the the world fall away through the clear plastic floor. His hand suddenly appeared underneath me to support the cage. I turned my head back to where we were going. He was taking me to the back room.

The cage lifted to about his eye level then slid backwards onto a shelf. I tilted my head to look to the next cage. Another acrylic container, only bigger than the one I was a prisoner of. There was fake moss and dirt lining the bottom with half a log as... something's shelter. I could only see its shadow, but I was sure I didn't want to see more. I looked down towards my feet to see a much larger glass tank bookending my cage. Right there in the corner was a massive black snake, curled up under its heat light. It may as well have been a dragon, it was so large it could swallow me whole without even really trying. I screamed again, now feeling how hoarse I was getting.

"All right, Little Red. I gotta keep ya back here with the rest of the 'merchandise of questionable legality,'" he said as he made air quotes with his fingers. "Try to be as quiet as your new friends here, " he said as he raised his finger up to his lips in a shushing gesture.

"YEAH FUCK YOU... YOU... YOU PEDOPHILE LOOKING TROLL FUCK!" I could really feel myself starting to loose my voice. His gaze left me for a second to retrieve something from his desk. His coke bottle thick glasses magnifying his already enormous eyes. He raised a black piece of fabric and pulled it over my cage.

Here I am, claiming another prison as my own.

"NO PLEASE DON'T...". And just like that... I returned to the dark. Small pinpricks of light making their way in through the fabric, courtesy of the snake's cage next door.

I didn't move. I really couldn't if I wanted to. To be perfectly honest, I was feeling kind of relieved. The dark cloth covering my prison shut everything else out. With the amount of shit I'd endured since the previous night, I was just glad to be sitting still instead of having this new gigantic world spinning around me out of my control. I'd barely had time to process anything. Just moving from one nightmare to the next.

My stomach began to growl. I was so thirsty and my throat felt scratchy and dry. I hadn't eaten anything since the previous day. I tilted my head towards the water bottle. I needed water but dreaded what it was going to take to cross the distance between myself and it. It was only like ten feet from my perspective but felt like it was on the other side of the planet. Slowly and gently I began to raise my good leg at the knee. Not too much at a time. Every little motion threatening to send my back into spasms. Once raised, I planted both my palms, and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes tight and braced myself for misery.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRGH! Here we go. Hard part's just getting started. Baby steps, Emily. Go! AAAAAAAARRRGHCHRIST! Go! MMRRRRRRGH! Go!" I felt like I was coaching myself. "RRRRRAAAAAARGHFFFFFUCKME! Almost there! Ok... let's go for the whole thing! RrrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRGHGOD!"

I opened my eyes and the metal spout was right above me. I punched the metal ball on the end and a drop of water dangled from it.. It didn't drop right away. I punched the ball again and the the surface tension in the drop forced it down my arm.

"Goddamnit, does everything need to be FUCKING CHALLENGE!" I screamed at the spout like it was a microphone. I grabbed it with both hands and shook it in a blind rage, my back pain just fueling more rage. I punched the ball again as I shook it and a drop of water splashed down on my face. It felt weird to not have it just splash all over, but almost retain its shape as a drop and slide down the side of my face onto the floor. I repeated the motion, this time holding my mouth open and sucked the drop in. It hit the back of my throat, sending me into a coughing fit... pinching my nerve with every cough.

"Ready for the next one." This time I sucked it down without trouble. Then the next one and the next. No room temperature water ever tasted so sweet.

When I finally drank my fill, I felt like I could relax my body more than I had at any point since this started. I stared at the giant bowl of carrots to the left and above me. It wasn't going to happen.

"Tomorrow... baby steps, Emily." And with that plan I closed my eyes and let my exhaustion win.

I could have slept for hours or the entire day, I don't know. There was no way to tell. I'd get rocked out of it every now and then by the sound of my captors footsteps walking into the back room. I'd just force myself back to sleep because it was easier than facing reality. Eventually I couldn't sleep anymore.

The Cheeto Man must have long since locked up and went home because I couldn't hear him out there anymore. It had to be nighttime because I could no longer hear the birds chirping from the other room. Just the sounds of the fish tanks bubbling. The creatures in the cages next to mine would shuffle around suddenly, startling me.

The boredom hit hard. My muscles had stiffened in my sleep so now I couldn't even lift my arms to wack the water spout. Hours and hours of just laying there staring up at the lid. God I was hungry.

Was I dead? Is this what hell was? Trapped in your own useless body. Nothing to occupy your mind with except your misery. Unable to communicate with anyone around you.

Terrified of the monsters next door.

I must have dozed off again when I awoke to the cloth being quickly pulled away from the cage. The Cheeto Man's monstrous eyes there to greet me.

"Good morning, Little Red," he said as he sprayed his breakfast sandwich from his grotesque face. God, it smelled good though.

"You're not looking so hot. You better not die on me before I sell you off, goddamnit!" He was completely oblivious to my condition. He flicked the side of the cage sending shockwaves through it. It was all I could do to lift my hand to give him the finger. He didn't even notice. He'd already turned to his desk and returned with a pencil. The lid raised above me and the pencil lowered in erasure first, poking me in the stomach and knocking the wind out of me. Instinctually I rolled onto my stomach wanting to scream in pain, but only sucking wind.

"Good," was all he had to say.

He turned to the safe and pulled out the register drawer then disappeared into the main room. Eventually I caught my breath... finding it genuinely felt good to be laying on my stomach. I heard a loud scurrying sound coming from the acrylic cage next door. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"I'm not gonna look, I'm not gonna look, I'm not gonna look, I'm not--," it crashed against the side of its own cage which scared me into opening my eyes. Nothing could have prepared me what I saw.

It's legs spread out across the side of its cage. It's fangs nearly as long as my forearm. If this wasn't hell then this thing must have escaped from there. An eight legged terror out of a 50s sci-fi movie. I have no idea how small I really am but this monster absolutely dwarfed me. A regular, everyday tarantula would still have been bigger than me, but this thing would make them look like house spiders.

"Feeding time!" My head shot back towards my captor who'd returned dangling two white mice by the tails. He lifted the lid of the snake's cage first and tossed the squealing mouse in. He brought his face close to the glass and watched as the black, limbless dragon came out of its coil and slowly made its way towards the mouse. The poor thing was running along the edges trying to find a way out. I'm sure it could smell the danger it was in. Then like lightning the snake sprung, sinking its fangs into the mouse and started coiling around it, the mouse screaming. Then silence. I was shaking in fear.

The Cheeto Man chuckled, "that's a good Melba." I later learned that the snake was a Black Mamba. 'Melba the Mamba'... cute. This asshole had one of the deadliest snakes in the world sitting next to his desk.

"You ready for your's, Shelob?" He carefully opened the lid over the spider. It scurried around then rose up in a defensive pose. He threw the struggling mouse in then quickly shut the lid.

"Oh, god, RUN!" I found my self screaming.

The spider didn't move as the mouse nosed its way around the cage. It was easily five times the size of the mouse. Then again, almost faster than I could see, it sunk its fangs into the mouse. The mouse squeezed as the monster maneuvered its fangs for a better grip. I burst into tears and screamed... burying my face in my hands. I'd never seen anything so horrible. That mouse's screams still haunt me.

"Hey," the Cheeto Man's voice boomed next to the cage. I pulled my hands from face in a start. His glasses were nearly touching the plastic. "Just a little motivation to get better. You haven't touched your food. If you die you're not much more than food for Shelob to me. Do you understand me?"

I looked at him in horror. Even dead, the thought of my body being torn apart by that monster was more than I could take. I buried my head back into my hands and started nodding, exaggerating it so I made sure he saw.

"Good girl. How, bout that... you little things might be kinda intelligent," he said, condescendingly.

He turned back towards his desk. I looked up to see him pick up what was left of his breakfast sandwich. He picked a piece of sausage out of the part he'd already bitten out of. The lid lifted above me again and he tossed it in. The warm, slimy meat landed right on my naked back. Not much more than a crumb to him, but basketball sized to me. The impact sent a shock wave of pain through my back.

"Eat," was the last thing he said to me that day, then reached down and threw the cloth back over my cage. I felt his gigantic footfalls get distant as he went about the rest of his day.

I pushed myself up enough with my arm to get the meat to slide off from me. It slid easily enough across the plastic, probably collecting shit off the bottom I didn't even want to think about. I didn't get the impression that he sanitized these things. As I moved it to my face I examined it trying to decide if it was just grease that covered it or his saliva. At that point, what the fuck did I care... was I going to degrade myself somehow? I squeezed a fist-sized chunk off and gobbled it down. Then another. After two more helpings I'd had enough. I began sliding my way back towards the water bottle and pushing my leftovers with me as I crawled. I swallowed a couple of drops of water and then passed out again.

All three prisoners in our cells... satiated into meat comas.


End Part 3
Last edited by Bloodthirstybutcher on Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Sun Nov 22, 2020 12:26 am

Part 4-"Check and Mate"


Here he come, got no question, got no love
I'm throwing stones at you, man
I want you black and blue and
I'm gonna make you bleed
Gonna bring you down to your knees
Bye bye badman, oh bye bye.

-The Stone Roses


The third day passed...and again, I slept through most of it. I awoke sometime after Cheeto Man had already left for the night. The same eerie quiet, with the fish tank's water pumps creating a sort of ambient drone. The stiffness in my muscles had started to fade. My pinched nerve still very much there, but if I shifted myself just right, I could move around the cage. I had to use the bathroom so bad. I hadn't gone in days now. I couldn't hold it anymore and so I slowly and carefully pushed myself up onto my knees, trying to keep my back as straight as possible. Then onto one foot, then the other.

Dizziness hit me from spending so much time laying down. I almost forgot about my ankle I'd been laid up so long. I still couldn't put any weight on it. This would be the first time I'd seen the cage from this angle. There was the bowl of giant baby carrots in the corner, now all dried out. I could see then that the other bowl he placed in there was full of cat litter. I hobbled towards it. The bowl had a wide enough rim that I could balance over the edge, but my feet dangled below. I did the deed and then covered it up with sand. There was nothing to clean myself up with. I had to hobble back over to carrot bowl. I bit off a few chunks. I chewed one up and swallow it then used the rest to... you know... clean myself. It wasn't great, but it was the best I could do.

I made my way back to the water bottle, slowly and carefully kneeling back down. I knocked the ball to release a drop of water into my palm. Feeling it roll around in my hands felt so strange. I gulped down a couple of drops and then knocked the ball free a few more times to get enough to wipe some of the dirt and grime off myself. Working my hands up and down my arms, across my breasts, rubbing it into my face. I didn't even bother with my legs cause out if fear of hurting myself more. I propped myself up against the plastic wall with my legs spread out in front of me. It felt good to be in a different position. Normally this is when I'd pull my phone out and start browsing Facebook. It's amazing how something even as insignificant as not being able to check the time can make you feel like a junkie itching for a fix.

I decided that I'd focus on trying to stretch my back. I put my arms out in front of me like I was going to touch my toes.

"Nope. Aarrgh. Fuck. That isn't happening. Ok. More baby steps. Let's start smaller." I lifted my leg slightly and tried rotating my ankle. God, it was so swollen, even after a couple of days. I kept working at it. I broke off a dried out piece of sausage and gnawed on it, hoping it wouldn't make me sick.

My mind began to wander.

Is anyone looking for me? Do they even know I'm gone? Is this reversible? If not, what am I gonna do? Am I destined to be nothing more than someone's pet, or worse... a lab rat?

Being more cynical than the average room full of people, I couldn't help but feel the answers to all these questions weren't good. I wanted to escape but what good would it do? I had been this size for less than an hour and was nearly killed by giant raccoons. Between that and nearly being crushed by my own feminine products inside my purse, it's a goddamn miracle I'm in the shape I'm in and not a wadded up ball of meat and bones. I am grossly ill equipped to go it alone in this new world.

Also... was it just dumb luck that the only two people I've had contact with are complete idiots? They talked about me like I'm a part of some lost species of tiny human-like creatures, not even crossing their minds that this HAPPENED to me. Why can't they hear me? I tried to rationalize that maybe my vocal chords shrank to a point that the human ear can't perceive. But my voice still sounds the same to me, and I've been screaming myself hoarse. It doesn't seem possible that my voice doesn't at least sound like a squeak to them. After all, I have no trouble hearing the birds out front...or the mice from the previous day's feeding.

None of it made any sense.

I spent the rest of the night continuing to stretch my back and rotate my ankle. I fell asleep again sometime before morning.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anything I can help you with, mayam?" Cheeto Man's elevated voice startled me out of my sleep. I'd slept through every day that I'd been there and wasn't sure if he'd ever even had a customer.

"Just browsing right now," I heard a woman's voice say.

My back was still a mess, but I was able to sit up without wanting to cry. I crawled towards the wall and braced myself against it to stand up so I could hear better from the air holes near the top.

"Well, just let me know if I can help you with anything," he said in such a sweet and friendly tone that I almost didn't recognize his voice. The sound of chirping birds was all I could hear for several minutes. Then...

"Actually, maybe you can help me,". The woman's voice was much closer now, probably at the counter. I started pounding on the plastic wall.

"HEEEEELP! HELP ME PLEASE! I'M IN THE BACK ROOM! HELP ME PLEASE! I'M IN HERE!" I knew she couldn't hear me, but once again... hope is a hell of a drug.

"Sure, what can I do for ya, mam," he replied. I stopped yelling to listen.

"Well, my daughter is turning 18 Saturday and then leaving for college in about three weeks. She's always been kind of shy and has a lot of anxiety when it comes meeting people."

"Jesus, is she gonna tell him her ovulation cycle, next?" I thought to myself.

She continued, "I was thinking about getting her a small pet she could take with her to help with the transition to living on her own at school. Any suggestions?"

"Cats are easy to take care of, is she allowed to have cats in her dorm? He asked.

"No, unfortunately she's allergic to cats and dogs." She replied. I was already building a picture of this girl in my head, something akin to Carrie White.

"Ah, that's too bad," I imagined him making a fake pouty face, "hamsters and gerbils are probably out of the question then. How about a bird I've got some lovely cockatiels. You can even train them to whistle. Lizards can be fun, too.. and hey, no fur!"

"Ummmmmm no... I was kind of hoping for something... hmmmm... different. She's into all kinds of weird stuff I don't understand, I don't think she'd get too exited about a bird or something. Do you know anywhere I can get something really unique?"

"Uh oh," I said to myself.

"Well, I do have something that just came in this week. I can pretty well guarantee you'll never see another one." He replied.

"I'm listening," she said.

"I have to warn you it isn't cheap," he added.

"Good things rarely are," she said in a weirdly sultry way.

I felt his footsteps walk away from the counter. Then a click... the front door... he locked the front door!

"Just so we aren't interupted," he said quietly and then made a shushing sound.

His steps got closer... and closer... and closer. The entire cage shook and tilted as he lifted it, leaving the cloth over the top. Once again seeing the world fly by underneath me was terrifying. I quickly sat back down and braced myself so as not to hurt myself further. The familiar green countertop rushed up beneath me and then... impact.

"Check this out," his voice boomed from above me.

Suddenly the cloth diapeared from around me and I was greeted by the woman's gigantic face. She was pretty, blonde, well dressed. Probably approaching middle age, trying to hide it under too much makeup and spray tan. Her factory sized Gucci bag sat on the counter next to my cage. A Starbucks cup sitting next to it.

"Oh my goodness... what is it?" She said through her gigantic smile.

Great, another moron.

"I don't really know, no one really does. I knew a guy who collected exotic animals who claimed to have one he picked it up at some shady auction. Paid out the nose through it. Six figures I think."

Holy shit! He really reamed the homeless guy.

I got back up to my feet and started pounding on the plastic again, "HELP! HEEEEEELLLP! PLEASE!"

Her enormous eyes left me and looked up at him, "can we take it out of the cage?"

"Of course," the lid suddenly lifting above me, "just be careful with it."

"I will," she assured him.

Her enormous hand entered from the sky and pinched my sides between her warm thumb and forefinger as gently as she could. Her well manicured nails were the size of small tables. She slowly lifted me out of the cage and immediately set me gently on the counter. I made sure to land on my good foot and kept all my weight on it as she let go. I hobbled around to get my balance, but thought it a better idea to just sit down.

The woman lowered her head to my level, "she's injured." It was nice to be acknowledged as a female instead of 'it' for a change. "What happened?"

"Well... think about the world it lives in. It has no fur to keep it warm... no natural defenses. I'd imagine it got separated from its pack and has been on its own for a while." He then licked his thumb and rubbed the gigantic pad against my face, leaving his sticky, warm saliva behind. "Besides, most of it's dirt anyway." I've never felt so disgusting... and disgusted in my life.

"GODDAMN IT I'VE HAD IT! I'M NOT AN ANIMAL! MY NAME IS EMILY AND I'VE SHRUNK... PLEASE, I NEED HELP!" I pounded my fists on the counter in frustration.

"How much?" She gleefully asked.

Could she possibly see the look of disbelief on my face?

"Well like I said... my friend paid, like, six figs for one," her answered.

"I'm not paying hundreds of thousands here, let's be realistic," she countered.

Hey... maybe Mr. Cheeto Cheapskate has a contender.

"No no no, I don't expect that," he replied, "but I ain't giving it away either. Keep in mind that I'm not even sure it's legal to own one of these things. I don't need it coming back on me."

"I still haven't heard a number." She stood up straight and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ok...I could let it go forrrrrrr... ten."

Thousand!?

"Thousand?!" She laughed.

You read my mind, lady.

"You heard me," he smiled, "ten grand and it's yours."

"Five," she countered.

"Ugh, here we go again," I sighed.

"No way lady, ten k or have a nice day." Interesting how his kindly 'mayams' have now turned to 'ladys'. His sweet salesman schtick was all but gone.

The woman stood there for a few seconds looking down at me, rubbing her chin. Then she looked him dead in the eye.

"Tell you what, we can dance around back and forth here all morning, so I tell ya what: I'll meet you in the middle and come up to $7500. And you're gonna sell it to me for $7500... do you know why?"

"Enlighten me." His smile never faltering.

"You're gonna sell it to me because you slipped up. You told me you weren't sure it was legal to own one of these. I'm sure you'd hate for me to leave without it and then have to inform the police about this little conversation... and anything else you might have stashed back there. She is special, but she's also in rough shape. Damaged merchandise, if you will. So... I think a $2500 discount is reasonable."

Daaaaaaayyym, gurl! If I wasn't the size of a mouse and being sold into some Twilight Zone version of white slavery, I would have given this woman a round of applause. I don't know why I was rooting for her. She was BUYING me after all... but going with her had to be better than staying with this asshole. Anyone willing to pay thousands for me is probably not going hurt me.

I looked back at the Cheeto Man whose hands were now gripping the sides of the counter, his smile long gone. He thought silently for a few agonizing seconds then looked back up at the woman.

"Cash."

"Of course," she replied.

He reluctantly offered his hand and she met it with her's above my head.

"I just have to run to the bank and I'll be back before you know it." She grabbed her purse and coffee, unlocked the door and headed out the door.

"Yeah, I can't fucking wait," he grumbled to himself.

He looked down at me and I just smiled up at him and shrugged my shoulders. He punched the counter with the force of a bomb, wiping the smile off my smug face. His chubby fingers wrapped around my twisted foot and lifted me off the counter. I screamed out in pain as he dropped me back into the cage from nearly the rim. I hit hard, both my back and ankle throbbing in pain. He slammed the lid shut and then disappeared into the back room.

The woman returned about fifteen minutes later. She walked up to the counter and bent over to look at me. She had a look of concern on her face. The Cheeto Man came lumbering from out of the back room.

"What'd you do to her?!" She said sternly.

"Just checking to make sure it's damaged goods," he sneered.

"What the... are you sick in the head or something?!"

"Just pay up and go, lady," he demanded, holding out his hand.

The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a brown bag and threw it at him. He caught it and pulled a sizable stack of cash out. He started fingering through it counting his score.

"It's all there. Are we done here?"

He gave her a dismissive hand wave and walked into the back room. And that was it. That was last I saw of the disgusting behemoth.

The cage lifted off the counter and floated towards the door. The woman placed a hand underneath to steady it. I caught one last view of Shelob and Melba the Mamba. They terrified me, nothing changed there. But I couldn't help but feel sorry for them having to stay with that horrible man. As I laid on my back I raised a hand to give a stationary wave as the door's bell rang for the last time and the cage filled with the blinding light of day.


End Part 4
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by ensmallen » Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:00 am

Story doesn't stand still, the thought and planning getting from A to B. I don't think I've ever seen a scene drive home how it's like being tiny from the SW's p.o.v. like Part 3 in Cheeto Man's pet shop. This is great. Can't wait to meet Emily's new owner.

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Sumguy14 » Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:59 pm

I will echo SirLurkALot's comments. This is seriously good story-telling.
Neat!

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:59 pm

i genuinely appreciate the kind words.
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:01 pm

Part 5-"Good Girl"


Will I be the strong hand keeping you safe
Or will I break you in half?
And you will never be under my thumb
But you are not your own man

-Chvrches


It took a minute to adjust to the brightness of the sun. After all, I'd spent something like 4 days in not much more than a closet, underneath a dark cloth. When things finally came into focus I could see she was carrying me towards an enormous SUV, the kind you tend to see wealthy housewives take to spin class. At my size it could have have been the beige Titanic.

Her hand left the bottom of the cage. There was a 'beep,' unlocking the vehicle door. She placed me on the seat and actually pulled the seatbelt around and secured the cage. The cage sat at such an angle that the bowls of carrots and kitty liter slid across the floor and hit the back wall. I crawled in the same direction, propping my back up. I appreciated the gesture, but if she hits the break hard, no seatbelt was going to stop me from being thrown across the inside of that thing.

The massive door slammed shut with a sound too loud to be believed. The woman made her way around to the other side. She climbed in and pressed the ignition button. I was suddenly blasted by the loudest sound I've ever heard. Some fucking show tunes she had turned up to eleven. I covered my ears to block it out. It finally decreased significantly as she turned the volume knob.

"Sorry, little one, that was probably really loud." Yeah, no shit! I can think of better ways to go deaf than listening to a cast recording of RENT.

She pulled out onto the street and away we went. She did her best to avoid bumps, but she did hit a big one. I was sent flying into the air and then landed on my tailbone. The carrots and kitty litter also went airborne and were now all over the cage. I brushed as much litter out of the way as I could and laid down on my stomach, covering my head in case it got worse. The drive wasn't very long... fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. I couldn't see over the mountainous dash, but everything suddenly got dark so we must have been pulling into a garage.

"We're here," she said, kind of singing it. She shut off the vehicle and got out, returning to my side. She unbuckled the belt and lifted the cage up to her eye level. "Oh, shoot! I'm sorry, little one! I didn't mean to mess up your house. Let's get you inside and clean it up."

"My house?! Lady, this is a fucking prison!" I muttered.

We started up the stairs into the house. She opened the door into a massive kitchen. Not just from my size either... this was some McMansion shit. All built in stainless steel appliances. Granite countertops. Dark hardwood. No wonder this woman could drop seven grand at the bat of an eye. The hardwood floors raced by far below me until the cage passed over the counter top. It was what I could have imagined a helicopter ride through Monument Valley would be like. The cage came to rest on the center island and the lid flipped open.

"Ok, don't get scared. I'm just going to lift you out and clean out your house, Ok?" Her hand came in slowly again, but instead of just picking me up, she flattened it out, allowing me to climb on myself. "Come on. I'm not going to hurt you."

Even though I was terrified of those gigantic fingers, even the smallest capable of crushing me with minimal effort, I stepped up onto her awaiting hand and sat down.

"Good girl," she said, sounding very pleased.

I was slowly lifted out of the cage and up towards her face. "You really are a beautiful little thing, aren't you?" I couldn't help but feel my cheeks flush. She gently lowered her hand onto the countertop and tilted it slightly to nudge me off. I hobbled off her hand and then turned back to look up at her.

The woman was examining the cage with a look of concern on her face. "Oh my, these carrots are old and dried out. Didn't he give you anything else to eat?" She asked in a disgusted tone. I shook my head but she didn't notice. She lifted both bowls out and dumped their remaining contents in the trash. She removed the water bottle and emptied the mess inside the cage into the trash. She then collected everything and carried them to the sink. With her back to me, she turned on the faucet and began cleaning them.

I stopped to look at myself and realized I was covered in cat litter. God knows how much of my own filth I'd been rolling in. I brushed it off, feeling a little guilty about doing it on her spotless countertop.

Then I spotted it... her phone! It was laying near the edge of the counter. I started limping towards it as fast as I could. I knelt down and pounded the power button. Password protected. Fuck.

The woman finished cleaning my 'house' and dried it off. "There much better!" She turned and was surprised to see me sitting by her phone. "And just what are you up to?" She asked in a playfully condescending voice. She reached down and picked it up. I fell back on my butt, feeling those oh so familiar twitches of misery in my spine. She showed me the screen and kind of waved the phone in her hand.

"This is called a phone, this is how we communicate with each other," she explained in a baby voice.

The 'you've got to be fucking kidding me' tilt of my head got interpreted as 'please explain more, oh godlike being.' She unlocked the screen and actually set it back down in front of me.

"It does lots of other things, too." She added

"Thanks... great... where's the text screen?" I said under my breath. It wasn't a brand I was familiar with. "Yes! Here it is!" I knew my mom wouldn't be able to hear me, but goddamnit I could text her! I pounded the app with both hands then hit the phone number search bar. I could hear her giggling behind me, but I had no time to care. The dial pad popped up... I went to hit the first number and...

"W-w-what's the first number? WHAT'S THE FIRST NUMBER?! WHAT ARE ANY OF THE NUMBERS?!" Panic struck. I couldn't remember my mother's phone number... in fact... I couldn't remember MY number! "The cops! I'll try the police! What's the number?! WHAT'S THE FUCKING NUMBER?! COME ON EMILY, IT'S LIKE, THREE FUCKING DIGITS!"

...or was it four?

I couldn't remember a single phone number. Something was wrong. This wasn't making any sense. How could I not remember? Was this some sort of a trauma induced mental block? I stated up at the woman looking for help, like, somehow now she actually was a godlike being. She was just smiling, resting her head on her elbow.

"Pretty cool, huh? You're such a cutie," she said and gave me a little tap on the head with her index finger.

I was having an existential crisis and she thought I was some simple cave woman just discovering fire. I sat there in confusion and utter disbelief.

"So, Emma went record shopping this morning and could be home very soon," her voice boomed from above me, rocking me out of my trance, "and I don't want to spoil her surprise, so let's get you some real food and put you away somewhere."

I didn't even acknowledge her, too lost in my own head. She turned towards the fridge and bent over to look in.

"What the fuck is happening to me? What the fuck is going on? Why is this happening to me?..."

"I'm not sure what you'll like so let's try a few things." She returned with several plastic containers, each larger than a van, "do you like raspberries?"

I was still non responsive. Suddenly a pair of giant fingers clutching a single raspberry larger than my head appeared in front of me, startling me out of my trance.

"Would you like one of these," she asked like she was asking a child.

I looked up at her, fighting back the tears... and failing. Between what just happened and the hell I'd been through over the past few days, even though I was completely at this woman's mercy, she was being kind to me.

And I needed it.

I nodded at her which forced a tear down my cheek. I reached out and placed my hands on the top and bottom of the absurdly oversized berry. She released it and I nearly dropped it, not expecting its weight. I looked back up at her...

"Thank you, thank you so much, I--," I stopped myself knowing she probably couldn't hear me.

Somehow she saw the tiny tears rolling down my face. She lowered her head all the way to the counter, resting her head on her crossed hands, her elbows spread out across the edge.

"Oh--don't cry, little one," she said in her most reassuring voice, "I'm sorry you've been treated the way you have. I'm sorry you had to deal with that horrible little man. I'll never understand how someone who neglects his animals can continue to run a pet store. I assure you that's over now."

She began to lightly run her index finger down my hair.

"Emma's going to love you, I just know it. She's such a sweet girl. A little odd, but a sweet girl just the same." Her eyes began to shimmer slightly as her eyes started to well up a little. "She's always suffered with terrible allergies to a point where she couldn't leave the house much. She even had to where a mask to school, which is just fodder for kids to be cruel. She's never really been able to make friends. I hope you can be that friend for her."

I'm unsure if she was actually talking to me, being that no one seems to think I'm a person, or if she just needed to hear the words vent. My tears were almost choking me. I'd heard some this before when she overshared it to The Cheeto Man back at the pet store. It sounded different to me this time. I realized this is a kind woman who would do anything to make her daughter happy. I was damn lucky to be here and not in the grips of some pervert or sadist.

"Now, I have to hide you for a couple of days so I don't spoil the surprise. Don't worry, I'll come check on you as often as I can, ok?" She was actually asking if it was ok with me. I nodded. "Good girl," she said giving me another gentle tap on the head.

She stood up straight, towering over me like a solitary peak. "I don't have any litter here so I'll have to pick some up when I go grocery shopping tomorrow. Until then we'll have to make do with...," she looked around the kitchen, "ah! Here we go."

She walked over to a large table and came back with a gigantic newspaper. She started ripping it into long shreds and lining the cage with it. She walked back over to the sink and brought back the water bottle, "and here's some fresh water for you." She snapped it back onto the side of the cage.

"Ok... now, do you like any of these?" She pointed to the stack of plastic containers from the fridge. Strawberries, blueberries and more raspberries. There was also some sliced up kiwi. I simply nodded and faked a smile.

"All of them?" She asked, pleasantly surprised.

I nodded again. She smiled and set one of the hamster bowls in front of her. "Tell ya what, I'll put one of each in there for you." For the first time in days I felt like I was being treated like a person. The tears started to well up again.

She pulled a large kitchen knife out of the drawer beneath me, which was a little unnerving, but she just used it to cut a strawberry in half, placing one half in the bowl and eating the other. Then she placed a slice of kiwi in the bowl followed by a couple of blue berries.

"And you've already got your raspberry," she giggled.

I then realized I'd been clutching it to my breasts, getting sticky juice all down the front of me. She placed the bowl inside the cage and put the empty litter one in as well.

"One more thing...," she said as she her thunderous footsteps on the hardwood floor faded into another room and returned with a single black ankle sock. "I can't find the other one so you luck out in getting a cozy little sleeping bag," she giggled as she laid the sock down inside the cage.

"Alright, time to hop back in, little one." She cautiously moved her giant hand towards me, "like I said, Emma could be home any minute."

I wiped the tears from my eyes with my arm, stood up slowly, and limped onto her outstretched fingers. I sat down in her warm palm and clutched my raspberry to my chest. She lifted me up over the edge and placed her hand of the bottom, again slightly tilting it to let me know this was my stop. I walked over to the food bowl and dropped the sticky berry inside. I had red juice all over me to add to the filth. She just looked at me and smiled, then closed the lid.

She lifted the cage off the counter and the gut twisting feeling of flying over a cliff across the deep valleys of hardwood returned. We made our way out of the kitchen and into the large open floor living area. A vast landscape with buttes of furniture. Lots of beige and grey. White walls with the typical 'Live, Laugh, Love' and 'Home' wooden painted signs that encapsulated modern decorative blandness. Prints of religious paintings and a painted portrait of what looked like Joseph Smith(?!) on the wall. "

"Holy shit! Have I been sold to fucking Mormons?! Jesus Christ! Can this shit get any weirder?!" I exclaimed to no one in particular.

We're still early in this story, so all I can assure you is... yes... things get much weirder for your humble narrator.

But I digress...

I tried to catch glimpses of the family photos as we went up the stairs. Unfortunately she was carrying me too low to get a good look. Needless to say, I was curious as to what this Emma looked like if I was to be 'hers.'

We passed down a long hallway with more pictures I couldn't quite catch a glimpse of. Even though she must have been walking at a normal pace, for me the speed seemed much, much faster. I spread myself out laying down on the floor trying to brace myself.

We entered the cavernous master bedroom and then into a walk-in closet so immense I could have lived in it when I was normal sized. We headed towards a cabinet which swung open and the cage came to a rest on the bottom. Gigantic clothing hanging high into the darkness above me. I turned around to look at the woman... who's name I still didn't know. She was bent down with her face very close to the cage.

"Ok, like I said, it's just a couple of days. I'm going to go work out and have lunch with some friends. I'll be be back later to check on you, ok." I looked up at her and gave her a single nod. "Good girl."

The cabinet swung shut. Once again I found myself surrounded in darkness, pitch black this time. I started trying to feel my way towards the food bowl. I caught my foot on the sock and fell face first, but landed on the soft material. At least it smelled clean. I laid there for a minute trying to get my bearings when suddenly the door swung open again and her face appeared.

"I'm sorry, I almost forgot," and she set a small battery powered lantern you'd find in the As Seen On TV section of a convenience store in the back corner of the cabinet and clicked it on to its dimmest setting. "Don't want to leave you here in the dark."

I gave her a smile and a nod. She smiled back and then closed the door again.

I got back up, having left a stain from the berry juice on the sock, and limped over to the food bowl. I picked up the raspberry and took a bite out of it. I've never tasted anything so sweet in my life. I gorged myself on it and by the time I'd had enough, my entire face was covered in sticky juice. It even got in my hair. I walked over to the water bottle and knocked a few drops of water out of the spout to clean myself off. After drying myself off with some torn newsprint I made my way back over to the sock. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of sleeping in it, but I crawled in anyway. It was big enough to fit about a dozen people my size but I was perfectly content to have it all to myself once I felt how comfortable it was inside. I rolled up the ankle for head support and snuggled in, feeling... almost... safe for the first time since this all began.

I passed out almost immediately.

End Part 5
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:01 pm

Part 6-"Emma"
 

Drifting through the silence  
Searching for guarantees 
Out of view, but not to far out of reach
Closer to scratching at the surface
You would swim before you learned to sink
And that's not as easy as you think

-Cults


I awoke sometime later to my 'owner's' enormous face staring at me smiling.  My heart jumped a bit and she must have seen that she'd scared me. 

"Oh, gosh!  I'm sorry, little one.  I didn't mean to wake you.  You just looked so cute snuggled up in your little bed."  

I sat up and rubbed my eyes.  She had changed into some pink and grey active wear and was holding a gym bag in her right hand.  

"I just had some leftovers from lunch and was wondering if you'd like some bread and turkey?"  She removed and then unwrapped half of a truck sized turkey sandwich  from the bag.  I nodded.  She pulled a corner of bread and a pinch of sliced meat from the sandwich, opened the lid and dropped both into my awaiting arms.  It was nothing to her, but more than I could possibly eat.  I wished I could thank her, but knew she couldn't hear me.  Then I remembered the sign language gesture for "thank you" and tried it.

"Wow," she said surprised, "someone taught you that?!  Can you sign anything else?"  

I shook my head.  

"Well, that's ok... and you're very welcome."  She spoke to me like a child.  I found it patronizing, but... whatever, I should probably get used to it.  

"I gotta go, I can't let Emma see me talking to the closet.  She'll have me put away," she said with an awkward giggle and then closed the door again.

What was essentially a bread crumb looked so strange all the air pockets in it exaggerated.  I flattened it out and rolled the turkey up in it like a burrito.  I didn't even finish half of it.  I slurped up a couple drops of water and then crawled back into my 'sleeping bag.'  I remember thinking it would be nice to stop getting locked up in the dark so I could get back to sleeping normally.  I rolled over onto my side and had the most peaceful sleep I'd had in days.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke in what was probably the middle of night, but I can't be completely sure.  I felt groggy and uncomfortable.  The time deprivation was really messing with my head.  I continued my routine of stretching my back and working my ankle around.  Both still hurt, but felt a lot better than a few days ago.  I finished my turkey-rito and had a few bites of the gigantic strawberry.  

I thought about taking a whore's bath from the water bottle, but noticed the newsprint lining my cage was turning my soles and palms black with ink.  I looked over the rest of my body and I had traces of it everywhere.  Not much point in cleaning it off just to have it accumulate again.  Still, I wasn't enjoying how five days without a shower smelled.  The newspaper did supply me with something to wipe with... which, I'm here to tell you, is a luxury you should never take for granted.

Now that I was more mobile, the boredom and loneliness really took hold.  I spent the rest of the night mostly sitting on top of the sock, wondering about what was next.  I felt like I was stranded on an alien planet, completely lost, unable to communicate with the native beings.

I had no idea what to make of this Emma situation either.  Maybe I was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, but I was growing to like this woman who was caring for me... and she was just going to hand me over to someone else.  I'd created this picture of this girl in my mind.  A mousy, skinny nerd who doesn't speak and has no friends.  'Carrie White eats shit,' ya know what I mean?  I felt sorry for this person I'd constructed in my brain.  I also wasn't thrilled about the idea of a teenager being in control of me, a woman in her mid twent--... oh god.

"How old am I?!  Think Emily, think.  Fuuuuck! NOOOOO, COME ON!"  I pounded my fists against the sides of my head.  How could I lose something so simple.  I knew I was in my twenties, but the exact number was gone.  Fear swept through me and I felt goosebumps start to form.  First being reduced to a tiny fraction of my original size, then the phone numbers...now this?  

I felt like I was being erased.  I didn't yet know how close to the truth it was.

I wrapped my arms around my knees and spent the rest of the night worrying what would disappear next.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day passed not all that different from the last.  I slept through most of it, intermittently interrupted by the woman checking in on me and bringing bits of food.  I awoke that night after she opened the door one last time to see if I was doing alright before her bedtime.  

"Do you need anything before I turn in," she asked.  

I shook my head.  

"Ok.  I'm excited for the big day tomorrow.  I can't wait for her to see you... but I have to admit, I'm half tempted to keep you for myself," she said giving me a wink.  I gave her a nervous smile.  

"Good night, I'll see you in the morning," she whispered and then closed the door.

That night, I was too nervous to worry about my back or ankle.  I didn't eat much either.  How is one supposed to feel about being presented to someone else as a... a... possession?  This after all, and the thought turned my stomach, could be the way I spend the rest of my life.  How ever long that may be.  The way my memories kept slipping away, I was worried there'd be nothing left of me... and it could happen very soon.  I realized I couldn't remember my own address that night, but not just that.  I couldn't remember what the house I grew up in looked like.  My parents bought that house before I was born and still live there... I think.  I lived in it till I went to college.  I can't even remember what color it was.

So, needless to say my stress level was at a ten.  Being cooped up in that goddamn clear plastic cell wasn't helping.  God, I miss the sunshine.  A cool breeze blowing through my hair.  Walking barefoot through the grass.  How long until I don't remember what any of that feels like?  

My mind spun in circles all night.  Cycling through the stages of grief... and then cycling through them again... and again.  Grief for who I was and who I would have become.  Now I had to face forward and accept what the universe was throwing at me.  But I was determined to hold onto who I am.  I don't really even recall when I started chanting it.  It started low, not more than a mumble, but grew until I was nearly yelling it.  It would become my nightly ritual, my morning routine:

My name is Emily Green
My name is Emily Green
My name is Emily Green

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was sitting cross legged on the sock feeling mentally exhausted... but ready.  Today was Emma's birthday.  A young girl becoming an adult.  It happens everyday, but today her opinion of me may very well dictate the rest of my life.  An uncommon event indeed.

A crack of light appeared along the door and light rushed in to great me.

"Here we go..."

"Good morning, little one, I hope you slept well," she yawned.  

"No big deal, just a night of stewing in an existential crisis, how was your night, lady?" I muttered to myself.

"So, I'm going to wrap up your cage real quick and have it set on the counter for Emma when she comes down for breakfast.  It won't be for long, I promise."  

I nodded.  I felt like I was getting hyped up to replace an injured starting quarterback.

"Alright, here we go," she said as she lifted the cage out of the cabinet.  She floated me out into the bedroom where she already had shiny, gold wrapping paper laid out on the bed.  The paper made a loud crinkling sound all around me as she set the cage on it.  I stayed seated as I watched the paper being folded around me, drowning out the light bit by bit.  

Back to the dark.  

The elevator feeling returned and then the jostling to fro I was all too familiar with at this point.  It didn't take long until I felt the impact of the cage hitting the countertop.  

"We're here, "she whispered through the wrapping paper, "not long now."

I could hear her shuffling pans around, opening and closing cupboards and the fridge, the sound of food frying.  God it smelled so good.

"EMMA, BREAKFAST IS READY!"  

"Hey, careful!  Tiny fragile eardrums here!"  I sassed to the woman who couldn't hear me.  Suddenly I could hear the thumping of feet through the floor high above.  I could hear them move across the floor... then down the stairs... then the sound of bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor.  Louder... louder...

"Mornin' Mom!" 

"Good morning, birthday girl!  I made ham and eggs."

"Thanks, it smells good... is this for me?"

My heart was beating out if my chest.  A bit of an over reaction for such a mundane conversation, I know.

"Yup.  Do you want to open it now or after breakfast?"  The woman asked as she scraped at a pan.

I thought I might pass out if I had to wait till after breakfast.

"Can I open it now?"

"Of course, just be very careful.  It's very fragile."

A strip of paper ripped off, exposing a beam of light.  Then another... a giant hand pulled the rest off, flooding the cage with morning light from kitchen window. I stood up and pressed my hands against the plastic to get a better look at...

...my future.

A silhouette of a girl, backlit by the light, towered towards the sky.  She leaned in and I could fully see her.  This wasn't the sickly church girl I'd painted in my mind.  She was skinny, and kind of mousy, yes (trust me, I know how that sounds from someone literally the size of a mouse),  but she was very pretty.  She had her mother's same large, kind eyes.  Her hair was cut into a short bob, but dyed dark green. She had a form fitting t-shirt on it with the words 'Bikini Kill,' which I assumed was some kind of band, printed across the front like a giant billboard.

"Oh my god, mom... w-where did you get this?!"  Her face left me and she looked at her mother with widened eyes.

"I found her in this skeezy pet store downtown.  The guy was a real creep.  He had her stashed away in the back, god knows what he was doing with her."  She turned off the burner and walked over to her daughter and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"You're leaving for college soon and I was worried about you being on your own.  I know you've always wanted a pet, but we couldn't for obvious reasons.  There's no animal dander to worry about and she's really sweet.  You won't believe how smart she is!  Watch this!"  She walked over to the stove and returned with a tiny piece of ham on a fork. She blew on it to cool it off.  She lifted the lid and lowered the ham, still attached to the fork into the cage.

"Would you like some breakfast, too?" She asked it like she was talking to a toddler.  I nodded and pulled the cube of meat off the enormous fork.  It was still really hot and I dropped it on accident.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry, little one?"  She looked genuinely frightened.  I looked up at her and nodded and then gave her the 'thank you' gesture.

"See!  She's already knows a few tricks!"

My face had no trouble finding my palm.

"So... do you like her," she asked looking hopefully into her daughter's eyes.

"Oh my god, mom..."

I found myself trembling... why did I need this so much.  It made no sense.

"...it's perfect!  I absolutely love it!  She's so adorable!"

I can't tell you how strange it was to feel relieved.

"Can I pick her up?!"  The young girl asked.

"Of course, but let's wait until after breakfast, ok.  That way she can eat hers, too."

"No problem, thank you so much mom!"  The two of them hugged. And then started shoveling their meal onto a pair of giant white plates.

The two of them sat at the counter talking and laughing and shoveling their breakfast into their gigantic mouths, both watching me chew on a piece of ham the size of suitcase.

"Has your dad called you yet?"  The mom asked.

"No, but he's on Hong Kong time.  I'm sure he'll call later."

Ah, there was a man of the house.  Sounds like he travels a lot.  I looked up at the mom and she was doing a terrible job of not looking concerned.

"Yeah, of course," she replied sheepishly.

They both finished and put the plates in the sink.

"Can we take her out now?" Emma beamed like little girl.

"Just be gentle with her, she's injured and a little tore up.  I think she's been through a lot... even before the pet store creep."

I saw Emma's hand reach into the cage above me.  Her giant nails painted black.

"Let her come to you, it builds trust," the mom instructed.  Huh... yeah, it worked with her.  

Emma flattened her hand out.

"Hello there, would you like to come out of there?"  I nodded and nervously stepped onto her soft, warm hand.  She cautiously lifted me out of the cage and set her hand down on the counter, allowing me to step off.  

I stood there being analyzed by a pair of female mountains... that came out wrong.  Two awesome towers of femininity.  Fuck, everything I say sounds like I'm describing giant breasts.  Two really tall lady people... there.  Both of them resting their chins on their hands at counter level.

"So what are you gonna call her?"

No.  You WILL NOT take my name.

"EMILY!  MY NAME IS EMILY!  EEEEEEEE-MM-IIIIIIIL-EEEEY!"  I screamed at them as loud as I possibly could.

A small grin appeared on Emma's face, "awwww, she makes the cutest little sounds."

I stopped mid scream... “what did she say?!”


End Part 6
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:50 pm

Part 7-"New Day Rising"


With sharpened tongue
I cried out for you
And I must refrain
Now that I need you

-Asobi Seksu


"You can hear me? YOU CAN HEAR ME!? Oh thank god, PLEASE, I NEED HELP!" I could have started jumping up and down if my ankle wasn't twisted.

The mom giggled, "aaaaww, look how excited she is. She must really like you."

"What the... NO NO, MY NAME IS EMILY AND I'VE SHRUNK SOMEHOW, PLEASE GET HELP!" I yelled at the mother. I wasn't sure if she could see the confusion written all over my face.

"It's kind of pretty... like... something between a coo and a cat's purr. I don't know if I've ever heard anything like it," said the girl.

I stopped shouting. I felt like my heart was just broken. They could hear me. They all can... they just can't understand me. It doesn't even sound like language to them. No wonder everyone was treating like some pathetic, lost creature.

I was.

I dropped from my feet onto my ass. I didn't even care how much it hurt... at that point I was having trouble breathing. The tears flowed freely.

Why? What did I do to deserve this?

"Is she alright," asked Emma.

"I don't know," replied the mother, "like I said, she's injured. Maybe she just aggravated something. Why don't you take her upstairs and clean her up. Maybe she'll feel better afterwards."

"Yeah ok," said Emma and presented her enormous hand in front of me. I was too far gone to even notice. "Maybe she needs a little help," she pinched my sides between her thumb and forefinger and then gently placed me on her palm where I continued to ball my eyes out.

"Pleee-eee-eease, god, pleee-eeeee-eeee-ease." I've never been a religious person. I don't really believe in anything. I was looking for help anywhere I could get it though. I'd never felt so alone.

Emma carried me upstairs to her room, carrying the cage in her other hand. She carried me across the room to a desk that set below the window and then carefully put me down.

"Just stay there, ok, I'll be right back," the giant girl whispered to me. I couldn't have moved if I wanted to. She disappeared out of the room and then returned with a glass of water, a wash cloth, and a container of Biore pads. The sound of the giant glass of water hitting the desk startled me out of my fit.

"Ooo--sshh, sorry," she said as she winced, "I didn't mean to scare you." She spread the cloth out like a giant blanket. She gently picked me up and dipped me in the glass of water. She'd even bothered to use warm water. She then placed me in the middle of the cloth. "Now just sit back and we'll see what's under all this dirt." She had the same awkward giggle as her mother.

She unscrewed the cap of the round pad container and began working it up and down my legs, then my torso, then my arms. She was extremely cautious not to apply too much pressure so as not to harm me. Being nude in front of these giants had pretty much just become a part of life in just a few days, but having one touching me like this was frightening... but... I have to admit... it felt really good. Goosebumps rose all over my body and I was getting tingles in my neck.

She folded the pad in half and then said, "ok close your eyes so I can get your face."

I did as instructed. She gently dabbed at what must have been a tear stained mess.

"Much better," she whispered. She held the pad up to show me, "look! All this came off you." She giggled again. "Now lay on your stomach so I can get your backside."

Again, I did as instructed. She rubbed a new pad up my legs and across my butt. I could almost imagine I was getting the world's weirdest massage. She started up my back and I winced in pain as the pressure of the pad was enough to reopen the wounds from my purse's zipper teeth.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," she said pulling away, "I'll be right back." She ran out the door again and returned with a red plastic case and set it down behind me. She opened it up and pulled out a familiar bottle... only now it was nearly as big as I was.

"Those are some nasty cuts on your back. Let's get some Neosporin on there to help them heal." She squeezed out a small amount onto her finger tip and began working it onto my back. Muscles tightened up all through my body as the shock from the sting became more intense.

"Now how do we cover these wounds," she asked herself, tapping her chin, "ah."

She pulled a bandage out of the case that could have easily wrapped around me twice. She pulled a pair of scissors out of the desk drawer beneath me and trimmed the bandage down to a square, leaving just enough sticky material on the edges as she smoothed it out across my back.

"There we go," she said proudly of her work. She finished wiping the remaining grime from wherever she found it and then threw the pads into the wastebasket next to the desk.

"That ankle is pretty black and blue, does it hurt to stand on?"

I nodded.

"Well let's see what we can do about that." She shuffled around inside the case and pulled out one of the small wound closure bandages. She unwrapped it and then lifted my leg with her huge finger. "Alright, I'm going to be as careful as I can, but it's gonna need to be tight. Are you ready?"

I winced my eyes shut and extended my leg. She placed the middle padded part on the sole of my foot and then wrapped one end across the top and around the back of my ankle, then the other meeting at the back, stretching the material as she went. It hurt, but the pressure did seem to help.

"I used to play soccer so I'm used to having to do this," the giant girl reassured me. She laid my leg back down and rummaged around inside the case again. She pulled out a single serve tab of aspirin and tore it open revealing a white disc. Does she really think I can swallow that?

"Hold out your hands," she instructed and I held both out waiting for her to drop the dinner plate sized tab into them. Instead she the tip of the scissors and flaked off some dust into them. Both hands were covered.

"This is Aspirin, it will help with the pain. Sorry, it's the best I can do. Don't take too much cause it can make you sick. Save the rest for later, ok. Do you understand?" She spoke in a muted tone, seeming to understand how loud her voice was to me. I nodded in compliance and licked some of the dry, foul tasting dust off my fingertips. She ripped the aspirin pouch in half and popped it open for me to empty my hands into it and then placed it inside my cage.

"Wow, you really are smart! Almost like a person!"

The words cut deep. I felt like 'almost a person.' Rather, a fraction of one. I had so many emotions charging through me at once. I was on the verge of a full existential meltdown, yet the kindness and care this girl was showing me was keeping me from collapsing into a pile on the desk. Even then, it wasn't from one person to another... it was from a person towards their pet. I wasn't an equal, I belonged to her... but in the little time I've known her, I respected... even liked her.

My head was spinning and I began to sob again.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?" She rested her head on her hands on the edge of the desk. "It'll feel better soon, I promise. Don't cry."

I tucked my head between my legs trying to block everything out, which isn't easy when every single thing around you is so exaggerated. I felt completely naked, not just physically, but emotionally.

"This isn't just about the pain, is it?" The question surprised me and I looked into her deep blue eyes. I shook my head and buried my face back into my knees.

"I can't pretend to know what you've been through. I doubt I'd be doing much better if our roles were reversed. But I promise I'm going to take care of you and I won't let anything happen to you. Do you believe me?"

I raised my head up from my knees and looked into her eyes... and there was nothing but sincerity there. I nervously nodded my head, but I knew in my gut that she meant every word. I may have hated my situation, but I know things could be infinitely worse for me at this size. She slowly moved her thumb towards my face and, as gently as possible, wiped the tears away from under each of my eyes.

We stared at each other for a few moments and then I gave her the 'thank you' sign. She smiled back at me.

"Heeeeey, now we're getting somewhere. Tell you what, let's just take it easy today, ok? It's my birthday today so I was planning was on doing as little as possible anyway," she said with another awkward giggle. "I bought a bunch of records the other day, but haven't had a chance to listen to them yet... does that sound alright?"

I nodded again and she gave me a thumbs up. She got up from the desk and headed over to stack of vinyl leaning against her closet door. This was the first time I really took a look at her room. Obviously for me it was the size of several airplane hangers, but it was much larger than an average bedroom. There was the bed against one wall, protruding out into the room. Posters covering the walls for bands and movies I've never heard of. In each corner there was a building sized IKEA style shelving unit. Each of the shelves by the bed were filled with books whose titles I couldn't quite make out. The two on the other side were filled with vinyl records. I didn't even know people still bought vinyl, let alone teenage girls. There was another lower shelf full of DVDs and VHS tapes with various knickknacks on top, the desk I was sitting on, and finally a tall dresser where she was standing, placing a record on a turntable. She dropped the needle and sound came pouring out of built in speakers the ceiling.

NEW DAY RISING
NEW DAY RISING
NEW DAY RISING

"I've been looking for this one for a while. I downloaded it a while ago, but I never really feel like I 'own' it until I have a physical copy. Not very practical, I know," she said studying the record sleeve, "they're this hardcore punk band from Minneapolis that paved the way for what would become indie rock in the 80s."

I had no idea what she was talking about... but it felt nice to be talked to like a person, or even a... friend. The music was incredible though... like a swirling sonic assault. I'd never heard anything like it. The simple lyrics seeming almost prophetic.

She approached the desk again and sat down, resting her chin on her hands again.

"I'm sorry, I'm dorking out about music and I haven't even properly introduced myself. My name's Emma. I just graduated this summer. You've probably figured out I love music. I watch a lot of movies. Do you know what movies are?"

I couldn't bring myself to look offended by the question, so I just politely nodded.

"Great, maybe you can be my movie buddy!" She got really excited. "I also read a lot of comics. They're, like books with pictures."

Yep.

"I leave for school in California in a few weeks... I guess WE are leaving," she giggled again, I'm gonna try and get a degree in mathematics. Too be honest... I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing."

I just stared at her, feeling pretty overwhelmed with everything along with the sudden info dump.

"So... what about you, what do I call you?"

I stood up and told her. I knew she couldn't understand me, but I did it anyway. "EMILY! MY NAME IS EMILY!"

She just giggled again, "you're so cute. With that red hair you look like a little Leeloo from The Fifth Element. What do you think of Leeloo?"

I didn't know what she was talking about. I had pretty well accepted that she was going to give me a name, but I'd be damned if it was going to be fucking 'LeeLoo.' I shook my head furiously.

"Don't like that one, huh," she laughed. She thought for a minute. "Oh! How about Laureline?!"

I just shrugged and tilted my head.

"Valerian and Laureline! It's this French comic book from the 70's about a guy in the future who has a ship that allows him to travel through space and time. He travels back to medieval France where he meets a peasant girl named Laureline. They help each other out and she ends up becoming his partner. In fact..." she hopped up and went over to her book shelf pulling a thin hardbound book. She flipped through it, then brought it back over to the desk.

She held the book open in front of me. "This is Laureline," she said pointing to a well drawn redhead. "In this early story she gets captured by a mad scientist who puts her in a machine and shrinks her down so he can keep her in his pocket."

"YES! YES! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED TO ME! I SHRANK!" I jumped up and hobbled towards the book. I pointed to a picture of little Laureline being held in a man's hand and looked up at her, patting my chest.

"Yeah, she's tiny just like you. You seem pretty excited, you must like that name... my little Laureline." She pulled the book away and put it back on the shelf. I just stood there with my head in my hand. What had just happened was so absurd, I was actually trying to fight back laughter.

"Alright, little lady, what do you say we just kick back and listen to some tun--hey, is that a smile I see?"


End Part 7
Last edited by Bloodthirstybutcher on Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:08 am

Part 8-"Connections"  
 

In the chaos of our lives 
Can we ever find the time 
To cherish feeling fine
And in the aftermath of pain
Can the balance be regained?
Can we ever be the same?

-Lush


Emma held out her hand for me to climb on.  She carried me over to the other side of the bed, holding her hand as steady as possible.  There was a night stand there I couldn't see before because it was obscured by the bed from the desk.  She slowly lowered her hand, allowing me to step off.  There was an alarm clock and a lamp that towered above me.  There were also quite a number of prescription bottles lined up in no particular order.  The girl was on more meds than most elderly people.  She walked back over to the desk and grabbed the wash cloth.  She folded it length wise a couple of times and then laid it down next to me on the nightstand, pushing orange bottles out of the way to make room.

"That might be a little more comfortable to lay on," she said with a calming smile.

I sat down on the small towel, which now looked like a long bed, and crossed my legs.  I continued reading labels on the bottles, drug names I won't even try to pronounce.

"Yeah, I know," she said, catching me off guard, "I've gotta a lot of stuff going on.  Those pretty much keep me from dying."  I instantly felt guilty for staring and dropped my head in shame.

"Hey, it's alright.  I've been living with this stuff for a few years now.  It's just routine.  I even have to carry one of these around with me in case something happens."  She pulled the drawer beneath me open, causing the nightstand to shake.  She pulled out an EpiPen.  "If I have a reaction, I just jam this puppy in my leg and it takes care of it."

This girl's gotten a pretty raw deal.  Her obsession with music and movies and books made total sense.  Her bedroom was almost as much a prison as my cage was.  Absolutely nothing like the person I now feel guilty for expecting.  She's beautiful, smart, caring.  Funny in a dorky sort of way.  She geeks out about records and weird movies.  I remember thinking of a dozen guys in college that would have clawed over each other for her (of course now I don't remember them at all).  

I sat there and listened to her talk the rest of the morning.  It was like I was a friend she'd known for years.  Me on my makeshift bed, Emma spread out in hers, still wearing the Bikini Kill shirt and a pair of thin shorts, her bare feet crossed at the ankles.  Her phone in her hands pulling up clips of bands she really loved and casting them to the built in Bluetooth speakers.  She talked about how she really got into Punk and underground music the first time she saw a clip of the Sex Pistols on YouTube when she was 12 or so.  She instantly downloaded everything she could by bands like The Clash, The Ramones, The Stooges.  She'd play cuts from each as she continued.  

She'd explain how one band was connected to another, like 'so-and-so was influenced by so-and-so,' and so on.  She eventually made her mom start taking her to recorded stores, which her mom hated cause she thought they were run by burnouts.  Plus she was always worried about her cause those placed aren't exactly known for their cleanliness.  She'd blow through her weekly allowance every week on music and if she couldn't go pick it up somewhere, she'd buy it online and have it delivered.  She always liked digging for stuff better, though.

Then in high school she got really into films because of a class she took.  She'd absorb as much as she could.  She loved high art films, and the cheapest, weirdest trash cinema she could find. No one would really talk to her because she was always wearing a mask and they were either afraid of getting her sick or flat out weirded out by it.  She'd spend so much time in and out of hospitals that all she really could do was lay in bed and watch movies.  

She'd say things like that, like how it was normal for people to treat her like an outcast with no emotion about it whatsoever... which just made me pity her more.   Me, the tiny pet girl sitting on a nightstand.  It became apparent that she was telling me about all this stuff because she'd never been able to express it before... to anyone.  There's only so many things you can talk to your parents about, you know.

She got up to put another record on when her mother walked through the door.

"How's everything going up here?"

"Really good, mom," she said raising her thumb towards me.  I did the same, not sure if she could even see it from across the room.

"Good, I'm so glad you like your present.  When you're ready I've got lunch ready."

"Wow, its lunchtime already?!  Where'd the morning go," Emma replied looking at the alarm clock.  It was a little after one in the afternoon.  "You ready to eat again, little Laureline?"

I nodded, still weirded out by my new 'nickname.'  

She scooped me up and carried me down the stairs.  She carried me close to her chest, following her mother down the hall.  This time I could see the family photos on the walls as we descended the stairs.  Various pictures of her growing up over the years.  I finally saw what her dad looked like in a group shot.  A handsome man with dark hair and a strong jaw.  Pictures from what looked like religious functions.  We turned the corner and into the kitchen where I was placed on the familiar countertop again.  Her mom turned from the a boiling pot on the stove and bent down to examine me.  It's an odd feeling to be the center of attention to people a hundred times your size.  

"Looks like you have her all patched up."  Her mom  waved at my like she was waving at a baby.  I just waved back out of politeness and sat down.

"Dr. Emma, PHD at your service," Emma joked while taking a bow.  She really is a likable dork.

"Wash up.  I figured we could just do soup bowls for lunch and then tonight I can take you out for a nice dinner."  She returned to stirring the pot of soup.

"Sounds good to me.  Can we get Chinese delivered, I don't want to leave her behind tonight," Emma replied.  

To be honest, I didn't want to be left alone either.  I've spent too much time alone over the course of the past week and I just end up getting wrapped up in my own head and self pity again.

"Works for me, that place on fifth is pretty good."

Emma helped cut out the pool sized soup bowls.  She placed them on two enormous saucers and her mom ladled in a waterfall of chicken noodle soup into each.  She then placed a blanket sized napkin in front of me.  

"And here's yours..., "Emma pulled a small piece of bread off her bowl and dipped it in her soup.  She pulled it out and blew on it to cool it off and then placed it on the napkin.  The moisture started soaking out of the bread in a ring around it.  I gave the 'thank you' sign.

All in all... a pretty typical, everyday mundane scene... with the exception of the naked action figure sized yours truly pulling fistfuls of broth soaked bread off a piece the size of a box fan.

When lunch was over the two enormous women decided to go sit out on the back porch.  Emma grabbed her mask and then scooped me up, again carrying me close to her chest.  She cupped her hand slightly around me to prevent me from falling.  The heights were unnerving when I was inside the cage but out in the open like this was making me nervous... and I think she sensed it.

The two women sat down on some expensive looking patio furniture with a fire pit in the middle.  They talked about typical things... people they'd run into at the grocery store... gossip about women at church... tv shows they'd been watching.  My messed up sleep schedule was catching up with me.  Emma's soft, warm hands weren't making it any easier.  She began stroking my long red hair with her thumb.  It caught me off guard at first and I'm craned my neck to look up at her.  She had a very content peaceful look on her face and gave me a slight smile when our eyes met.  My first instinct was to push her digit away (as if I would even be able to) but in the few short hours I've known her... I begun to trust her.  And... I'll admit it... it felt really good.  Tingles running down my neck and pleasant chills running all through my body.  I felt more relaxed than I've felt, not just since I shrank, but in years.  I fell asleep right there in her hand.

I was jostled wake as I felt the familiar texture of my fuzzy sock shaped sleeping bag, Emma's hand just pulling out of the cage.  I could see the sun had gone down from my spot on her desk.  I must have slept through dinner.

"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you.  Just go back to sleep.  Sssssshhhhhh."

I crawled into the sock and closed my eyes again.  Emma's finger couldn't resist a few more strokes of my hair.  As she was about to pull her finger away, almost unconsciously I reached for it.  I could feel each dermal ridge in the giant, but somehow delicate appendage.  I opened my eyes again to her smiling face.  I couldn't think of anything to do except give her another 'thank you' sign.  To my surprise, this time she did the same back to me.  I closed my eyes again and she resumed stroking my hair... continuing to do so until I fell back to sleep.

End Part 8
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:58 pm

Part 9-"Shell Shock"


And it's the damage that we do
And never know
It's the words that we don't say
That scare me so

-Elvis Costello & The Attractions


The dawn's light woke me up earlier than Emma. I'd been sleeping since yesterday afternoon which I couldn't believe. It did feel good to wake with the sun instead of sitting around all night inside the cage contemplating my situation. I still made sure I remembered my name. I could see Emma in her bed, asleep on her side. With the blanket covering her she looked like a distant mountain range, the curves of her body forming peaks and valleys. Her short, green hair clearly visible at the far end. Clearly an attempt by a lonely girl to get someone... anyone to notice her.

I got up and swallowed a pinch of the nasty tasting aspirin dust from the pouch and washed it down with a a couple of drops of water. I walked over to the food bowl where Emma had left me a couple of blueberries and a raspberry the night before. I gobbled down and entire blueberry and a small chunk of the raspberry, once again making a mess of myself. I washed the sticky juice off myself as best as possible. It didn't take much walking around on the newsprint before my soles were black again. I returned to my sock bed and sat down, resting my arms on my knees and watched Emma sleep some more.

For the first time in over a week. My mind was feeling clear. I wasn't pitying myself or worried about my slowly erasing memories. I was just peacefully watching her sleep... and occasionally chuckling when she'd start snoring.

Finally, an arm rose above her as she turned, stretching herself out under the blanket and turned towards me. She opened her eyes and smiled

"Good morning,". She said groggily. She crawled out of bed and started opening the orange cylinders next to her bed and dry swallowing the contents. She then walked over towards me on top of the desk and bent down. "How are you doing this morning, sleepy head," she said with a slight giggle.

I gave her a thumbs up.

"How's your ankle doing?"

I rubbed at the makeshift bandaid wrap for a second and then looked back up and rotated my flattened hand in a 'not great, but not bad' gesture. I realized then that the pain my lower back was almost completely gone, which was a relief. The bandaid on my upper back was still attached.

"Well don't worry... I'm sure it will get better. Would you like to come out of there?"
I nodded enthusiastically, realizing I must have looked like an excited puppy. She opened the lid and set her hand inside for yet another ride on her palm. She set me on the desk top and then stood up straight again for another stretch. She laughed when she caught a whiff of her own armpits.

"I just realized I didn't shower yesterday... I'm smelling really awesome. Can you hang out there for a little bit while I take a shower?"

As much as I would have killed for one myself right then, I nodded in compliance. She kissed her index finger and then tapped me in the head with it, assuring me she'd be back soon. She grabbed a pair of panties out of her dresser, another black t-shirt out of the closet and threw them on the bed. Then she disappeared out the door.

I wasn't sure what to do so I just sort of paced around the desk, marveling at the size of the items on it. Her gigantic laptop. The desk lamp craning high above me. A pen holder shaped like a pig, but the size of an elephant. I hadn't noticed it inside the cage, but the window was open and the cool morning air felt chilly on my bare skin.

Emma wasn't gone long. She returned in nothing but a towel, carrying her dirty clothes under her arm. She dropped the towel, completely unconcerned about me seeing her naked... and really why would she? I wasn't a person to her. Seeing my first human shaped skyscraper in the nude was... a little overwhelming, to say the least? I felt like I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to... even though I'd been completely naked to everyone else for days.

She stepped into her panties and threw her shirt on, another band logo for someone called The Dead Kennedys. She grabbed a pair of skinny jeans that were pooled up at the foot of the bed and stepped into them. Once dressed she pulled the chair out from under the desk and sat down. She instantly caught me shivering and trying to warm myself by rubbing my arms.

"You cold little Laure? Let me see if I've got something to keep you warm. She stood up again and walked to her closet. She got down on her knees and started digging around on the floor.

"Ah ha!" She shot to her feet and walked back to the desk lowering a gigantic Barbie doll onto the desk. It look like it was 3 stories tall! I was being dwarfed by a goddamn doll. Emma pulled the green polka dot dress off of it and sat the doll down on its back. I imagined I was looking at giant Moai on Easter island, except this one was 'carved' by Mattel.

"Lift up you arms," she instructed.

She lowered the dress down above me. The fabric felt stiff. As it slid down my body, I could feel my heart speed up for some reason. It was much too large and started pooling up at my feet. As the straps hit my shoulders my breasts peaked out of the neckline.

Before I knew what was even happening, I was having a full on panic attack. My mind flashed back to the night I shrunk, reliving it all over again. I suddenly shot back into the present moment by the sound of my own screaming, laying on my back drenched in sweat. I instantly started crying.

Emma's face was filled with horror and she quickly pulled the dress off me. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she kept repeating, "I didn't mean to scare you, it's ok, everything's ok." She quickly grabbed the dress and the doll and tossed them in the waste bin.

I crawled up in a ball sobbing uncontrollably, trying to make sense of what just happened. I knew I wasn't shrinking again but some part of my brain didn't. I felt like I was there all over again.

So this is what PTSD feels like.

Emma was clueless as to what was happening. She just kept saying she was sorry over and over while stroking my hair. I could feel the vibrations from her enormous tears hitting the desktop.

"I won't ever make you wear anything again, I'm so sorry!"

The irony was not lost on me.

After a few minutes my body finally stopped shaking. That was it. No more playing house. I needed her to know what had happened to me. I needed her to help me. How the hell was I going to do it, though?

I lifted my head slightly to have my view filled with the giant pig penholder.

"Of course! Emily, you fucking idiot!" I scorned myself for not thinking of it before. I leaped to my feet, Emma pulling her hand away in surprise. I mimed writing with one hand and pointed to the pig. Emma looked confused.

"Do you want a pen?!" She asked looking astonished.

I clapped my hands above my head and nodded vigorously. She pulled a piece of paper out from a drawer lower to the ground and pulled a pen out of the pig, clicked it open and handed it to me. The cumbersome writing utensil was nearly twice as tall as I was and I was having trouble even holding it up, let alone writing with it. It toppled out of my hands onto the desktop. I could feel the tears starting to well again, the panicked feeling returning.

"Wait, try this one," she said as she reached into the drawer just below the surface and pulled out an old blue crayon.

"YES!" I screamed. It was still huge, but I could move it. I walked onto the paper, leaving faint black footprints as I walked. I set the tip down on the paper and dragged out the first line...but something was wrong.

"W-w-what the fuck?! NO NO NO NO NO NOT NOW! NOT AGAIN!"

I couldn't remember what to write... because I couldn't remember what letters looked like. Literally minutes ago I could read the band name on Emma's t-shirt and now every time I blinked the letters seemed to take on a new shape. I frantically looked around the room. The text on her posters did the same.

That's when I knew... someone had done this to me... and I was being watched.

No tears this time. Just PURE. FUCKING. BLIND. RAGE. I slammed the crayon up and down on the paper repeatedly until it snapped in two. I threw one end off the edge of the desk. Emma slid back in her chair, genuinely frightened by the tantrum of a tiny girl.

"Y-Y-YOU. FECKLESS. CRUEL. MOOOOTHERFUCKERRRRRRS!" I'm sure I looked insane to Emma, screaming at the sky, especially when everything I say seems to sounds like a gentle coo. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO ME!? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!?" I grabbed the end of the crayon that was left and knelt down on the paper. "NICE TRY FUCKERS!"

I dragged the crayon along the paper. First a large circle around myself. Then I dragged a line down beneath it, then two more lines at the end. I finished it off with a cross line through the first. A fine stick figure, if I do say so myself. I walked to the other side of the paper and drew another stick figure, much smaller than the first. Then I dragged a line between the first and the second and finished it with an arrow point. I threw down the crayon tip and looked up to Emma, whose head was now nearly hovering over me. I repeatedly tapped my index finger against my chest.

"Is that supposed to be you," she asked pointing to the smaller figure.

"YES, YES, YES," she was getting it! Then she moved her finger to the larger figure.

"So then this must be me! You really are a smart one!"

A newer clarity of the situation washed over me like wave. I couldn't have dawn a simpler representation of what had happened to me... and she still didn't understand. In fact, she was incapable of understanding. Her entire demeanor changed from fear of what was going on to cheerfully watching her pet show off a trick she'd learned.

This wasn't just happening to me.

Whether it was whoever was causing this affecting them or I was causing it as a side affect to what had been done to me... it had them too. They had just as much of a block in understanding me as I had in communicating to them. And now... they've stolen my literacy from me to show me how in control they are... and make a point.

"Well, I don't know what that was about, little Laure, but I hope you got it out of you system. You really scarred me there." She wiped the tears out of her eyes and gave a nervous half-laugh.

"I just sat down in the middle of the paper in a sort of daze. I stretched my legs out in front of me and slumped over... like the doll I was. "Alright... whatever you are. I'm done fighting. Just do what you're gonna do and get it over with."

I really was done. If it decided to shrink me out of existence right then, I'd have been fine with it. And then I felt Emma's finger underneath my chin and lift my head so our eyes met.

"I'm not sure what this was all about, but you're clearly very upset about something. I'm sure you miss your family and others of your kind. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't even know where to begin to find them. My mom told me last night that there aren't very many of you that have ever been found... so there's really no handbook any of this."

God, more of this tiny-people-shaped-animal crap. I really didn't want to hear anymore of it. I turned my head away and stared blankly at my meaningless 'art.'

"Hey, hey just listen, ok," she turned my head back towards her face. "I'm trying to tell you that as long as you're with me, you have nothing to worry about. You are not a pet to me, understand? I've never really had any friends. I didn't start having health problems until a few years ago, but even before then kids never really wanted anything to do with me."

Emma had my full attention.

"I try to put on a good face and pretend I'm not affected by it, but it cuts me up inside. Hell, my own father didn't even bother to call me last night on my birthday. I've only ever really had mom... and she's been great... but there are things I can't tell... even her. Keeping all these things bottled up is ripping my insides apart. I'm sure I obsess about punk music because it's always been music for the alienated and I can find some kind of peace in it."

Tears were falling down her cheeks, but she was also smiling. I was having trouble fighting back my own.

"I've spent years hoping, wishing, praying for some kind of companionship... and it's never come. Among a few other things, I left our church because of it... because I felt like I wasn't being heard... until yesterday. I can't say if it was god, or the universe, or... fucking... Santa Clause... it doesn't matter. When I saw you yesterday it was like love at first sight... as corny as that sounds. When I say you are not a pet to me I mean it. I will only put you in a cage to protect you if I'm not around, not to imprison you, and only with your consent. I want nothing from you except to desperately be your friend. I know you can understand more than your given credit for. Do you think you can be my friend?"

Emma's loneliness had aged her somehow, making her wise beyond her years. When people talk about someone having an 'old soul,' this is the living embodiment. I'd known this person for less than a day... and I found myself caring for her. She was a hundred times my size... but somehow needed ME.

I looked into her big, brown eyes... eyes eagerly awaiting an answer. I threw myself around her finger, my tears falling down the tiny ridges in her skin. I squeezed tighter. Then I felt the thumb from her other hand stroking my hair.

"Thank you... thank you so much," was all she could get out before her lip started quivering and the tears flowed like two waterfalls from her face. She lowered her head to rest it on her hand right above me. Her warm tears splashed down on me and rolled off of my naked skin, soaking into the paper below.

This was a turning point. Whatever force was causing this was going to do what it was going to do. I had no power in any of it. If my mind turned to jelly, then so be it. There was only one thing I was sure of. From now on, good or bad... moving forward... it was Emma and me.


End Part 9
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:35 pm

Part 10-"Margaret White" 


Mother I've tried please believe me
I'm doing the best that I can
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through
I'm ashamed of the person I am

Isolation isolation isolation
  
-Joy Division


Over the course of the next couple of weeks more and more of myself kept slipping away.  I'd wake up every day and make sure I still remembered my name... but I'd usually find something else was gone.  Friends... extended family... their names would just disappear.  Their faces becoming blurry in my memory.  Eventually even my own parents were gone.  

I never lost any cognitive ability.  Like, if I thought of... say, Disney World for example.  I understood what Disney World was, but my memories of having gone there would fade until I wasn't sure I had been.  It's a strange disconnect... and if you ask me, incredibly cruel.  I still thought as a person, but couldn't communicate as one.  It's a hellish thing to feel trapped in your own mind as the people and experiences that made you who are up to that point are slowly taken away.

If I didn't have Emma, I probably would have tried to end it.

We'd spend about every waking hour together.  Emma and Emily, two peas in a grossly misshapen pod.  She'd introduce me to all kinds of new music.  She'd talk about obscure comic books and movies for hours while she slowly packed up her room for college.  Every day she'd carry a heavy box of records or a shelving unit out the door and make the same joke.

"Well you're not much of a help, are you," she'd say with a slight giggle.  

I'd run to pick up the end of a pen or a trapezoidal eraser and give her a thumbs up.  She'd laugh at it every time, which made me feel good.  Her mom would come in and help, too.  I'd catch her wiping tears away every now and then, I'm sure moving her daughter out wasn't easy on her.

At night, she'd lay in bed and I'd lay on her stomach and watch movies on her laptop, which for me, was almost like having an entire theater to myself.  She'd show me New Hollywood films and French New Wave (making sure to explain to me what he hell that meant).  She loved sleazy Italian horror films and cheap, trashy American ones.  Hitchcock's films were her favorite.  I enjoyed the foreign ones with subtitles best.  I couldn't read the subtitles, but Emma would read them out loud to me, trying to put the same level of emotion into it as the actors on screen did.  I really got a kick out of this.  

In a very short amount of time, we'd become inseparable, each dependent on the other in our lunch ways.

Things went on like this until the night before we were to leave.  Emma and her mom were packing up the last of her stuff.  I was sitting in my cage on the sock, snacking on a blueberry... again, making a mess of myself.  Emma's mom went to lift the mattress off the bed and Emma rushed over to stop her.

"Wait no, I'll get that mom...," she said with a slight panic in her voice.  I could see in her eyes something was wrong.  Her mom dropped the mattress and pulled up a half a dozen magazines.  Her face became flushed... anger filled her eyes.  

What was happening?!

"What is this?!"  Her mom held the magazines toward Emma and shook them as she spoke.  I couldn't read the name of the magazine but the 'bunny' logo was unmistakable.

"Why do you have these?" She continued shaking the magazines.  "You brought this filth into my house?!"

Emma said nothing.  She stared at the ground in all consuming shame.  

"Why are you looking at naked girls?!  It's wrong!  You're not a-a," she stopped herself.  "This isn't what god wants for you."  

I couldn't believe what was happening.  How could this kind, caring mother, the same woman who rescued me from becoming spider food in a sleazy pet store, be saying this shit to her own daughter?

"Please mom, I-I...".  Emma's face was still pointed at the ground, but now her eyes were clenched tight with tears squeaking through.  Her fists clenched tighter.

I was pressed up against the cage by this time with my hands on the pressed against the plastic.

"I knew when you left the church that you'd go down the wrong path.  All this... this... crap you're into... it's poisoned your mind."  She began ripping the magazines up as she continued her tirade.

"Please... mom... stop..." Emma was probably a hundred times my size, but looked so small just then.  I'm sure she'd have given anything to trade places with me.  

And I'd have given anything to take this assault for her.  Before I met her pictured Emma as the Carrie White type, but right then her mom was going full Margaret White.  I half expected her to start screaming about her 'dirty pillows'.

"If you're father saw this...," her mother trailed off.  She just stared Emma down for a few more seconds and then stormed out of the room.  

Emma didn't move.  I could tell she was about to break.  She was shaking, her lower lip quivering.  Her fists were still balled into fists.  

I began pounding on the plastic.

"Emma, my god, EMMA!  Please look at me!"  She was completely non responsive.  She wiped the tears out of her eyes and began to walk to her bed.  She didn't make it.  She collapsed to the floor at the foot of the bed and lost it.  She pulled at her hair and balled up onto the floor.

"EMMA, PLEASE!  EMMA LET ME OUT!  GOD, EMMA... I'M SO SORRY!  PLEASE COME HERE!"  I screamed in a panic.

I was terrified for her.  I pounded harder on the plastic, becoming more frantic.  I started ramming the side of the cage.  Nothing.  I gained speed the second time.  It rocked slightly.  

"I can fucking do this."  I pushed the food and litter bowls to one side of the cage where the lid opened.  I could only hope she didn't latch it.  I pressed myself up against the furthest wall and pushed off running as hard as I could in the confined space.  It rocked but fell back down.  I tried again... same result.  "Come on goddamnit!"  

The next time as I ran, I jumped into the wall.  The entire cage tilted around me... then slowed as it reached its apex... and crashed down on its side.  Shredded newspaper covering me as I rode it down.  The lid didn't open, but a couple of hard, adrenaline fueled kicks and it flipped down with another crash.  I stumbled out of the cage and ran towards the edge of the desk.  It was like looking down from the rim of a canyon.

"EMMA!  EMMA!  LOOK AT ME, PLEASE!"  I knew she couldn't understand me, but maybe she could hear whatever sound it is that I seem to making.  

She didn't respond.  I ran back towards the cage and began feeling around under the newsprint until I found what I was after.  I ran back across the desk to the edge and tossed a blueberry as far as I could.  A weird choice, i know... but I was freaked out and desperate... and worried about my friend.  And I didn't exactly have a lot of options.

The blueberry flew through the air and bounced off the top of her head.  She felt at the spot where it hit her scalp and then found it in the floor.  She immediately looked up towards the top of the desk to see me jumping up and down.  

"Wh-wh-what are you doing (sniff)?"  She wiped the tears out if her eyes and crawled towards the the desk.  She stopped as close to the edge as she could, "are you ok?"

I would come to learn that that was Emma in a nutshell.  Her sexuality had just been outed in the most degrading and horrifying way I could imagine... and she was worried if I was ok.  I gestured her closer to me and she spread her elbows out across the desk, resting her head on her crossed hands, still sobbing.

She lost control again and buried her face into the back of her hands.  I climbed up onto her hand and pushed my way through the green jungle of her hair, nearly slipping off when I stepped into the stream of tears coming from within.  Her face emerged, one giant eye closed tight with tears squeezing out of it.  I knelt down and spread my arms wide across her cheek and kissed her.  I buried my own head into her cheek and could no longer control my own tears.  One of her hands shifted out from below the other and she placed it behind me, touching my bare skin with the backs of her fingers. 

It killed me that I couldn't hold her in my arms as she fell apart.  She needed someone who could actually comfort her.  All she had was tiny, pathetic me.  

What she'd told me she couldn't tell, even her mom, had become glaringly obvious.  No wonder there were no boys in the picture.  And it wasn't just her weak immune system that weirded out the bastards at school.

Emma was gay.  She'd been hiding it all her life knowing her conservative, religious parents may disown her.  With everything she's been through, it's amazing she's become the person she is.  Fuck religion, and fuck her mom for not accepting who she is.  And trust me, the irony of that woman freaking out over her daughter looking at pictures of naked girls when one has been living in a plastic cage in her room for the past couple weeks is not fucking lost on me!

It felt like hours until she finally scooped me up in her hand and looked at the mess I'd made.  "Well I guess you're not sleeping in there tonight," she joked, trying to add some levity.  "I guess you're sleeping with me."

She carried me over to the bed and set me on her gigantic pillow.  She pulled off her jeans and crawled onto the bed from the other side, being extra careful not to cause the equivalent of an earthquake for me.  She laid her head on the pillow which made me slide down the indentation till I was next to her nose.  Emma giggled a bit, but suddenly began sobbing again.  She cried for hours longer, cupping me to her face as she suffered.  I stroked the side of her nose to try and comfort her as best as best I could.

She finally cried herself to sleep and I stayed right there, close to her face all night.  Eventually, I couldn't stay awake either.

The next day... we would leave for California.


End Part 10
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by bongmiilk » Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:41 am

I’m falling head over heels for these two lil punks. Great story so far!
❤️

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:06 pm

bongmiilk wrote:
Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:41 am
I’m falling head over heels for these two lil punks. Great story so far!
Thank you so much! I've been living with these characters in my head for a couple of months now and i just kept writing cause i loved them, too.
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:08 pm

Part 11-"Ten Paces"


The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please
If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them

-The Replacements


The sudden bounce back of the pillow as Emma's head lifted off of it scared me out of my slumber the next morning. She sat up with her back to me, her elbows on her knees, staring blankly at the comforter beneath her. She was completely silent. I slid awkwardly off the pillow and made my way across the hilly landscape of her unmade bed, the wrinkles in the comforter becoming dune-like. I rounded her torso and under the fleshy bridge that was her bare leg. She was now covering her face with her hands. I stoped directly below her head.

"Emma?" I startled her a little and she pulled her hands away from her face.

"Mornin' Squirt," she said, forcing a smile. "I love the way you coo in the morning. Unfortunately I don't know if it'll be enough to get me out of bed today."

She lowered a finger to stroke my hair and I nuzzled against it, surprising even myself at what a good pet I'd become. I wasn't concerned with my problems, only with trying any way I could to comfort this poor girl. She scooped me up from behind and brought me closer to her face.

"I guess I have to face her sometime, don't I?" Her fake smile had faded and now had genuine concern painted all over her face.

I lowered my head and nodded. I rubbed the side of her thumb as a sign of support. I climbed to my feet and pointed towards her mom's room and then pointed at myself and mimed boxing her mom. Emma let out an unexpected burst of laughter with a tear falling down her cheek.

"I'm sure you could take her, too." She giggled as she playfully wiggled her middle and index fingers at me as I pretended to box them. I'd pose for her, flexing my non existent muscles... I was getting pretty good at mugging like a silent film actor, if I do say so myself.

We were interrupted by the sound of the door bell ringing. Emma's attention cut away from my ridiculous shenanigans and looked towards the window. She carefully set me down on the night stand and got out of bed. She walked towards the window and spread the blinds with her fingertips.

"Movers are here," she said with almost no emotion in her voice. She let the blinds slap back into place and sighed, "here we go."

She cleaned up the mess I had made of the cage and came back over to the bed. Then she reached down and started stroking my hair again.

"I hate to make you spend all day in that thing, but I've got to hide you from these strangers. God knows the last thing I need is potential jail time for the two of us being roomies," she joked. I patted her thumb and nodded to let her know it was ok. She turned back to retrieve the cage and stopped.

"Actually...," she changed directions and walked towards one of the moving boxes marked 'shirts.' She ripped the tape off and fingered through the mass of clothing. "Ah ha," she pulled out a black polo shirt with thin red horizontal stripes, "let's try this..."

She pulled off her shirt and threw it into the box, exposing her breasts briefly before pulling the shirt on. She then grabbed her jeans from the floor on the other side of the bed and nearly fell down pulling them on. She came back over to the night stand, scooping me up. She lowered me into the shirt pocket with her fingers under my arms. I could feel her warm body through the fabric. It was deeper than I was tall and I had to pull myself up over the lip and hang by my armpits to see out.

"There, now you don't have to spend all day in a closet or something," she proudly stated, playfully messing up my hair. "Just keep your head down when you see other people, ok."

I gave her a thumbs up... but to be honest the height was freaking me out... and I wished I'd used the bathroom first.

"And... I really need you with me when I face my mom," she added.

I craned my neck up to look her in the face and gave an exaggerated nod. I released my hold on the edge of the pocket and slid back inside. Looking up all I could really see was the underside of Emma's face. I tried to snuggle in and enjoy the soft, warm space... and try not think about nature calling.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I couldn't make out much from inside the pocket that morning. I could hear a lot of shuffling and banging; and random bullshitting between the pair of movers. I could hear Emma's flip flops smacking the bottoms of her feet and the pounding of her heart beating next to me.

What I couldn't hear was her mom. She didn't say a thing to Emma all morning. The only way I could tell she was even there is when I could see Emma with a worried look on her face through the opening in the pocket, her heart rate increasing. I guess one advantage to being this small is feeling completely removed from awkward social situations... but still... I was very worried about Emma.

Finally I heard the men say they had everything packed up and ready to go. They went over a few logistics with her and then left. Emma's prized record collection was on its way ahead of us.

Emma walked through the kitchen and out the back sliding door. Her hand suddenly squeezed through the pocket's opening and lifted me out and into her other awaiting palm.

"How you doin' in there squirt?"

I'm sure where her new nickname for me came from that morning. I covered my private parts and danced around, essentially giving the international sign of needing to pee. She giggled a bit and lowered me down to the edge concrete patio for me to run out into the grass.

I'd like to tell you I was in awe of the wonder of nature from my new perspective. That walking into the tall forest of grass made me feel at one with creation. That my own nakedness broke down my industrialized human walls and freed my soul....... nope. I just really had to pee.

When I was finally relieved, I stepped back up onto the patio, the surface of the rough, oversized concrete slab scratching at the soles of my feet. Emma had sat down in one of the patio chairs watching me with a smile. She lowered her hand for me to climb on and lifted me to her face.

"All better?"

I dropped flat on my butt with my legs stretched out in front of me. I lifted my arm to my forehead, rolled my eyes back into my head with a smile, and then fell back into her palm.

"Guess so," she giggled.

I was turning into a regular Buster Keaton.

The sliding glass door opened and then shut.

Emma's demeanor completely changed. She stood straight up, causing my stomach to drop. She turned with such a force I felt like I could have flown off her hand.

Her mother stood in front of the sliding door. Her arms folded, looking like she was either going to cry or scream at her again. Emma looked down at me for support. I punched the palm of my hand like a tough guy, which caused a slight grin to appear on her face before placing me back inside the pocket.

"Movers are gone," her mother said. Not sure if it was a statement or a question.

Emma's head sunk towards the ground, "yeah."

I take back what I said earlier about social situations, cause this shit was tense. There was what was probably only seconds of silence, but felt like eternity. Then...

"Mom..."
"Emma..."

They cut each other off... more silence. I felt like a bystander accidentally walking into an old west gunfight.

"Mom I have to say something." Emma looked down at me and I nodded in approval. "I'm sorry I upset you. I'd honestly forgot those magazines were even under my bed. I haven't looked at them in years, and I'm sorry I brought them into your house."

Her mom said nothing.

"I've been hiding this part of myself for as long as I knew it was there. I've hid it from you, dad, people from church and school. I hid it... terrified that what happened last night would happen. And when it did... mom... I wanted to die last night. The one person I trusted more than anyone in the world tore me down to nothing. I wanted to kill myself. I've dealt with more medically in the past few years than most people do in a lifetime and I took it in stride. Last night I didn't want to live. But then something happened..."

I felt her hand lightly press against the outside of the pocket and she looked down at me tears falling... but smiling.

"This tiny creature fought her way out of her cage trying to get to me. She held ME even though I'm so much bigger than her. She comforted me till I fell asleep and she's spent all morning trying to cheer me up. She let me know I was still loved. If it wasn't for her I...," she stopped herself, trying to gather more courage.

"If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have been able to do this... to say what I need to say to you. Mom, I love you. I will always love you, even if you hate me for this. I know your faith tells you I'm evil... that's why I left the church, mom. I'm not evil, I'm just me. I'm still the same person I was yesterday, I'm just this also. I just want you to love me, mom... no matter what. Please don't let me leave thinking you hate me."

Her voice cracked up and the tears flowed like a breaking dam. I couldn't stay inside anymore and pulled myself up over the lip. Her mom was holding her hand over her mouth, her brow furrowed... and then she too broke. She slid down the glass door onto the concrete, balling her eyes out.

"I'm so sorry, god, I'm so sorry, Emma, please, forgive me, I'm so sorry, please." Her words became garbled in her sobs.

I looked up at Emma and she was in way more shock than I was. The world around me suddenly sped by and I fell back into the pocket. Emma ran towards her mom and hugged her. Her mom's body sandwiching me against Emma's.

"Emma, please you're crushing me!" I screamed.

She heard me coo and backed off, "oh.. sorry, Squirt!"

She lifted me out of her pocket and set me down on the concrete. Then the two giant women embraced tightly and cried together.

"I'm so sorry Emma, I'm so ashamed of myself. I didn't sleep all night. I couldn't talk to you all morning because I hated myself so much. Please forgive me!" She clutched Emma tighter.

"Of course I do mom, I love you."

Once again, the girl's character blew me away. I'm not sure if I could do the same. But she's better than me. She's better than most people. I loved this girl.

The two of them held each other right there on concrete for a few hours... until it came time to leave. Emma placed my cage on the passenger seat, but kept me in her pocket. She loaded a few extra things into her car.

And then it was time. They stood on the sidewalk holding each other, saying their goodbyes.

"...you'll call every weekend, right?"

"Of course, mom... unless I've got some cute girl over." Her mom shot her a look and they both laughed. They hugged and kissed one last time and then Emma started towards the car.

I needed to say goodbye too. As angry as I was about last night... I still owe this woman for saving my life... no, I cared about this woman. She fucked up is all. She's human.

I tapped on Emma's chest and she looked inside the pocket. I thumbed towards her mom and waved.

"I think, Laureline wants to say goodbye, too," she giggled. She lifted me out of her pocket, my feet dangling high above the ground, and placed me in her mom's hand. She lifted me to her face. I waved her closer and closer. When I was finally close enough to touch her face, I spread my arms across her cheek and gave her a kiss. I stepped back and signed 'thank you.'

"Aw, I'll miss you too, little lady." She kissed her finger and tapped me on the head with it. Tears welling again in her eyes.

She handed me back over to Emma who returned me to her pocket. The two embraced one last time and then Emma opened the car door and stepped inside. She started the ignition, gave one last wave to her mom... and pulled away.

"Well, squirt... it's just you and me now."


End Part 11
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:41 pm

I hope everyone is having a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

As for our two protagonists... its road trip time!
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:42 pm

Part 12-"Motels and Blacktop"   


All I wanna do
All I wanna do 
All I wanna do 
Is do nothing with you
 
-The Descendents


We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold... 

...just kidding.

Emma's plan was to follow I-80 across Nebraska, then connect with I-70 in Denver.  We'd then take that through the Rockies and connect with I-15 in Utah.  We'd ride that all the way to LA.  She'd never seen the mountains before and was excited to see the western states.  As for me, well... if I had been out there... those memories had been taken from me.  

It became easier to let go.  One tends not to yearn for that which one does not remember.  Everything you experience becomes new, both terrifying and exiting at the same time.  I guess that's as positive a spin as I could put on it at the time.  Mostly... I was just happy to be with Emma.

She'd let me ride on the dash and watch as the giant world sped by at 80 miles an hour.  It feels so much faster at this size.  Familiar, but gigantic objects seem to zip by at light speed.  In the plains, curves in the freeway are few and far between.  The road would become almost hypnotic and I'd find myself nodding off.  Emma would scoop me up and put me in her shirt pocket to prevent me from rolling off the dash when I did fall asleep.  I'll admit it... it was pretty cozy in there.  The sound of her heart beat making it even easier to fall asleep.  I'd tap her chest when I wanted out and we'd start the thing over again.  The first day we only made it as far as Denver.

"What'd ya say we find somewhere with minimal blood stains on the towels to stay tonight, Squirt?"

I gave her two thumbs up from my post on the dash.  She pulled into a motel just off the interstate.  The sun was just setting behind the mountains.  She grabbed her overnight bag and my cage and walked in to the lobby to get a room, locking the car behind her.  

She paid for a single on the second floor.  It was fine.  Typical ugly motel carpet and furniture left over from the '90s.  A single queen bed in the middle of the room, bathroom, fridge and tv.

"Shouldn't be too bad, that is if the bedbugs don't drain us dry in our sleep," she joked.  

I laughed... but then wondered if that should be something I should actually be concerned about at my size.  She must have seen the worry in my face.

"Don't worry, Squirt, I'll check," she reassured me while lifting up the corners of the mattress.  "All clear."

I wasn't so sure.  The thought of parasites and germs hadn't occurred to me until just then.  What happens if I get sick?  Can my now much smaller cells deal with something like the flu?  A fucking cold?  Luckily I still haven't had to find out.

Emma interrupted my train of thought, "I'm feeling pretty gross from the drive... and you don't exactly smell like a bed of roses yourself, little Laure," she cracked as she leaned over, sniffing the air above me.  "I'm gonna take a shower and I'll draw you a bath in the sink."

I can't remember the last time I've been so excited about anything... let alone because I can't remember much.  I'd pretty much been cleaning myself off with the water bottle in my cage for the past few weeks.  The thought of soaking in a swimming pool sized tub sent waves of joy through me.  I cupped my hands together and nodded, giving the best silent film happy face I could give.  Emma giggled and carried me over to the sink.  

She set me down next to the huge basin and turned the faucet on.  This was the first time I'd seen my own reflection in a mirror since before I shrank... looking completely out of place amongst the giant world around me.  I could see now that the scratches on my back were much deeper cuts than I had thought. They'd healed, but I'll probably carry the scars the rest of my life.  

Emma ran her fingers under the waterfall to test the temperature.  When she felt it was warm enough she pulled up the drain stop.  She reached behind me and opened one of the tiny hotel shampoos... which was almost as tall as I was.  She squeezed it into the flowing stream of water creating a floating layer of bubbles.  She shut off the faucet.

"There ya go, Squirt... have fun!"  She closed the cap on the shampoo bottle.

I walked away from the sink and stood with my back to her, trying to hide my smile.

"What?  What's wrong?"  She sounded both annoyed and concerned at the same time.  

I turned around and took off on a dead run towards the sink.  Just before I reached the edge I jumped as high and as far as I could and tucked my legs up into my chest, creating the world's tiniest cannonball.  I swam back up to the surface to Emma's laughing face.  There was a small spot of water on the bottom of her shirt from the splash.

"Alright, wise guy, I'm gonna go take my shower now."  She pulled her shirt off exposing her braless breasts and then pulled her jeans and panties off in one motion. 

She really was quite beautiful.  A little skinny in the way people who get sick a lot tend to be, but beautiful all the same.  She clearly thought nothing of being naked in front of me, as she really couldn't see me as human.  I tried to convince myself that we were just that comfortable with each other, but I knew it was a lie.  She stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut.  The sound of rushing water from the room sounded like rolling thunder.  The steam created floating cloud cover over the sink.

I floated around on my back, lightly scrubbing myself.  I stared up towards the top of the mirror high above me.  It was the best I'd felt in weeks.  

Emma finished her shower and pushed the curtain aside.  She grabbed a towel off a shelf above the toilet and began drying herself off.  She caught me watching her.

"Like what ya see, perv?"  She giggled to herself and walked over towards me.  

I playfully covered my eyes with my hands but spread the fingers on one hand wide enough for her to see me peaking through.  She chuckled and then stuck her hand inside the sink and playfully splashed me with a tidal wave of water.  She laughed again and then walked over to her bag, still drying her hair.  I was left rubbing the burn of soapy water out of my eyes.  She put on a pair of white panties and a blank white tank top and then returned to the sink.

"You ready to get out?"

I continued rubbing my eyes with one hand and gave her a thumbs up with the other.  She lowered both hands into the water on either side of me, causing the water to raise slightly.  Then her hands met underneath me and lifted me out of the sink, the warm water straining out of her fingers around me.  She set me down on the counter and then released the drain stop.  The gurgling sounds coming from the basin were a little unnerving.  

I sat down on the countertop feeling a little cold after leaving the warm water, the surface tension causing the water to form baseball sized beads on my body.  Emma grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom and gently wrapped me in it, applying the lightest pressure to force the thick cloth to pull the water away.  It felt strange to be enjoying this. She pulled the towel away and then examined the wrap around my ankle.  I've gotten so used to wearing it everyday that I didn't really notice it was there.  The pain in my ankle was almost non existent by this point.

"How's your foot doin'," she asked rubbing her finger against my lower leg.  

I smiled gave her a thumbs up.  

"I'm glad to hear it.  We should probably take that off then.  It'll be easier when it's wet."

I sat down and presented my foot to her.  She pinched her fingernails on one of the ends and began slowly pulling it off my ankle.  The adhesive ripped at the hairs on my leg... it hurt like a sonofabitch.  I mimed a motion to her to rip it away quickly.

"Ok, close your eyes and we'll count to three."

I complied.  

"Ok, one... two..," she ripped it off on two... somehow I knew she would.  "Got it!"

The tape left a black residue outline around my ankle and foot that I was able to work off by rubbing at it.

"How's it feel?"

I rolled my ankle around a bit, enjoying the feel of fresh air on my skin.  I stood up and walked around on it. No limp.  I looked up at Emma and gave her a 'thank you' sign.

"Hey, no problem, Laureline," she said with a smile.  You want to watch some tv and go to bed?"  I nodded.  "Ok, do you want to sleep in the cage or with me tonight?" 
I pointed at her.  She smiled and offered me her hand.  She carried me over to the bed and set me down on one of the giant pillows.  I was still feeling a little chilly so I started clapping my hands to get her attention.

"Whatcha need, Squirt?"  

I pointed at the cage sitting on the table and mimed pulling a blanket over myself.  She looked at the cage and then back to me confused?

"I thought you wanted to sleep here tonight..."

I waved my hands at her, dismissing her statement, then pointed at the cage again and mimed pulling the blanket up again.  This time I pointed to my foot and then mimed putting on a sock.  She reached in and pulled out my fuzzy sock shaped sleeping bag.

"This what you want?"  

I nodded.  She walked back over to my side and laid the sock next to me.  

"There ya go."  She kissed her index finger and tapped me on the head with it.  She walked back around to the other side of the bed and then crawled under the covers.  She grabbed the remote off the nightstand and clicked on the tv.  I nestled into my cozy sock.  She turned on the news because there wasn't much else on at that time of night.  Didn't matter, within minutes she was sawing logs.  Exhausted emotionally from the previous night's events, and physically from the long drive.  I was glad to see her go to sleep in a better place than she was in the previous night.  Between Emma's snoring and the sound of the tv, it took me quite a while longer to fall asleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of Emma closing the door behind her, having just returned from the motel lobby, jostled me awake.  I must have really been out because I can't believe I didn't feel her get out of bed.  

"Do I still remember my name... Emily Green... yup, we're good."

"Mornin' Laure.  They didn't have much downstairs so I just snagged a couple of muffins and some OJ."  She set our breakfast down on the table next to the cage.  

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and slid down the pillow, dragging the sock behind me like a child dragging its blanket.  I made my way across wrinkled plain that was the bed towards Emma's awaiting hand.  We shared a muffin (well, I had a good sized crumb and Emma inhaled the rest) and she putt some orange juice into a water bottle cap for me.  Emma dug around inside her bag, pulling out her prescriptions.  She hard swallowed her daily meal's worth of pills then threw the orange bottles back in the bag.  She threw it over her shoulder.

"Ready to hit the road, Squirt?"  

She had a red t-shirt on that day with no pocket so I had to stay in the cage until we got to the car.  Once inside she opened the cage lid and placed me on my perch on the dash like a little naked hula doll.  I'd spent so little time in the cage lately that I'd really grown to hate it when I had to go back in. She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the freeway on ramp.

There would be no sleeping that day.

As we drove into the foothills of the front range I was instantly struck by how beautiful it all was.  From my position the windshield stretched wide and far above me till it met the ceiling, providing me with a view unparalleled.  Only obscured by the occasional bug splattering across the glass... which I'll tell you, at this size, will make your heart leap out of your throat.  The foothills gave way to green forested peaks, impossible in size.  The interstate weaved through the narrow, craggy spaces between.   Mansions precariously scattered along the mountainsides.  We passed through old Victorian mining towns, now just mining tourist's wallets.  If I'd seen this all before, I was glad to be seeing it like it was new.

I realized Emma hadn't said anything for quite some time... which was odd for her.  She would normally be going on about some obscure band that had just shuffled through her iPod.  I turned to check on her.  Her hands had a death grip on the steering wheel and I could see her jaw clenched through her cheek.  Her face seemed paler.

"You ok Emma," half forgetting she couldn't understand me.  

My coo must have surprised her out of her trance.  She readjusted her grip on the wheel.  I hadn't thought about how intense driving through the mountains at freeway speeds could be for someone who'd never done it before.  I crawled on my hands and knees to position myself directly in front of her and then sat down, crosslegged.  I clapped my hands to get her attention.  I took a deep breath, held it and then slowly exhaled.  I repeated and then pointed at her.  She did the same... and then again.  She glanced back at me from the road and I rotated my arm, gesturing her to continue.  I had another idea and pointed to myself, then tapped my shoulder and then pointed at her's.

"You wanna sit here?"  She dipped her head towards her right shoulder.  

I nodded.  

She placed her hand in front of me and I rode it the short distance between the dash and her shoulder.  I sat right up against her neck and began rubbing the base of it.  I also rambled nonsense to her.  I couldn't remember any stories or songs so I just made shit up.  I didn't matter, she couldn't understand me anyway, but the cooing sound she did hear seemed to calm her.

"Thanks Laure... this is really stressing me out.  It's all so beautiful, but these nutjobs speeding around these curves are really freaking me out," she said with a quiver in her voice.  She scratched me on the back of the head to show her appreciation.  I could feel her voice vibrating through her neck.

The road climbed high into the mountains, until we were nearly above tree line.  There we were swallowed up by a long tunnel through the mountain.  The tunnel dumped us out on an extremely steep downhill grade, causing Emma to lock up again.  I continued rubbing her neck and making exaggerated breathing sounds, trying to calm her down.  When we finally reached the bottom, Emma pulled off the interstate and into a gas station.  We didn't really need fuel, she just needed a break and it was the perfect excuse.  

Emma let me out onto the grass to use the 'restroom,' which was fine at her house, but felt kind of degrading in a public place.  She didn't know any better.  Even though she treated me like a friend... I was still a pet.  She picked me up when I was done and put me in the cage while she went inside and did the same.  She returned with a bottle of water and a stick of beef jerky.  Before I knew it, I was back on her shoulder with a piece of beef jerky the size of a football to snack on.  It was too tough to pull apart by hand so she broke off a piece with her teeth and gave it to me.  I didn't mind.  

The next leg awaited us.

There was just one more steep pass after that.  It dropped us down into some expensive looking ski town.  The kind of place only people like Emma's parents could afford.  The terrain started to change almost instantly.  The lush green forests were giving way to red rock and sagebrush.  The tall rock walls around us seeming to spread apart, feeling less claustrophobic.  It was like this for a while until the road dropped into a narrow canyon, so narrow the interstate was built over the eastbound lanes.  Emma became very nervous.

"Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god...," she kept repeating.  No amount of breathing or talking to her was helping.  If she didn't have to drive, I'm sure her eyes would be shut.  

The rock walls stretched up past my ability to see the tops.  The traffic was thick and indifferent.  She was on the verge of a full blown panic attack.  And then the walls opened up again into another tourist town.  The canyon disappeared behind us.  Red rock mountains all around us, but spreading further away from the road.  Emma started breathing normal again.  

The mountains turned to flat topped mesas.  Wide open desert valleys.  Everything looked so dry and unforgiving.  It was beautiful in its own way.  I could feel the tension in Emma's body begin to let go, returning to her regular chatty, rambly self.

"Well, that was wild," she said with a chuckle.  "Let's not do that again anytime soon, ok?"  She picked me up off her shoulder and placed me back on the dash.  "Thanks for trying to help, Squirt."

The Utah border came and went.  In the distance to the south you could see light penetrating through the rocks of what must have been Arches National Park.  I wondered if I'd ever been there.  The road continued to wind through the arid terrain.  Yellow and brownish soil with green and purple banded hills stretching out towards the dark cliffs to the north.  The car climbed through what looked like a giant rock gate into stunning red rock desert and then into higher, yellow rock desert, full of giant mounds of sandstone.  It amazed me how much our surroundings would change in such short periods of time.  Very different than the Midwest.

The freeway dropped us once again into some of the most gorgeous red rock desert you could imagine.  It stretched on to the north and south for what seemed like forever.  Hardly a plant in sight.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  Then... almost as soon as we started across it, we were back into forested mountains again.  It's almost like Utah was created by a god with attention deficit syndrome.

Emma was in good spirits again.  She'd blast her music as loud as she could until she'd see me covering my ears and lower it back down again.  She'd pretend the steering wheel was a guitar or a keyboard or whatever instrument she wanted it to be.  She'd sing along to her favorite songs... if you can call it singing.  

I'd alternate between watching the road and watching her for entertainment.  She did have great taste in music.  I couldn't say if it's something I would have listened to before.  I can't remember what I liked before, so all of it sounded new and exciting.    If there was something I really liked I'd wave at Emma and point down toward the stereo.  She'd tell me who it was and then, incredibly, the entire history of the band.  It really was impressive how much she knew.

"Oh this one... this is Joy Division.  They were from Salford, England.  They put out  a couple of really amazing records and then their lead singer killed himself.  They then reformed as New Order with the guitar player taking over on vocals and more of a dance music style.  They're great, too."  That was just about as short an answer as she could give.  I often wondered if she may have a mild case of Aspergers.   Still, it made me smile every time.  

I-70 ended and we headed south towards St. George, where we would end up spending the night.   A beautiful town looking out of place in its desert surroundings.  It wasn't as late when we checked into a motel as it was the night before.  Emma showered her panic sweats away as I swam around in the sink.  Afterwards she ordered a pizza to the room.  It arrived and Emma opened it up on the bed.  I climbed into the box, a little over exited to be eating pizza... something I still remembered I loved.  I could feel the heat coming off of it.

"Hey!  Save some for me," Emma joked. 

She cut off a nice big cheesy piece and blew on it to cool it off.  She placed it in front of me and I watched as a massive slice slid away from the rest and lifted into Emma's awaiting mouth.  I scarfed down my piece and Emma helped herself to three more.  I was a little in awe watching half a pizza the size of a parking lot disappear into her.

We finished dinner and settled into bed.   We watched an old French film on Emma's laptop and she read the subtitles to me as she usually did.  I remember thinking that night that this... this was it.  I mean, like... this is what I want.  I'd pretty much let go of the idea of being 'rescued' by that point.  I no longer longed for a life I had no memory of.  Yes, I wished I could still read; and yes I wished I could communicate to others by more than pantomiming.   But if the future held nothing more than Emma and I traveling the country and staying in motels every night, I would have loved nothing more.  Obviously, that wasn't going to happen.  We'd be in LA by the next evening and she'd begin her schooling the following Monday.  The two of us would not be spending nearly as much time together... and that thought saddened me.  

But this... this was good... and I savored every last second of it.  It was just a fantasy... and in the coming weeks... i would learn that reality could be so much worse... 

...and so much weirder.


End Part 12
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by jeffrey-dallas » Fri Nov 27, 2020 4:43 pm

"The last nosy fellow who come through Barstow, somebody done come out and punctured all his tires."

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"You're like, really tiny."
"Thanks. I had no idea."

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Fri Nov 27, 2020 9:24 pm

jeffrey-dallas wrote:
Fri Nov 27, 2020 4:43 pm
"The last nosy fellow who come through Barstow, somebody done come out and punctured all his tires."

Image
lolololololololol
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Fri Nov 27, 2020 9:27 pm

Part 13-"Home Sweet Home"  


You spurn my natural emotions
You make me feel I'm dirt and I'm hurt
And if I start a commotion 
I run the risk of losing you and that's worse

Ever fallen in love, in love with someone 
You shouldn't have fallen in love with? 

-The Buzzcocks


Joshua trees zipped by on either side of the road as we made our way towards Vegas.  Casino billboards promising instant wealth... beckoning us closer.  I may not have been able to read the signs, but the images of slot machines exploding with change and people being showered in money aren't hard to decipher.  Emma was sipping on what was left of her overpriced coffee she bought from a drive thru in St. George.  I was sitting crosslegged at my station on the dash, picking at a crumb of scone she'd bought from the same place.

Emma was unusually quiet that morning.  Her music was as loud as ever, but she wasn't singing along or talking about any of it.  I'd turn around and smile at her to make sure she was ok.  She just smile back and then scratch me on the back of the head.  Maybe she didn't want this little road trip to end either.  I can't know for sure.

The mood lightened as we approached the outskirts of the city.  Tall, ridiculous looking buildings seeming to have sprung right up out of the barren desert floor, surrounded by urban sprawl.  Emma really wanted to see The Strip, so we got off the interstate and went cruising.  Enormous, gaudy themed hotels stretched into the distance.  There were plenty of tourists out on the sidewalks and people dressed up as superheroes for some reason.  Guys handing out cards for prostitutes, religious zealots damning everyone who walked by them.  Las Vegas really is a strange place.  Emma was loving it.

"God, we should have stayed here last night!  I could have got ya a hooker, Squirt!"  She barely got the sentence out before she started laughing.  

Visions of having my entire body inserted into some streetwalker's damaged goods suddenly filled me head.  I shook my head at her in disapproval which just made her laugh harder.  We cruised up and down a few times enjoying the freak show.

Having her curiosity sated, she eventually found her way back to the interstate.  We were on our way to our final destination.  Emma resumed her singalong and I laid down on the dash with my head on my hands.  I fell asleep sometime after we crossed the California border.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shit!"

I awoke to feeling the entire car stopping beneath me and my body sliding towards the windshield, only being stopped by falling into the vent indentation, banging my funny bone into the side.  Luckily the slats weren't wide enough for me to fall through.  The cold air blowing from below gave me goosebumps all over my naked flesh.  I was disoriented, but glad I didn't end up like one of the smears on the opposite side of the glass.

"Oh, god... fuck, sorry, sorry, sorry Laureline!  Are you ok?!"  

I was surprised to see that we were sitting in horrendous LA traffic.  I'd slept through nearly an entire state!  I crawled out of the vent and gave her a thumbs up, rubbing the offending elbow.  I was irritated with myself for wasting the time I had with her snoring away on the dash.

"There must be a wreck or something ahead, everyone started slamming on their breaks.  Are you sure you're ok?"  

I examined myself to be sure and gave her another thumbs up.  She was looking pretty stressed out.  

"You better come here just in case this gets worse."  

She lifted me up and placed my on her shoulder.  Obviously if we stopped hard again there was nothing to keep me from flying off.  But I could try to keep her calm... which, without saying it, was what she really wanted.  

Traffic was moving at a crawl.  The drive time traffic combined with whatever was holding it up turned The 405 into a parking lot.  Vehicles merged slowly for what felt like an hour.  Emma was all clenched up and I did what I could to help.  Once again wishing I was big enough to hold her hand and tell her it's going to be ok.  Finally, I could see what was happening.  A semi truck was completely engulfed in flames surrounded by cops directing traffic.  Most of them looking clueless how to handle it, not a firefighter in sight. It was something to behold.

"Jesus,  I hope the driver wasn't in there," Emma said, finally breaking her silence.   

The thought of being inside that thing sent chills through me.  I couldn't think of a worse way to die than burning alive.  I threw myself against Emma's neck and she stroked my back with her thumb.  

I couldn't help but feel like this was some kind of bad omen.

The freeway finally opened up again and we were able to move freely.  We exited onto Sunset Boulevard and followed it towards the school.  Her parents had paid for an off campus apartment, worrying that dorm living might not be best for her health conditions.  I wasn't exactly keen on the idea of her having a roommate anyway.  Just because she's a good person and treated me well doesn't mean I could trust anyone else to do the same.  I'm completely at the mercy of these giants.  

We pulled up to the the building.  Emma placed me in me cage and stepped out of the car.

"We made it, Squirt!"  She raised her arms high above her head and stretched her back.  "How 'bout we go check out our new digs?" 

She grabbed her bags and my cage and headed into a tall brick building.  She carried me up the stairs to the second floor and pulled a set of keys out from under the rug where the movers had left them.

"Here we go..."

The dark space suddenly filled with light as Emma flipped on the light switch.  It was small for an apartment, one room about the size of an average bedroom a small kitchenette divided off from the main room, a closet and and a bathroom.  Emma's belongings still boxed up and piled against the walls.  I'm sure a place like this in LA was more than most people's mortgages in the Midwest.  

Her bed leaned against the wall.  It wasn't much, but it was probably bigger than the average dorm room.  I say all this trying to see it with a regular sized person's eyes, cause to me it was cavernous.

"Home sweet home," she said, sounding exhausted. 

She set my cage down on top of the dresser and let me out. 

"I'll be right back."  She left for just a couple of minutes and returned with the remaining pizza from the previous night.  "I hope it's still good."

Botulism seemed like a hell of a risk for someone with as many health problems as she had.  She microwaved it anyway and we finished it off.  Pizza never tastes as good the next day, even when your eating crumbs.  I'm glad to say neither of us got sick.

"Let's just chill out tonight and I'll worry about unpacking all this tomorrow, ok?  Unless you wanna get a jump on it yourself?"  She giggled while poking me in the stomach.   

I brushed my hands together and then jokingly flexed my biceps which induced a laugh from her... she has a great laugh.  She pushed her mattress onto the floor with boom I wasn't prepared for.  She started looking at box labels until she found one that had bedding in it.  Once the bed made she kicked off her flip flops and wiggled out of her jeans.  

"You sleeping with me again tonight?"  She asked.

I confirmed with a nod.

She propped up a couple of pillows and then laid down on the bed with her laptop and yours truly.

"Tomorrow I'll get all this stuff cleaned up and then we can go exploring."   She said as she set me in her stomach.  

It hadn't occurred to me just then how little time I'd spent outside since this happened.  I was either locked up in a cage, in Emma's room, or in the car.  The idea excited and scared me at the same time.

The sun slowly dropped and the room got darker... and Emma scrolled through whatever movie pirating service she was using until she found some Italian zombie movie to watch.  The gory bits were more extreme than I was expecting and found myself closing my eyes in parts.  Emma would just laugh at the less than convincing effects, which made it easier.  She'd stroke my hair and run her finger along my back which gave me all kinds of tingles.  Like I said before... this really was it.

After a nihilistic climax to the movie, Emma put her laptop on the floor and then set me on the unused pillow next to hers.  She rolled onto her side, her hand draped over me like a giant warm blanket.  She watched me as I snuggled in with a slight smile on her face.

"Goodnight, Squirt, I love you..." she said as she closed her big brown eyes.

"I love you too, Emma..."

Oh...uh........................uh oh...


End Part 13
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Fri Nov 27, 2020 9:44 pm

Part 14-"Sexual Existentialism"  


Loose nut in my head 
A bolt of lightning between my legs 
I can't think straight my mind's a mess
I only see straight when I'm being led 
 
-Black Flag



It didn't matter that the words had left my mouth... she couldn't understand me anyway.  How deeply I felt them was what surprised me.  I'd only known this girl for less than a month, but we've spent all that time together... and at that moment I couldn't imagine ever wanting to be with anyone else.  I completely depended on her for everything and anything, and a part of me... seemed to like that.  

She needed me as well... emotionally.  I couldn't remember any of my past relationships so I wasn't sure I was ever into girls.  I was still clearly into guys because of how attractive I found the leading men in so many of the films we'd watch together.  

Did it really even matter?  I've cared about her since the first day we met, but this was the clearest and strongest I could remember feeling about anything.  

I was in love with Emma.

I didn't sleep much that night.  Partially due to sleeping through half the drive that day... mostly just unable to shut my brain off.  I just laid there watching her sleep, laughing to myself when she'd start snoring.  Her hand was still drapped over my naked body, feeling familiar and warm.  I'd trace the dermal ridges in her thumb with my fingers, causing tiny muscle ticks when I tickled a nerve.  

Eventually I drifted off to sleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was jostled out of a restless sleep the next morning, as seems to be the way I wake up most mornings now.  Emma got up to use the restroom causing the usual morning earthquake for me.  She returned and lifted me off the pillow.

"Your turn, Squirt," she said through a yawn.  She set me in the cage to do my business.  She returned to the bathroom where I could hear her turn on the sink and then the shower.  "Ya done?"  

I nodded.  

"Alright let's get cleaned up."

She lifted me out of the cage and carried me towards the bathroom.  She already had a sink full of bubbly water waiting for me.  Instead of letting me get in myself, this time she hovered her hand about ten feet (from my perspective) above the water.  Her hand tilted quickly and I was dumped into the warm water.  I screamed, not expecting the fall, and I toppled in head first... getting a mouthful of soapy water.  I bobbed back to the surface where Emma was standing over the sink trying to contain her laughter.

"Sorry, Squirt.  My hand just slipped," said while trying not to giggle.  

I folded my arms and gave her a fake pout and spun my back to her like a spoiled child.  She laughed again and then poked my head underwater with her finger.  I got another mouthful of bitter water.  When I popped back up she was doubled over laughing.  I just laughed along with her.

"Alright Squirt, you have fun.  I'm taking a shower."  She pulled off her shirt and stepped out of her panties.  

This beautiful skyscraper of a woman stood nude before me.  It wasn't the first time, it wouldn't be the last... but it was the first time I felt my body go flush with desire.  She stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed.

I couldn't help myself... 

I know, it'll make me sound like a creep... but my hand found its way south.  I rubbed myself furiously, desperately seeking release.  It'd been so long since I'd had ANY kind of release.  When I finally came... I came hard.  The joyful tension followed by the relaxing euphoria that only comes with an orgasm.  Feeling content and ashamed at the same time, I laid back in the water waiting for her to finish her shower.

The shower's rumble stopped with the squeaking turn of the faucet and she stepped out, a cloud of steam accompanying her.  Streams of water cascading down her mountainous body.  

I felt myself wanting another round.

"Ah shit, I forgot to unpack the towels."  She walked out into the main room naked, leaving a trail of wet footprints behinds her.  I could hear her fumbling around through boxes until she came back with an enormous towel for herself and a hand towel for me.  She began moving the towel back and forth against herself and then rubbing it in her hair vigorously.  Then wrapped the towel around herself.

I sank into the water up to my eyes.  

"You enjoying the show, perv?"  It was the same joke she'd made before, but this time it made me panic.

Oh god, she'd caught me.  Oh god, I've fucked up.  Oh god, you idiot.  

Then she just giggled and placed a hand under the water and scooped me out.  It was the same little game we'd played before... except now... things were different.  At least for me.  As she dried me off all I could think about was her massive fingers rubbing against my tiny, vulnerable body.  My god... I was so turned on.  I don't know what had gotten into me.  I wanted her... I needed her.  

Reasonable thought took a vacation... I made my move.

As she pulled the wash cloth away I grabbed ahold of her index finger.  She stopped surprised.

"What is it, Squirt?"

I looked up into her big brown eyes and cautiously climbed onto the her finger, my eyes never leaving hers.  I slowly started grinding my sex against her finger, feeling the ridges of her fingerprint sending waves of pleasure through my whole body.  No sooner had I started... and she pulled it right out from under me.  

Fear overtook me... what the fuck was I doing?!  What the actual fuck was I doing?!

"Ok, you little weirdo that's enough of that.  You win, I'll stop calling you a perv.  Such a naughty little girl."  She kissed her finger and then tapped me on the ass with it.  "Love ya, Squirt."

And that was it.  I felt humiliated, ashamed... what the fuck was I doing?!  She loved me, yes, I knew it in my heart.  But she loved me like someone loves a cat.  She wasn't mad at me for what I just did... she had no emotion about it.  I was just her dog humping her leg.  

I was devastated.  I was so blinded by my feelings that I ignored my reality.  I'm not her equal... and I never will be.

Emma carried me to the dresser as I tried to fight back the tears.  She set me down next to my cage.  My home.  The reality I'd been ignoring.  She sat down on the mattress and swallowed her meds then began to fiddle with her laptop.  

I didn't want to be seen... I didn't want to be there... why was this happening to me?!  What did I do to deserve this?!  I can't even leave!  This is torture.  This is hell.  To care for someone so deeply and not even be able to tell them.  To love someone who isn't able to love you back... that is hell.  Who, or whatever had done this to me wanted me to suffer, and with my memories gone, I couldn't know why.

I balled up behind the cage gripping my knees trying not to cry... but ultimately giving in.  I felt so alone again, like I was back in the pet store... maybe it'd been best if I just died there.  Emma was blasting music and making a racket as she tore open moving boxes, completely unaware of what was happening.  The morning came and went that way.  She'd get her room damn near set up before she even noticed she couldn't see me.

"Laure?  Laureline?  Squirt?  Where are you?  Oh shit, I'm sorry I forgot to feed you earlier, give me a minute."  I could hear her scrounging around in her purse.  Suddenly I felt the cage disappear behind me and I fell backwards.  I instantly tried to hide that I'd been crying.

"Hey, I've still got a little beef jerky left if you want some."  

I didn't even turn around.  

"Hey are you ok?  Are you sick?"  Her voice was full of genuine concern.

I covered my ears and started crying again.

"Oh god, Laureline what's wrong?!"

I closed my eyes and started screaming.

"God, please Laure, what's wrong?!"  Panic began to fill her voice.  I suddenly felt her finger on my hair and reflexively I jumped up and hit it away, still screaming.

She jerked her hand away like I'd just tried to bite her.  The look of terror and confusion filled her eyes... and why shouldn't it.  How was she to know what this lowly creature on her dresser was feeling.  Tears flooded her eyes and released down her cheeks.

"Laure... please... what's wrong... what did I do?  I don't know what's wrong, I'm sorry!  Please..." her voice choked as she spoke.

"I LOVE YOU GODDAMNIT!"  I screamed hoping to god I could get through.  "I FUCKING LOVE YOU!  PLEASE PLEASE LOVE ME!  Pleeeeease...".  I fell to my knees feeling more naked and pathetic than ever.  

Suddenly I felt her finger gently stroking my hair.  I looked up... into her eyes... and saw love there.  It may not have been the kind of love I wanted... but it was love just the same.  I instantly felt ashamed for making her upset.  I grabbed ahold of her finger with both arms and bawled my eyes out.  I nuzzled it just like a good pet should... my heart breaking as I did.

The rest of her fingers gently pushed me towards the edge of the dresser into her other awaiting hand.  She'd said she wanted to go exploring that afternoon, but that didn't happen.  She shut her music off and she just held me in the quiet.  Stroking my hair, holding me close to her gorgeous face.  Gently kissing me on the head.  Humming anonymous tunes to try to calm me.  

It didn't help.

As close as I was to her right then, it was the most distant from her I'd felt.  Why did I have to ruin it?  Why did I have to make this so much more complicated?  Things were fine... great even.  I'd pretty much accepted my new life with her and it felt right.  And now... what do I do?  

The heart wants what the heart wants I guess.  And it isn't rejection I feel.  No, rejection is strong and it sticks with you.  I don't remember much of anything from my past, but I know I've felt rejection.  The faces are gone, but the feeling lingers.  This was not rejection... this was worse.  Somehow it would make it easier if she could just say no.  How do people of faith continue to express their love for their higher being and accept the silence?

It's maddening.

Emma held me well into the night, trying to calm me, terrified of what was happening.  She hadn't eaten all day.  She looked exhausted... and I did that to her.  I'm a fucking asshole.  

She finally broke the silence, "do you want to sleep with me again or in your cage," she asked in a whisper.

I couldn't even look her.  I'd ruined everything.  I didn't deserve to be with her.  I hung my head and pointed to the cage.

"Oh... uh... ok," I could hear the disappointment in her voice.  She stood up with me in her palm and held me close to her face.

"I'm sorry I don't know what to do to help you.  If I'm to blame then I'm infinitely more sorry.  You're the best friend I've ever had... the only friend I've ever had.  I would never, ever do anything to intentionally hurt you.  I wish I could understand you the way you can understand me, but I'm doing the best I can.  Please don't be angry with me...," she cut herself off, choking on her own words.  Tears were pouring out of her eyes.  

I felt like even more of a heal.

I signaled her to come as close to me as possible and I threw myself around her nose.  I kissed it over and over.  I kissed her cheeks and pressed myself against them as hard as I could.  She cried harder and kissed my head repeatedly.

"I love you so much, Laureline.  You'll never know how much I love you."

So there we were... me, desperately trying to convey my romantic love for her.  Emma, desperately trying to convey her unconditional love for me.  How could two people who care about each other so much have such a wall between them?

"Do you still want to sleep in there tonight?"  Her eyes were almost pleading for me to say no.

Every fiber of me wanted to wake up next to Emma... for the rest of my life.  But right then... I would only be torturing myself.  I nodded and she set me down gently on the sock.  

"I'll leave the lid open, ok?"  She leaned down and looked at me through the clear plastic wall, "I love you."

She kissed her finger and pressed it up against the cage.  I stood up and kissed my hand and placed it on the opposing side.  She laid down and on her side, her back to me.  I could hear her sobbing... and it broke my heart.  I couldn't put her through this again.  

No matter how much it hurt, I had to push these feelings down.  I had to suppress them.  If there's one thing the universe has shown me over the past few weeks... it's that I don't matter.  What I want... what I need... what I feel... inconsequential.  I have no real place in this world.

So I'll focus on her.  Her wants... her needs... her feelings.  She's special... and the whole world's gonna know it someday.  I can feel it in my gut.

I stared up at the ceiling from my sleeping bag sock... trying to accept my nothingness... and cried myself to sleep.


End Part 14
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:10 pm

Part 15-"Aftermath"  


All I want is a room with a view
A sight worth seeing, a vision of you
All I want is a room with a view, oh oh
I will give you my finest hour 
The one I spent watching you shower 
I will give you my finest hour, oh yeah

-Blondie  



Emma left early the next morning.  She had to pick up her books and schedule for her classes... which she probably would have done the previous day had i not had a complete meltdown.  My stomach twisted from the combination of shame and frustration.  I'm sure not eating for a day and a half didn't help either.  There was nothing in the cage to eat.  It wasn't Emma's fault, she hadn't had time to fill the fridge yet.  I tried filling my belly with water, but it didn't help much.

Hours passed and she still hadn't returned.  I was kind of starting to get worried.  Was she avoiding me?  Had I driven her away?  God, please don't let me have fucked this up.  My heart was broken by the fact that she couldn't know how I felt about her... but the thought of not having her in my life at all was much worse.  

Is this what dogs go through every time their masters leave the house?

It had to be mid afternoon before she finally came through the door.  I shot up and pressed myself against the wall of the cage.  She was carrying several plastic bags full of books and food.

"Heeeeeey, Laure.  Sorry I was gone so long.  There was a problem with getting one of the books I needed and it took them forever to find one.  I had to go to the grocery store to get us some food.  I made one more stop to get you something...," she lifted me out of the cage and set me on the bar style countertop that separated the main room from the kitchen area.  "I'll be right back."

She disappeared out the door again.  I sat down down crosslegged and wondered what I could have possibly done to deserve a gift from her.  Guilt flooded through me.  She returned, struggling to get through the door with the cardboard box she was carrying.

"Ok, turn around and close your eyes.  It'll take me a few minutes to set this up."  She was smiling at me like nothing had happened yesterday.  "Go on!"

I looked at her a little confused and did as instructed.  Maybe ten-fifteen minutes passed while I listened to her shuffling bags and paper and items I couldn't recognize.  Finally she was finished.

"Ok, keep your eyes closed, I'm going to slide you onto my hand."  She pushed me with a pair of fingers onto her other hand and I felt myself rise into the air.  "Alright... open your eyes."

Before me was a large glass tank covering most of the top of the dresser.  The bottom was lined with newsprint.  There was a corner with a new litter box partially obscured by newspaper taped to the glass for privacy.  There was a hamster wheel, a new food bowl and my sock sleeping bag.  A new water bottle hanging from the lip of the cage and a mirror glued to the glass.  

She'd bought me a new cage.  Much bigger than the last... but still a cage.

"I thought your old cage was kinda small and depressing so I got you a bigger one so you can have some room to breath.  There's privacy for when you need to use the restroom.  There's an exercise wheel if you need to run.  And just like before, I will never force you into it unless you consent.  It's just for your protection when I'm in class.  D-do you like it?"

To be honest, it really wasn't what I need to see at that moment.  I was already clinging to my humanity by a thread and this... this just... confirmed that I was no longer a person.  

Still, Emma was trying to do something nice for me, her heart was in the right place.  I wasn't going to let her see me break again.  I choked back the tears and forced the biggest, fakest smile I could conjure up and gave her an approving nod.

"Oh, thank god... I was worried you'd hate it.  Look, we'll decorate it however you like, make it real comfy.  Oh!  And there's one more thing..." she said reaching into her pocket.  

“Please, no more surprises,” I complained to myself.

"This is my old phone, I found it when I was emptying boxes.  It still has all the music and movies I downloaded onto it.  There's also several apps to streaming services on there and I'll show you how to use them.  The password protection is off so you don't need to worry about that."

I was a little confused, especially since I couldn't read anything.

"I was thinking about how boring it will get in there all day.  This is all I could think of to give you something to do until i get home and we can hang out.  What'd ya think?"
She set the phone inside the cage and then ran a power cord out and plugged it in behind the dresser.

Would anyone else have even cared?  Is it any wonder why I was in love with this girl?  I looked up at her, wiped a tear out of my eye and gave her a 'thank you' sign.

"Aw, no need to cry, Squirt."  She wiped the tear away from my cheek with her thumb.  "I wish I could just take you with me everyday, but that might be a little dangerous.  Besides, it might be more boring for you than sitting in there all day."

I laughed a little harder than I normally would.  But she was right.  God knows what could happen to me out there.  Someone could accidentally bump into her in the hall and smash me into paste.  Or worse... I could get lost... or kidnapped by someone who doesn't have the kind heart Emma has.  Who knows what they would... or could do to me.

"We'll worry about that stuff later.  I need to go figure out where my classes are... you up for a walk?"

Even after everything that just went through my head... I really wanted to feel the sun on my skin.  I nodded enthusiastically.

"Good deal.  How about you get acquainted with your new digs while I throw on a polo shirt?"  I nodded and she set me inside the tank and then started ripping open boxes.

There was definitely more room inside the tank, but the higher walls made it feel more oppressive.  The sound of my footsteps on the newspaper lining echoed strangely off the glass walls.  It was still a cell, even if it was a building sized one.  She'd placed some blueberries in there for me so I inhaled about half of one before she got back.

Emma found a pink polo after some digging and pulled it over her head.  She returned to the cage, "ya ready, Squirt?"  

I nodded and she lifted me out and deposited me in her pocket.  A familiar and comforting setting.  The pulse of her heart pounding through her chest on the other side of the fabric felt more like home than a tank ever would.

We left the apartment and descended the stairs out the door.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma compared the map on her phone to a sheet of paper in the other hand as she walked.  I can only assume it was a class schedule being that the characters lined up on the paper changed shape inside my brain every time I blinked.  I hung over the edge of the pocket by my elbows, my feet not quite touching the bottom of the pocket.  Every now and then I'd have to rest my arms and fall back inside.  It felt safe in there from the overwhelming size of the outside world.  

It was Friday evening so there weren't that many people around campus, but it was enough to scare me.  All of my interactions with these giants has been one or two at a time.  But to see many of them walking around made me very nervous.  No one saw me... who would be looking for a tiny woman peaking out of a pocket anyway?  But watching their hulking frames move by at speeds objects their size shouldn't be able to was too much.  Eventually I just hid inside the pocket, trying to block it all out.

"God, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this.  Everything's so spread out.  How am I gonna make it to each class on time."  Emma's voice was slightly muffled by her mask... but I could still hear the panic in her voice.  Although I sympathized with her, it was kinda funny to see her overwhelmed with the size of something for a change.

I patted on her chest to get her attention.  She spread the pocket open with her fingers and looked in.  I pointed at her and then flexed my biceps... and then smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up.  She gave a muffled laugh... a little bit of normalcy restored.

"Thanks, Squirt.  I'm glad you think so."  She kissed her fingertip and rubbed it into my hair, messing it up.  She giggled again.  "I've got just one more class to find and then what'd ya say we find somewhere to feed our faces?"  

I nodded in agreement.

We went back to the apartment so she could get her car.  She placed me on the dash and pulled out her phone looking for a nearby restaurant.

"Oh, shit!  In and Out!  You always see those in movies!"  The choice had been made.

The drive thru took a while because it was apparently the place to be on a Friday evening.  Emma ordered a cheese burger and fries... and a strawberry shake.  She made sure to drop me back in her pocket before anyone saw me in the order window.  It smelled so good, filling the car with greasy fast food emanations.

Once home, Emma dropped our dinner on the counter and I soon followed.  She emptied the bag and laid it all out on the counter.  I thought I'd be cute and drag a French fry as long as I was tall out of the box.  Emma giggled and snatched the fry away from me, laughing as she chewed.  I mugged my best cartoony expression with my arms crossed and my foot tapping.  She just laughed harder... don't choke, girl.

"Alright here you go."

Emma laid a napkin down in front of me and broke off the end of a fry and a pinch of meat and bread.  She then retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge.  She unscrewed the cap and placed it next to my feast of crumbs.  She placed her finger over the top of the straw and pulled it out of the oversized cup.  She lifted her finger at the end just briefly so a small amount of milkshake dripped into the cap.

She lifted her cup, "Cheers Laureline."  I tapped the cap on the bottom of the giant cup and smiled.  We stuffed our faces with her finishing her meal, me not so much.  As usual the tiny scraps I was given were more than I could eat.

Things felt... better.  My heart still felt broken... but she was still there.  I was still with her and that's all that mattered.  No matter how hard I tried, my feelings for her still clawed at the back of my skull.  But this was good, too... and I wasn't going to ruin any time I had with her wishing for more... something that couldn't be.

The rest of the weekend passed pretty quietly.  Emma finished setting up the apartment, getting her records put away, getting her bed frame put together, hanging posters on the wall.  I tooled around with her phone inside my new glass mansion.  It was easier to navigate than I thought.  I couldn't read the words, but the logos still looked familiar.  I didn't waste a lot of time staring at it though.  I mostly watched her, both of us smiling when she'd catch me doing so.  At night she'd hold me and stroke my hair and rub my back as we watched movies on her computer.  As much as I ached for more... this was good, too.

Monday came too fast.


End Part 15
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:26 pm

Part 16-"Emma Goes To College"  


Take what she gives you
Don't cry when you kiss her 
Poor little girl...

-X


The boredom... the boredom was... very real.    

The first couple of weeks, I passed the time as best as I could.  Emma would get up early to get ready for school.  She'd shower, get dressed, usually have some fruit for breakfast.  Before leaving she'd lift me up and kiss me on the top of the head and then out the door she'd go.  

The first couple of days... I really couldn't bring myself to do much.  I'd gotten so used to being near her all day, everyday... it was hard not having her there.  I loved her so much and I ached when I wasn't with her.  I'd mostly just lean up against the glass of the cage and wait for her to come home.

When I'd hear her fumbling with her keys before the door swung open, my heart would race with excitement.  Almost reflexively I'd jump to my feet and press myself against the glass.  

I had truly become a pet.  

Emma seemed equally happy to see me, though.  She'd throw her bags to the ground and slap her mask on the counter and then rush over to scoop me out of the tank.  She'd cover me with kisses and nuzzle her nose against my breasts.  This was the best part of the day.  She'd spend most nights bogged down with homework.  I'd stay near her, either sitting on a pillow or on an open textbook.  She'd type away at her laptop, occasionally looking away to check on me and scratch my head or stroke my hair.  Her touch would send pleasant chills through me every time.  

She always had music playing, but was too busy with schoolwork to go into her usual rants about it... I missed those.  We'd usually eat late when she either finished her work... or couldn't take looking at it anymore.  If she wasn't too tired, we'd watch a film before bed.  Most nights I slept in the cage, but some nights... I'd sleep on the pillow next to her... so I could watch her sleep.  I know it sounds kinda creepy... but she was my whole world.  I'd even try sleeping while she was gone so I could stay up at night and watch her.  I even looked forward to her snoring.

After the first couple of weeks, I couldn't sit around anymore.  I'd run on the hamster wheel for exercise while listening to Emma's music on the old phone.  Listening to it kind of made it feel like she was near.  I couldn't read any of the band's names so I'd just choose them by the prettiest album covers.  When I'd find one I really liked I'd play it for Emma later and she'd give me her usual lowdown before hitting the books.

Eventually I started using the video streaming apps on the phone.  She had several so there was no shortage of stuff to watch.  I'd have to choose things at random not knowing their titles.  I'd burn through entire seasons of tv shows in a day.  It was boring, but easier than the silence.  I felt like a housewife addicted to soap operas, waiting for an indifferent husband to come home from the salt mines.

But... I started to form a routine.  Emma would kiss me goodbye, I'd eat breakfast, run on the wheel, and watch tv until I heard Emma's keys jingle in the door.  I would have given anything to be able to go outside some days, but then the thought of being eaten by a passing bird would wash those impulses from my mind.

And that's how the first couple of months passed for us.  Well, I can only guess... to be honest... I've kinda lost track of the days.  I could only guess it was sometime in October because Emma only wanted to watch horror films at night for weeks.  She seemed to like it when I'd instinctually curl up in her hand for protection when I'd get scared.  She'd stroke my hair and give long drawn out shuuuuuuushes.

Things were good..... well..... until...... ugh.  

Enter Madelyn.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I couldn't tell what time it was at anytime of day due to the only clock in the room being Emma's digital alarm clock.  But out of routine I could start to kind of sense when she'd be home.  It was later than usual that day when I finally heard the key wiggle into the lock.  A smile crept over my face out of relief and I jumped up towards the glass to greet her.

"...give me just a moment to clean up a little."  She walked into the room and kicked her dirty laundry under the bed.  She hadn't even looked at me.  She quickly moved into the bathroom returning with a towel.  She finally looked down at me from the other side of the glass and raised her finger to her lips.  She had a nervous look in her eyes.  Before I knew it the towel was thrown over the cage.  It moved all around me as she adjusted it to completely cover the front of the cage, only leaving the side facing the wall open.  I couldn't help but feel like I was back in the pet store again.

"Ok, come on in," she yelled towards the hallway.  

She was letting someone in?!  Was it a maintenance person or something?  I did as instructed and stayed quiet.

"Daaaayum, girl!  This place is bigger than my dorm, and there's two of us living in there!"  The voice came from another girl, clearly another student.  Had Emma made a friend?  It seemed odd that she wouldn't have said anything about it.  It's kind of a big deal!

"Yeah... uh... well.... thanks, I think," Emma stammered in reply.  "I don't really have anywhere to sit down yet so we'll have to sit on the bed."

"Works for me," the other voice said.  "Hey!  Do you have a hamster or something?"  

A lump filled my throat.  I wasn't sure I wanted anyone else to see me.

"Uh... yeah... it's asleep though, try not to bother it... let's... uh... get started shall we?"

I felt a little relieved that Emma was covering for me... but dwelt on the 'it' statement a little more than I probably should have.  I couldn't remember if she'd ever called me 'it.'  

"Boy, its all business with you, isn't it... all right then," the other girl said playfully.

"No no no, just... I... I have a paper I have to finish tonight and..," I'd never heard Emma sound so nervous before.

"I'm just fuckin' with ya, girl, lighten up a little!"  The other girl laughed as I heard the loud thump of her landing hard on Emma's bed.

She was there for over an hour.  They went over their math equations the entire time.  Apparently Emma was tutoring this girl.  Or rather trying to... I was getting the impression from how side tracked she'd get that ADHD was no stranger to her.  Emma was clearly struggling with keeping her on track.
 
She finally left, saying, "same time next week?" from the doorway.  Emma concurred.  

Finally the towel lifted from the cage.

"What the fuck, Emma?!"  I stood there with my hands out to my sides.  I didn't care that she couldn't understand me.

"I'm sorry Laure, she's failing and approached me after class, begging me for help."  She scooped me out of the cage and stroked my hair apologetically.  "I didn't mean to leave you in there so long.  I didn't plan this."

Emma has a big heart.  Despite people treating her like a fucking alien her whole life, she's still kind to everyone.  I felt a little guilty for getting mad.  She was holding me close to her face so I stretched upwards and kissed her on the nose and gave her a thumbs up.

"Thanks, Squirt.  Unfortunately now I've gotta spend the rest of the night on this fucking paper.  I flexed my arm and pointed at her like I've done in the past.  

"Yeah, I wish I was as confident about it as you are, Laure.  I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna get out of college alive."

I hadn't realized how stressed out she was.  I wished there was something I could do to help... but it's hard to give help when you're helpless yourself.

She didn't eat that night.  Just chugged energy drinks trying to stay awake.  I tried to help keep her up by nudging her hand when she'd drift off.  Eventually she crashed, passed out propped up against the wall.  The computer screen bathing her in its glow until the screensaver kicked in.  I tried sleeping on the pillow but was worried she would fall into it in the night and possibly crush me.  She never did.  

As dawn crept up I didn't hear her alarm go off. 

"Shit.  She forgot to set it." 

I didn't want her to be late, but I also wasn't sure I could wake her.  I slid down the pillow and walked towards her open hand.  I tried nudging it, nothing.  I pounded on her palm with my fists... nothing. 

It was going to be a risk,  but if I did it fast enough and ran for my life... it might work.  I took her pinky in my hands and bit down on skin next to her nail as hard as I could.  There was no time to run... Emma woke instantly shaking her hand.  Her pinky hit me in the gut sending me flying back, knocking the wind out of me.

"Ooooow, fuck!  Did-did you just bite me?!" She looked confused and annoyed.

I was doubled over trying to get my breath back.  I looked up at her and pointed to the alarm clock.

"Oh, fuck!  Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!" 

Emma sprung out of bed causing a magnitude ten for me, still trying to breath.  She threw off her shirt and grabbed another from the closet, cursing herself the entire time.

She grabbed her bags and slid into her sandals and ran out the door... leaving me to fend for myself on the bed.  I finally caught my breath.

"Well what the fuck am I supposed to do now?"

I walked to the edge of the bed,  which was like looking over a cliff.

"How am I supposed to go all day without using the bathroom."  Seriously.  That was my first thought.

Suddenly... the door burst back open.  Emma ran to the fridge and brought back two raspberries and dropped them in the tank.  She then knelt down toward the edge of the bed and carefully shoveled me onto her hand.  She lifted me towards her face.

"Sorry, Laure, I didn't mean to forget you.  Thank you thank you thank you...".

She kissed me about a half a dozen times all over my body between each thank you. And then carefully dropped my in the tank. She bolted out the door, blowing me a kiss as she closed it.

Ok... I'll admit it... feeling her soft giant lips all over me... my whole body flushed.  I crawled into my sock and thought about what her lips could do to me... her tongue... 

I had to finish myself off.  

The last thing I remember thinking before drifting off into an orgasm coma... if this was what school was like for me in my previous life... I'm glad I couldn't remember it.


End Part 16
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

-Super Hans, Peep Show

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Re: Post-Punk and Shrunk

Post by Bloodthirstybutcher » Sun Nov 29, 2020 11:02 pm

Part 17-"Madelyn"  


Standing
On the corner
Watching
The ladies 
Pass by
Imagining me behind your eyes
And then what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs 
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy 
I saw jealousy  
I can't, I can't believe it
But it's here in this place and I see it
It's all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy 
Jealousy 

-Liz Phair


Madelyn's visits became a regular thing over the next few weeks.  At first it was once a week for help with math.  I figured out it was always Tuesdays because eventually she'd show up on Fridays just to hang out.  Then then she started stealing Emma away over the weekends as well.  

I was spending a lot of time alone.  I'd only see Emma when she was studying or doing homework.  The rest of the time I was stuck in the cage.  If Madelyn was there then Emma would cover the cage to hide me like a bad secret.  I'd hear them laughing and talking about school.  Emma would try to talk about what she cared about most in the world, music... but Madelyn never seemed to have any interest.  She talked about herself constantly and with great enthusiasm.  If you're asking yourself how she could ignore a covered cage for weeks at a time, I can only guess it's because she was too preoccupied with herself to notice.  

I had never seen her face... but I hated her guts.  

Madelyn would show up on Saturday mornings wanting to go shopping.  I had no way of proving it, but I had a feeling that she was taking advantage of Emma somehow.  Even though I couldn't see them interact, I could tell they had nothing in common.  

Something just felt... off.

And me... I was left to stew in my loneliness and jealousy.  Was I being selfish and petty?  Probably... but you try spending your life inside a glass prison.  And when the person you care about most in the world... your best friend... the only thing that brings you any joy, seems to lose interest in you... then you can judge me.

The towel would soon remain draped over the tank even when Emma was at school.  She'd forget to put fresh food in my bowl and I'd have to eat berries that had sat out for days, becoming soft and moldy.  The litter bowl was going uncleaned, filling the tank with the smell of my own filth.  I felt like a gerbil some kid had grown bored with.

Things finally came to a head.

I was jarred out of sleep one Saturday morning by the sound of pounding on the door.  Of course it was Madelyn.  She couldn't just knock like a normal person either.  She had to announce her arrival through the door.

"Get up, bitch!  Let's go shopping!"

I heard Emma stumble out of bed and let her in.  "Give me a minute to get dressed."

The sound of shuffling clothing, keys jangling and the door closing was all I heard.  Emma left the food bowl empty.  Flies the size of cats had made their way into the cage, collectively feasting at the litter bowl.  I was furious.  I turned over the food bowl in a blind rage.  Then the litter bowl, sending the flys buzzing away only to return for easier access to their meal.  I kicked the phone over, jamming my pinky toe in the process... which only made me angrier.  I screamed out of frustration.  I caught myself in the mirror, looking like a lunatic.  

"Fuck you," I screamed at my own reflection.  I punched the mirror hard.  Again... harder.  I wanted it to break, but the glass was too thick.  All I managed to do was bloody my hand.  I wanted to cry... but I wasn't giving anyone the satisfaction.  Not even the bastards watching me... the ones causing me to live through this nightmare.  I collapsed onto the sock.  I wrapped my arms around my knees and watched the blood trickle from my knuckles, soaking into the fibers of the sock as it fell.  

I wanted to kill myself.  I didn't know how but I had to end it.  This was all too much.  Remember my little metaphor at the beginning of this story about being lost at sea?  Well, the sharks were circling and I was ready to let them choke on me. 

Emma was my rock.  The only thing that made this weird, miserable life worth continuing.  Had I just become a burden to her?  If so... I saw no point in sticking around.  I just didn't know how to do it.  There was nothing sharp enough to open my wrists in the cage.  I'd already proven myself too weak to break a simple mirror.  I could possibly climb out through the phone's power cord and jump off the dresser.  But then what if the rug breaks the fall... and instead of a small stain for Emma to clean up with a tissue, I end up paralyzed?  Would she take me to a vet to be euthanized like an old cat that can't shit in its litter box anymore?

My mind went round and round all day.  Was I really going to do it?  Probably not.  It gave me something to focus my anger through though.

Emma didn't return until that evening.  She was alone... I couldn't hear Madelyn's stupid voice bragging about how great she looked in this or what guys were thirsting after her.  I turned my back to the front of the cage, still clutching my knees.  The towel suddenly lifted from the tank, I pretended not to notice.

"Laureline!  Wha-what'd you do?"  The condescending tone in her voice made my blood run cold.

"Laure... what's going on?!"  I continued ignoring her.  "Please, what's wrong?!"  Her tone of mild annoyance switched to that of slight panic.  She must have seen the blood on the mirror.  Good.

I finally stood up slowly and turned around.  The tears wanted to come but I beat them back.  I casually walked over to the food bowl and flipped it upright presenting it to her with the most snarky body language I could muster.  I ran to the other side  of the tank and waved my hands causing the flys to take off once again.  I tried in vain to rip the wheel off the wall, but I couldn't even do that.  I stood in the middle of the tank, my arms crossed staring up at her.  

Tears began welling up in her eyes.

"Oh fuck... oh god Laureline... I'm so sorry... I'm so, so sorry... I--," she knew exactly what she'd done.  

Let me drink those tears in, baby.

I didn't move a facial muscle, no matter how hard I wanted to cry.  She reached in to lift me out and I backed away from her hand... causing her water works to really start running.  I savored it.  I knew I was being an fucking asshole, but it felt justified at the time.

"What the fuck, Emma?!"  I screamed at her as if she could understand me.

"Laure, please, I'm so sorry.  I'll clean this up... it won't ever happen again, I promise.  Just please forgive me."  Her hands were pressed up against the glass now.  Her face pointing at the ground. 

I felt powerful... this giant was groveling, begging for my forgiveness.  I was nearly drunk on it.

I hated it.  

What the fuck was I doing?  This wasn't me.  This wasn't us.  We'd lost each other somehow.  

It was time to find each other again.

The tears finally broke through.  I was still angry... but I also still loved her.   I made my way to the glass and knocked loud enough for her to hear.  Her head shot up, makeup smeared down her cheeks.  I placed my hand opposite hers from the glass and nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes.

She sniffed, wiping the tears from her own cheeks, smearing her makeup further.  "Can... can I pick you up?"  

I nodded solemnly.  She reached her hand in quickly, allowing me to climb on.  I sat down with my legs out in front of me.  She lifted me to her face.

"Oh god, Laure I'm--,"

I lifted my hand, cutting her off.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of using the 'love' sign before... I guess it slipped my mind until then.  I pointed to my chest, crossed my arms over it and pointed at her.  I then pointed at her again, crossed my arms and pointed back at myself... lifting my hands in a questioning gesture.  Essentially 'I love you... you love me?'

She squinted her eyes looking hurt by my mimed question, "of course I love you.  More than anything.  I-I feel shitty for even making you question it.  I've got to wrapped up in school and hanging out with Madelyn.  I've neglected you and I'm so so, so sorry.  It'll never happen again, I swear it.  Even if it means I never talk to her again."

As pleasant as the idea sounded, I wasn't going to be that asshole.  I wanted her to be happy, I wanted her to have friends.  I just didn't want to be replaced.  I waved away her last statement.  

It was clear what was going to have to happen. I wasn't thrilled about it, but it was the only way to fix this.  

It was time to meet Madelyn.

Trying to use made up sign language to convey this was difficult.  It took a bit of gesturing before I found the right combination of ridiculous movements.

"You want Madelyn to see you," she finally pieced it together and I threw my hands up, both thumbs pointed towards the sky.

I was gonna have to give a little if I expected Emma to as well.  I couldn't stand Madelyn, but if Emma saw something in her, then I was willing to try... for her.

"Yeah, ok... sure.  That would actually make things easier.  I hoped that I'd get to show you to her at some point, but I didn't want to force it on you."  At least we were on the same page again.

"How about we do it Tuesday.  She'll be coming over for her usual math tutoring then."  

I shrugged and then nodded.  

"Ok.  Tomorrow's Sunday and I'm all caught up on school work. How about you and me spend the whole day together... and I spend all of it trying to make up for being a terrible friend."  She pleaded with her eyes and a crooked little grin.

I only answered by throwing my arms around her thumb and nuzzling it... I felt like I'd finally got my friend back.  As I've probably made pretty clear by now... this was no world I wanted to live in without her.

She kissed me on the head and held me against her chest, stroking my hair.  I can't speak for her, but maybe she was feeling as relieved about not fucking this up as I was.  And as much as I enjoyed being held by her again... there was something I need to tell her.  I tapped on her thumb to get her attention.

"What'd ya need, Squirt?"  

I couldn't believe how happy it made me to hear that stupid nickname again... normalcy felt like it was being restored.  I rubbed my stomach and pointed at my mouth.

"Oh, shit!  Of course!  God , you must be starving!"

She leapt to her feet, making me slightly dizzy with sudden rush upwards.  She set me down on the countertop and ran to the fridge.  She started dumping container after container on the counter.  I though she was going to empty the entire thing.  

"Do you want fruit, ham, veggies... I could fry up some eggs...," she probably would have baked a cake if I asked.

I pointed to the ham and raspberries and she threw everything else back into the fridge.  She opened the ziplock on the ham and pinched off a piece and presented it to me on her finger.  She then pulled out the biggest, plumpest raspberry from the plastic container and plopped it down in front of me.  It was way more than I could eat in days.  I gave her a 'thank you' sign and she put the rest of the containers away.  I rolled up and ate all of the sliced ham. The raspberry really was huge, bigger than my head.  I didn't even eat a quarter of it before I was full.  I had juice all over my face and down my chest.

"You get any in you," Emma joked. 

She reached down and snatched the rest of the raspberry up from between my legs and popped it into her mouth with a sly smile.  "You get enough?"  

I grabbed my stomach and fell backwards giving her a thumbs up.  She laughed heartily, the same cartoonish nonsense that always got a reaction out of her.  I could listen to that laugh for the rest of my life.

She pulled a piece of paper towel off the roll and ran it under the sink for a few seconds and returned to the bar.  She dabbed it against my face and chest.  I felt a pleasant chill go up my spine and leaned into her finger as she cleaned me off.  She then took my bloodied hand in her finger tips, examining it.  It looked so insignificant compared to her giant, but delicate fingers.

"How about from now on you leave the boxing to Rocky Balboa," she said as she turned my hand over in her fingers.  She walked into the bathroom and then returned with a bottle of rubbing alcohol.  She turned the bottle over on the paper towel, allowing a little to soak in, and then took my hand again.

"This might sting a little," she warned.  

She dabbed it at my my knuckles as lightly as she could.  It didn't sting a little... it stung like a motherfucker.  I winced in pain.  The dried blood soaked into the into fibers of the towel, leaving clean open wounds beginning to darken with fresh blood.  Emma pulled a small corner off a fresh piece of towel and handed it to me.

"Hold this on it, ok.  I don't think there's a bandage made that's small enough for your hand unfortunately."  

I nodded in compliance. She walked away, returning the alcohol bottle to the bathroom.  I watched my fist as the blood began slowly soaking through the thick paper towel.  

Emma left the bathroom and headed straight for the tank.  She looked over it with her arms akimbo.  "Well, Squirt... I'll give you this... you definitely know how to make a point when you want to."  She looked over her shoulder at me, shooting me a sly smile.  

My body instantly flushed with guilt.  Yeah, it's hard for me to communicate with... well... anyone, and I needed to let her know how I felt.  But still, I felt like a child who'd just thrown a temper tantrum, leaving the adult to clean up my mess.

Emma washed out the bowls and bleached out the inside of the tank.  She laid new paper down.  I was glad to see it was glossier stuff so my feet wouldn't turn black.  She left the food bowl empty until the morning, but filled the other bowl with fresh cat litter.  God I missed using a simple toilet.  She finished wiping down the outside and then stood aside, presenting it like Vanna White.

"Your chambers m'lady," she said with a bow. 

I stood up and curtsied, which must have looked pretty strange from a naked person.  She just laughed.  I could spend all day wondering why she didn't think it was strange that I knew what a curtsy was... but I already knew the answer.  It was just a part of whatever fog hung over both our brains, just in very different ways. 

"Feel like watching something, Squirt?"  She set her laptop on the bed and then came to retrieve me from the counter.  

I gave her pair of thumbs up and hopped onto her hand.  After about a half an hour of scrolling through different sites, for some reason she settled on some ridiculous movie from the seventies about this kid buying a big yellow van to impress women with.  I think something was lost on me, generationally.  Didn't matter though, we both had a great time laughing at it.  It was a nice change of pace from all the serious art films and violent horror she'd usually want to watch.

All in all... that night felt closer to when we first met than they had in a months.  I knew that it was temporary, and that things were going to change drastically... for both of us.  But... as I keep saying... this was it.  This was good.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma jarred me out of sleep the next morning, tapping lightly on the side of the tank.  I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and and crawled out of my sock.  I remember thinking about how to convey to Emma that it was getting kinda funky and could use a wash... sorry, not really important to the story.  

She had on her familiar striped polo, which could only mean we were going somewhere.  She also had a pair of shorts and running shoes on.  I don't think I'd ever seen her wear either before.

"Get up, we're going on a hike," more accurately she was going on a hike, I was going for a ride.  I raised my hands in a questioning gesture.

"Where," she asked.  I nodded curiously. "Well, that's just going to have to be a surprise."  She gave me a crooked smile before lowering her hand shaped elevator.  She dropped me in her pocket.  

I could hear her shuffling drawers around in the kitchen.  She eventually spread the pocket open and dropped half a blueberry in for me.  "You never eat a whole one anyway," she cracked, and then threw the other half into her mouth and inhaled a boat sized banana.  

"Do me a favor and get more of that inside you than the inside of my pocket, " she said with a giggle.  

And in a flash we were out the door and in the car.  She left me in her pocket the entire drive instead of placing me on the dash.  She must have really wanted to keep this a secret.  

We didn't drive long before she shut the engine off and stepped out of the car.  She put her mask on and began walking.  I leaned over the edge of the pocket to see where we were going, only to have Emma poke my head back down inside.

"Uh uh... no peaking," she wagged her finger above me and then closed the opening with her other hand.  

Normally I'd have been fine with this, but it was hot out that day and the pocket started to feel like an oven.   I could hear the crunch of rocks under the feet of others passing by.  As we went on, buckets of sweat were not only pouring off me, but started soaking through the shirt from off of Emma.  I finally had to tap on her chest to get her attention.  She opened the pocket to see me soaking wet.

"Oh shit! Sorry, Laure," her voice sounding muffled through her mask.  

She let me out to get some air, but being careful to hold me so as to obscure what was behind her.  I was surprised to see that we were on the side of a mountain, the city stretching out and blurring into the smog.  "We're almost there.  How about I just carry you until we get there, ok?  Just keep your eyes closed."  She sounded really excited.

I did as instructed with only the sound of Emma's footsteps to indicate we were climbing.  Finally she stopped.

"Alright, Squirt... check this shit out!"  

I opened my eyes, adjusting to the bright California sun.  As things came into focus I could see a gigantic 'H' towering above me on the side of the hill.  Then a pair of 'O's--it was the 'Hollywood' sign! I was stunned that I could even read it, perhaps its immense size made it harder for the letters to get jumbled up in my brain.

"God, its huge..." Emma said in awe. 

To her it was huge... to me it was impossible.  The letters stretching across the side of the mountain, looking slightly worn and aged.  I looked up towards Emma's face.  I couldn't see her mouth, but judging by the way her cheeks squinted up her eyes, she was smiling from ear to ear.  So was I.

I hadn't noticed until then, but Emma had brought a bag with her.  She found a flat-ish clear spot and pulled a blanket out and spread it on the ground.  Then she pulled out a small snack pack with meat and cheese and crackers.  We sat up there for hours staring out over the city.  Emma rambled on about this and that... school, Madelyn, her parents... and I was glad to listen... well... except for the Madelyn parts anyway.

It was a good day.  It was the last good day.  Remember when I said things would get a lot worse... and a lot weirder?  Well, cue the ominous music and jump cut to Tuesday, kid, 'cause shit's about to go south real quick...


End Part 17
Last edited by Bloodthirstybutcher on Sun Dec 20, 2020 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people, Jeremy."

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