Late (SW)

[zeromikethirty]

“Come on, come on, come on.”

Rebecca was running late. Much later than she was comfortable.

She stood in the packed underground train carriage, gripping the handrail above her head. It was hardly comfortable; she was pinned to the wall by a heavy-set gentleman and a trio of women on a hen party. As the train rocked and bucked, Rebbeca’s head would knock into the slanted wall, forcing her to tilt her neck at a slight, but excruciating angle. Meanwhile, one of the shorter hens’ novelty angel halo headpieces had been bobbling in her face for the last four stops. But then again, that was one of the few drawbacks of being relatively tall.

Being 6’1” was not exactly superhuman, but it had its perks. For example, between the brief interludes where the halo was not attacking her nose, Rebecca was able to see over most of her fellow passengers with relative ease. This meant she could peruse the list of stations above the window ahead of her, keeping track of how many stops she had left. Which was lucky, because that had been all that was on her mind since she had gotten on this train.

Rebecca looked up at her watch on her occupied arm.

17:54.

She sighed in frustration. How could she have lost track of time like that? Staying late after her seminar AND going out for a coffee with Freddy? She could have gone straight home and simply sent her professor an email, sipping one of those rancid instant-coffee sashes Flo drinks.

Rebecca looked back up at the list of stations: Finally, only two more stops: Greenwood and then Aspall Road. If all goes well, she should be able to make it to her road before-

She felt the shift in force as the train decelerated to the next stop. The tannoy cracked into life.

“The next station is: Greenwood. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.”

Once the carriage doors slide open, the usual bustle and shuffling commenced. Exiting passengers were replaced with seemingly more incoming, and the great mass of people seemed to squeeze tighter. Thankfully, the gentleman was one of the departing party, allowing Rebecca to inch her way more centrally within the carriage, before the vacant gaps were filled with new people. Now, she was sandwiched by the same hen party to her left, and a tired-looking young family of four to her right.

“I just think she’s being silly!” said the little boy from the family, clearly sulking from the fallout of a scolding.

“She’s not being silly, she’s just younger than you, of course she believes in fairies,” said the boy’s mother, her voice straining to keep to a measured, but audible tone.

“You used to believe in magic when you were her age, too,” the father added, cradling a sleeping, younger girl in his arms.

The boy crossed his arms, floored by this sublime use of logic and reasoning.

“Well, I learned, I guess,” he muttered.

Rebecca tried to suppress a giggle before she heard the familiar beep of the doors about to close. Only, they did not close.

The tannoy clicked into life once more, this time the haggard voice of the train driver.

“Please make sure that you, or any of your belongings, are not blocking the doors before our departure. Thank you.”

Rebecca’s blood ran cold, and her eyes darted to the sets of doors. While the doors nearest to her were clear, down the carriage, through the wall of people, she could see a single tourist struggling to make himself and his bulbous rucksack fit flush. The doors tried to close again, but shuddered back open once they clasped around the tourist’s bag.

She looked back up at her watch:

17:57- No, 17:58.

Other commuters were starting to get agitated. While not all of it was audible, Rebecca managed to catch “bloody move” and one or two “twats” eminate from the crowd. Succumbing to the pressure, the tourist jumped back onto the platform and began to fumble with his rucksack. However, before he even had the bag off his back, the train doors began to beep, and the poor tourist was left on the platform as the doors shut him out.

Yes, the train was back in motion, but it looked increasingly like Rebecca needed to think of a new exit strategy. The sheer number of people on this train alone suggested she would either risk taking the busier, but most direct route out of the station, or she could take the longer, but hopefully quieter exit. Both left her vulnerable. Both meant that there was a chance she could be seen. For it to become noticeable.

As the train banked to the left, Rebecca leaned into the new centre of gravity, her fingers loosening their grip on the handrail and her forearm relaxing slightly. Once the turn was complete, she found herself back upright, but now her grip on the rail felt strange. Almost entirely undetectable, but ever so slightly off. Her fingers tightened, and her forearm tensed, extending ever so slightly more. She stood up straight, but still, something felt off. She

Rebecca looked back up to her-

Wrist?

She squinted and then shifted her eyes down ever so slightly. Her watch had slipped down her arm about a centimetre, enough to make a difference.

18:01.

Shit, I guess we’re figuring this out as we go.

Rebecca’s grip tightened like a vice; she was suddenly acutely aware of her surroundings, her very physical being, the clothes on her back. As her eyes darted around the carriage, she could see the tell-tale signs as the world expanded in her vision on a macro level. Shoulders were starting to broaden, heads slowly creeping up to her eyeline, things in the distance seemed to stretch away a centimetre at a time. Her clothes had begun to crawl their slow, cruel march across her body. Even the handrail was slowly lifting higher and higher. Rebecca had her daily taste of normality, now it was back down she went.

In a matter of minutes, the carriage had shifted from claustrophobic to oppressive. Rebecca had kept her grip on the handrail, but her arm was starting to pull to full extension. Meanwhile, she could feel the added weight of her outfit; her tote bag dug more into her shoulder, the waist of her jeans sat with more slack around her hips, while the rolled cuffs were starting to settle below her ankles, her knitted black cardigan felt bulkier, the sleeves reaching the heel of her thumb, and her white t-shirt sat more awkwardly. Even her trusty, well-worn Polley Mary Jane shoes were starting to feel looser, her toes creeping away from the tips. Usually, she rather enjoyed this part: the increasingly baggy garments after a long day brought comfort. However, this would be in the privacy of her own home, followed by a warm bath and a mug of now-oversized tea. But shrinking on a train, surrounded by prying, growing eyes, was her worst nightmare.

In Rebecca’s peripheral vision, she observed the hen party that had provided mild annoyance earlier. When they arrived on the train, she was a good head taller than all three women, but now she could see that the crown of the tallest one was about her eyeline. Suddenly, the train veered into another turn, and the centre of gravity once again shifted. Rebecca’s fingers coiled around the thicker bar and she leaned forward, only now the rail loomed higher. She stretched her reach, raising onto her toes, and felt her heels leave her shoes, her socks catching the collar. She felt her waistband slip awkwardly on her hip, the weight of her belt becoming noticeable. With her free hand, she tried to hook her finger under the leather, but found it caught with her woollen sleeve, causing her to clumsily grasp it instead. It was the discombobulation that got to Rebecca the most; the relinquishment of control of even the most basic functions.

She looked to her right; the father who had stepped on the train, once her physical equal, now had a good few inches on her. Luckily, he had been facing away from her for the leg of his journey, however, the sudden turn of the locomotive had awoken his daughter. She and Rebecca locked eyes; the girl’s gaze was hazy and groggy, and then suddenly aware. Rebecca felt like her stomach had dropped within her, watching as the child seemingly grew in front of her. She felt as the grip on the handrail began to slacken, her finger slipping from a clasp to a cling as the bar rose ever higher. The child watched with curiosity as this woman seemed to collapse at a snail's pace.

The girl’s expression changed to a sort of knowing eureka, her eyes wide as she stared back at the shrinking woman. Panic throbbed in Rebecca’s chest; she couldn’t afford to gain any more attention. Upon instinct, she hoisted up the waistband of her jeans, shook her hand free of its sleeve prison, and put a finger to her lips, before giving as playful a wink as she could muster. The girl stared at her for a moment, before curling into a warm smile and nodding back. Rebecca smiled, before feeling her waistband slide and quickly grasping it again.

Suddenly, the train began to return to its regular equilibrium. However, even standing back up straight, Rebecca’s heels did not return to her shoes, and her grip on the handrail was more symbolic than practical. She could feel her cuffs slide over her heels, her tote bag bashing against her knees. Looking back at the hen party, she found that the tallest woman was now just as tall as herself. If she had to guess, she was standing now around 5’7”, a still respectable size, but her odds were only getting worse.

She looked at her watch, now sitting limply on her bulbous, accordioned sleeve at her elbow.

18:06.

Surely her stop should be coming up so-

The centre of gravity shifted once more as the train began to decelerate, jolting Rebecca forward. Her fingertips finally lost grip with the handrail, causing her to lose balance. She tried to catch herself, widening her gate and knocking her loose shoe on its side, causing Rebecca to tumble into the shortest of the hen party. Luckily, the condensed nature of the carriage meant that it was more akin to falling into a human wall.

“Oh fuc- what the hell?” sputtered the short hen, who stumbled forward into one of her party like a domino.

“I’m so sorry, I think my shoe lace- I mean, buckle came undone- I’m sorry-” Rebecca tripped over her words as she scrambled back to solid footing. She could feel all eyes on her, keeping her gaze to the floor, trying to hide her red face.

“Are you alright, miss?” asked a masculine voice behind her.

Rebecca turned and was confronted by the concerned, giant face of the father. For a brief moment, she was mesmerised; he dwarfed her completely, standing a head taller than her.

“You okay?” he asked again, a little softer. In the circus of it all, the carriage had allowed a few inches of floor space, which the father stepped into, hiding Rebecca from view.

“Yeah- yes. I just, this is my stop and I wanted to-” Rebecca rambled. She realised she was shaking.

“Of course. Is there anything broken?” He asked.

Rebecca took a moment to look herself up and down. She quickly grabbed the waist of her jeans, which had begun to slide down her hips, but were luckily obscured by her billowing cardigan and t-shirt.

“No, no. I’m all good, thanks.” Rebecca tried to restore an aura of calm. She felt the weight of the carriage shift; the doors had opened during her fall, and people had begun to depart. She went to leave, when she felt a tap on the shoulder. It was the mother, with whom Rebecca now stood eye to eye.

“Won’t be getting too far without the set,” she said, handing Rebecca back her right shoe.

“Thank you,” Rebecca said meekly, her cheeks burning back all over again. She took the shoe and raced off the train as quickly as possible.

The family watched Rebecca slip her shoe back on before shuffling back to the nearest exit. Slowly, the train slid back into motion. The mother turned to the father.

“No wonder she tripped, she was practically drowning in that outfit,” she whispered.

The father shrugged.

“I don’t know, that’s just the style now, innit?” he turned to the little girl. “It’s a good job you spotted her shoe, otherwise she’d have a terrible walk home, wouldn’t she?”

***

The station was less of a nightmare than Rebecca had anticipated. Now free from the claustrophobia of the carriage, she took a brief moment to dart into one of the empty passageways and sort her outfit.

Although Rebecca usually avoided being caught out with a public shrink, it had happened enough times for her to take some precautions. She whipped out a smaller, elastic belt, which she had customised with additional punch holes and carefully snaked it through her jean belt loops, fastening it tight, before removing the old one with a quick tug. The denim folded awkwardly on her lower back, and she would still have to adjust as she shrank, but she found it more comfortable once she tucked her t-shirt in, and it meant that her trousers would stay up without holding them. From there, Rebecca rolled up her jean cuffs above the ankle, pulled her blue crew socks up her knees, and tightened the buckles of her shoes as far as they could. Finally, she rolled the sleeves of her cardigan up to her bicep, removed her watch, and slung her tote bag across her chest, allowing it to sit more like a satchel.

Rebecca’s biggest fear in getting to ground level was simply being perceived; however, she was surprised to see that most of her fellow commuters were simply going about their own lives, at their own pace. As she rode the escalator up to the next level, Rebecca observed the two teenage girls in front of her, both silent as they thumbed through their phones. Still dressed in their school blazers and trousers, they could not have been older than fourteen; however, to Rebecca, they seemed older simply by their size. No longer with a previous frame of reference, these school kids oddly felt like her equals; not that they seemed older or she younger, but more that all of Rebecca’s own power was being slowly drained away. She watched as her several-inch advantage over them shifted to a couple, then a single. By the time she stepped off the escalator, one of the girls stood a hair taller.

Rebecca hurried herself to the ticket gate, where a large group of her fellow commuters had congregated, congested into free-form lines. She joined one of the lines, trying her best to keep her feet from rattling around in her shoes. As she shuffled forward, Rebecca watched the world around her. She was certainly on the shorter side now, totally surrounded by shoulders and chins. People pushed and nudged, squished and slid, all cradling their travel cards in waiting, ready for their time to strike the gate. Rebecca found herself gripping the straps of her tote bag, her shoulders tensing as she joined the scrum. The chaos from the hustle and bustle of inner-city life had seamlessly interwoven into her psyche. It was like she had only ever experienced the bundle of a busy underground station from a distance, and now, hovering somewhere around five feet nothing, she was thrown in, feet first. Suddenly, Rebecca was in it, truly IN IT. And, to her surprise, she was relishing in it.

“Let’s get you through, miss,” a voice cut through the noise like a divine intervention.

Suddenly, Rebecca saw an arm shield her on her right side, while she felt a delicate touch on her shoulder. She was propelled forward; it was her turn next. With her travel card ready, she slammed it on the console, and the gate jerked open. As she passed through, she turned to her guardian; a middle-aged lady, standing a good six inches taller than Rebecca, with soft, warm features, and frizzy, white hair. Hardly the strapping lad or lass that she was expecting.

“Thank you,” said Rebecca, who shuffled backwards towards her exit.

The lady smiled, but was clearly in a hurry.

“No problem, it looked like you were a little lost at sea there!” she chimed, before powerwalking off to her exit.

Rebecca watched as the lady seemingly vanished into her own sea of people. As she continued to the final leg of her journey, she had one distinct thought: People are never this nice when I’m tall.

***

The last stretch of Rebecca’s road seemed to go forever. She had left the bustle of the denser city behind and found herself in the residential suburbia, lined with terrace houses and parked cars. While the quiet was a welcome respite, the labyrinth of roads and pathways, paired with her increasingly heavy attire, had totally drained her. Rebecca shuffled down the street, her shoes essentially oversized slippers at this point, with neither her toes nor her heels touching either end, while the ever-bulky cuffs of her jeans once again flopped over her feet, despite pulling her jeans up to just under her breasts. She had let her cardigan sleeves hang emptily over her hands a block earlier, while the hem rested just below her knees.

She was a sorry sight. So much so, that Rebecca had initially failed to notice that one of her neighbours, and fellow university alum, Jason, was smoking on his front door step. Jason watched as she turned to her own front door and reached into her tote bag. He squinted at her, unsure what to make of it; it certainly LOOKED like Rebecca, but how could it be her? This girl was tiny?

Rebecca cursed to herself; the mix of cumbersome sleeves, depth perception and wonky size relevance made finding her keys a nightmare; in a huff, she rang the doorbell.

“Come on, Flo, you better be home,” she whispered.

She waited; however, Rebecca could feel eyes digging into the back of her head. Finally, she clocked her neighbour; she could see him trying to be subtle, shifting his eyes back and forth as if contemplating some grand notion. She smirked, knowing that his drug-fogged mind was trying to claw some form of logic to her illusion. Suddenly, she could hear the bolt of the front door.

“You’re late,” Came a concerned voice that quickly shifted to panic. “Oh, Becks, not again!”

But Rebecca wasn’t listening; instead, she relished at the sight of Jason having an audible coughing fit at the now very clear height difference she now shared with her roommate. Satisfied, she smirked, before giving a hearty wave and rushing inside.

“Shit, did someone see you?” asked Flo, who rushed down the hall.

“It’s only Jason,” Rebecca called, wincing at how squeaky her voice suddenly sounded. “You should’ve seen him, he’s having his little relief. Poor boy must think he’s got a stronger batch!”

Flo returned, cradling a small bundle of clothes and a pair of children's slippers shaped like unicorn heads.

“Well, it’s not the first time he’d have seen little elves,” said Flo, dropping the slippers at the shrunken girl’s feet.

Rebecca stepped out of her shoes with no resistance, her socks essentially sacks that puddled on the hardwood floor, only the empty toes visible under the heavy denim cuffs.

“Unfortunately, it won’t stop him from gawking at me now,” Rebecca joked, as she struggled to lift her now impossibly heavy bag.

Flo stepped closer and hooked a finger around the strap, lifting the burden with comical ease.

“To be fair, it’s not like you’re easy to miss,” said Flo, as she hung the tote bag on the coat hanger. “Well, usually.”

“Har har,” Rebecca said in a mock voice, as she slipped the cardigan from her shoulders, allowing it to drop to the floor with a soft thud. “What time is it anyway?”

“About half six. You should be levelling out now.” Flo said, handing the bundle of clothes to her diminished friend. “You left it a bit fine there.”

“Yeah, well, Frances wanted to speak to me about the thesis before the weekend, and then I already had plans with Freddy-”

“Freddy? I thought you guys had… I don’t know, I thought you were taking some time?” Flo interrupted, her voice a little more intense than she had liked. Rebecca fiddled with her belt before her jeans also dropped to the floor, along with her underwear. Flo blushed, not that she could see anything; Rebecca’s t-shirt hung down past her knees at this size.

“Well, yeah, that was what the coffee was about,” Rebecca explained, stepping out of her denim prison and into a pair of grey, child-sized sweatpants. “We wanted to make sure we were both on the same wavelength. I couldn’t really cancel.”

Stepping into her unicorn slippers, Rebecca followed Flo down the hall. She was glad to finally be back into something that made her feel a little more human again.

“If that’s all it was..?” Flo’s question hung in the air as they entered the living room.

“Of course it was. It was just coffee,” said Rebecca.

“Yeah, but with Freddy, is it ever just coffee?” Flo replied.

“What do you mean? It’s coffee. That’s formal,” Rebecca was avoiding the implication of Flo’s concern. “It wasn’t pints or anything.”

“Look, it’s just that after breaking up with someone, I wouldn’t want to ‘get coffee’, you know?” Flo was skirting around the crux.

Once they ended up at the couch, Rebecca turned to Flo.

“Flo, it was just coffee; nothing more, nothing less. I broke things off with Freddy, and I wanted to make sure she was on the same page. I mean, I didn’t even get a real coffee. I got decaf.”

Rebecca stood firm, hands on her hips. Flo wasn’t exactly tall, standing at 5’4” on a good day, but from Rebecca’s current stature, her roommate was absolutely giant. Despite this, Rebecca felt confident around Flo, no matter what size. Flo smirked because, despite her friend's gumption, she was still a formally tall girl wearing clothes made for a five-year-old.

Flo leaned forward, lowering herself to Rebecca’s eyeline. The shrunken woman recoiled a little, Flo’s blistering blue eyes and short bleached hair through her like a knife.

“Whatever, you say, pipsqueak.” Flo’s eyes beamed. Rebecca hated it when she called her that.

After what felt like an eternity, Rebecca finally looked past Flo’s eyes, and her brows furrowed.

“Are those my sweats?” she asked. Flo smiled, glancing at her baggy purple bottoms that accordioned at her socked feet. “They don’t even fit you.”

“Well, here’s the news, Becks,” Flo started, placing her hands under Rebecca’s arms. “They aren’t fitting you either.”

With that, she hoisted Rebecca up from under her arms and lifted her in the air. Rebecca yepled by the expected, but still sudden loss of contact with the floor.

“Sometimes I feel like you’ve already found a fix for this hex and you’re just keeping it to yourself because you enjoy my suffering,” said Rebecca, kicking her feet back and forth as Flo held her in the air.

Flo shrugged.

“Who’s to say. But I won’t lie, I do enjoy it immensely.”

***

For the next hour, the duo sat on the couch, exchanging tales of their day. Rebecca’s schedule had started late, but was filled with classes until four. Aside from shrinking, coffee with Freddy and one of her classmates sleeping during her lecture on Breton’s role within the surrealist movement, her day had been relatively normal.

Flo, on the other hand, had traipsed across the city, frequenting as many book stores and libraries as she could, as she had been doing pretty consistently for the past three months since Rebecca’s first shrink.

“So, I think we might have something,” Flo stated, reaching for the little plastic bag at the foot of the armrest.

Rebecca leaned forward as Flo slipped a ratty, leather-bound book, about the size of a traditional paperback. She read the spine aloud:

“‘The Miracles and Misdeeds of the Macarbe’?” She scrunched her nose as if the words caused a bad smell. “Sounds like one of those fanfic books.”

Flo laughed.

“I can’t really blame you, but I bet that’s why I found it stuffed in a random corner of the ‘Eclectic’ section,” Flo said, flipping through the pages. “I think if your average reader picks this up and opens it to any passage hoping for a steamy ‘enemies-to-lovers’ thing, they’d be sorely mistaken.”

“So why this book?” Asked Rebecca.

“Well, there’s a line of spellcaster manuals dating back to the early twentieth century written by a Manerva Tolson. Now, you don’t need a history lesson from me, but essentially, this is the modern line of witchcraft thought. Think of it like a translation of a Greek classic.” Flo flipped through to one of the dog-eared pages. “I have a few of her texts, including the one with the debuff spell we use to grow you temporarily.”

Rebecca's ears pricked up. Flo had found a specific spell in the first week that temporarily gave Rebecca her height back for eight hours. It was not the best solution, but it meant life could resume in small increments.

“So, there’s a chance there might be some sort of ‘undo’ spell?” asked Rebecca.

Flo wavered.

“Ehh, maybe. There’s all sorts of random guff here, but what I did find was a counter-spell.” Flo said.

“That’s not something?” Rebecca queried.

“Oh, it’s something,” said Flo, flipping the book over so Rebecca could see. “Basically, rather than undoing the hex, it instead rebounds it onto someone else, so not really a fix, but it’s something.”

Rebecca squinted at the page as if she were able to decipher the dense jargon and faded words.

“So I pass on the hex to someone else? Like a magical hot potato?” Rebecca asked.

Flo nodded.

“Magic is full of tricky business; Breaking a hex is incredibly difficult, but the next best thing is always some form of moral quandary. If you want to free yourself, you have to burden another.” Flo said.

There was a pause. Flo watched Rebecca carefully; she already suspected what her diminished friend would say before she even uttered the words.

“Well, I know what I’d like to do to Susie,” Rebecca started, but Flo cut her off.

This all started with Susie. When Flo brought Rebecca to a party for one of her ‘Coven’ friends, she thought that her two circles would play nicely. Rebecca and her had been friends for a few years, and had revealed her magical persuasion during a few of their drunken nights out together by performing a few spells to help spice up their time. What Flo had not considered, however, was how bitter some of her Coven would be about including a normie to the group.

While the party started smoothly, with magical whizz-pops and drinking games with spell forfeits like animal transformations and unstoppable hair growth, Susie was acting pretty cold all night.

Susie was on the insecure side; a meeker personality in her regular life, she had often found it hard to fit in with her peers growing up, and really came into her own when she discovered magic, and in turn her coven. So when she was confronted with Rebecca, an Amazonian woman with big brunette curls and a bubbly personality, she felt a little threatened as the other girls swooned. It was not until everyone was a few drinks in, when Rebecca started a fairly familiar, rehearsed spiel about how being tall was not all it was cracked up to be, that Susie lost her patience.

“Trust me, no one respects you when you’re tall. They either oogle at you, or don’t look you in the eye, they barge past you, slam doors in your face,” Rebecca slurred to one of the other coven members. “I'm telling you, people would be nicer to me if I were a little shorter.”

Flo laughed along with all the other girls. All, except Susie.

Flo lost Rebecca for a while after she went out to the kitchen for another drink, and did not think anything of it. It was not until Flo went looking for her so they could talk about getting a ride home, that she found Rebecca in the bathroom, the size of a small child, shoeless and swamped in her dress. Someone had performed a hex on Rebecca, causing her to shrink to exactly half her height.

Susie never admitted to it, but from asking around with the other girls, Flo found that Susie had spoken to Rebecca in the hallway, before saying goodbye and leaving for the night. Feeling somewhat responsible, Flo had since tried to get in contact with Susie, only to be totally ghosted. As far as she could tell, Susie had moved away in the meantime.

“We’re not doing revenge magic on Susie.” Flo took the book back, almost like taking a gun from a cowboy.

“But why not? Surely someone knows where she is?” Rebecca protested.

“Because even if we do know where she is, which we don’t, this will only anger her more. And then what? She shrinks you smaller than half your size? Turns you into a mouse?” Flo knew that Rebecca had a right to be angry, but also knew that simply getting petty revenge was not the play.

Rebecca huffed, crossing her arms. Flo tried to hide her smirk at the sight. Cross-legged, dressed in a puffy pair of sweats, unicorn slippers and an oversized knitted jumper that still drowned her. She looked like a child on the verge of a tantrum.

“So, who do you suggest?” Rebecca asked, breaking her silence.

Flo wavered again.

“No,” said Rebecca. She knew what was coming.

“You have more classes than me, and unlike you, I could perform my own debuff throughout the day.” Said Flo.

“How is that fair on you?” Rebecca asked.

“Well, I sort of got you into this mess, I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re out of it. ” Flo reasoned. “We could even take it in turns if you like?”

Rebecca looked at her giant friend as if she had suggested murder.

“So you want to share this? Like a custody battle?” Rebecca gestured to herself, pulling on her jumper for effect.

“Sure, you always tell me how weird it all is to be small. It might be fun to try?” Flo shrugged, gripping the book a little tighter.

“This isn’t some game, Flo. You would be in constant fear of drowning in the world. That fear of feeling the world expand, your clothes betraying you. I haven’t been able to go out as I please, let alone be away from you,” Rebecca tripped over her words, coming out wrong. “I mean, I’ve been a burden to you for so long, and now you’ll have to take this on top, too?”

Flo squinted at her, sending an icy chill up Rebecca’s back. Flo was an immensely patient person, but when that patience wore thin, she was sure to let you know about it; which is why Rebecca was surprised to see Flo crack a smile. A very menacing smile.

“You don’t want to go back, do you?” Flo’s words were slow, almost seductive.

“What? No, I just don’t-”

“Want me to find out what it’s like?” Flo’s smile grew wider. She began to stand. “I would even suggest that you quite like being small, don’t you?”

Rebecca hesitated. That was all Flo needed to know. She looked down at the book and raised her hand.

“Wait, what are you doing-” Rebecca tried to ask, but was cut off as Flo began to chant.

It was all gibberish to her, but Rebecca recognised the tell-tale signs of the magic warming up, as a gust began to form in the room.

Flo recited the words on the page, a mix of Latin and some dead language that Rebecca was pretty sure did not exist. Flo’s eyes went sheet white, then began to glow a purple hue. Rebecca could feel something in her core; a deep warmth she was vaguely familiar with. It reminded her of that night Susie had put that hex on her.

As quickly as it began, it suddenly stopped. Bills that were stacked on the coffee table were now thrown across the floor as the gust settled, and the warmth in Rebecca’s chest subsided.

Flo’s eyes returned to their vibrant, blue hue, and she let out a long sigh as she felt the magic flow through her body.

“Hey, Becks, you think I could borrow what you’re wearing?” Flo asked, her voice meek from the exertion.

Rebecca looked at her friend intently, propping herself on her knees. She could not see any of the regular signs of her own shrinkage.

“Did it work?” asked Rebecca, but her answer came almost immediately.

Suddenly, her friend seemed to shudder, as if she were standing on a trap door. Flo dropped a few inches, her lounge clothes fluttering about her, a little looser. No sooner had it happened to Flo, than Rebecca had felt her own body jerk; her knees brushed against the upholstery, her waistband clinched against her hips, and her toes pushed against the insides of her slippers.

“This is new,” Rebecca whispered, looking down at her hands to find that they fully cleared her sleeves.

When Flo would cast the debuff, Rebecca would experience her shrinking but in reverse, feeling a long and exponential expansion as she grew back. But here, it looked as if magic was buffering, coming in spits and spurts.

“I think my body is catching up-” Flo’s hypothesis was interrupted as she shuddered down another few inches, causing her sweatpants to slip down her legs, being caught on her thighs as she widened her stance.

Flo marvelled at her old varsity shirt, once slim-fitting, now draped across her shoulders like she was borrowing a boyfriend’s. She pulled at her sweatpants, looking at the sheer amount of extra material she had around the waistband. She could not even see her feet, which were buried under the pooling cuffs.

“Wait, is this why you were wearing my sweats? To know what it feels like?” Rebecca suppressed a giggle, before she too jerked again.

She felt her legs stretch out beneath her, the cuffs of her own trousers constraining around her lower thigh. Her slippers went from snug to almost stuck, feeling her feet become squished and contorted. With great effort, she quickly thumbed them off and swung her legs over the seat of the couch. Rebecca had forgotten to shed her socks earlier and found that, while still loose, they were perhaps the best-fitting article she was wearing. She looked as her toes just touched the floor, even from her seated position. Flo started to laugh.

“You look so ridiculous!” Flo snickered, pointing a comic finger at her growing friend.

“And you can talk,” Rebecca retorted, pointing back, her sleeves now halfway up her forearm.

Once again, Flo shuddered, this time only falling a couple of inches. She giggled as she kicked away her cuffs, revealing her loose socked feet.

“This is so sick,” she whispered, kicking the flowing material back and forth.

Rebecca felt herself stretch again, this time gaining a good few inches. Her feet stretched to the floor, where she was able to plant her toes firmly on the ground. Her pants pulled just below her knees, but her waistband was tightening unbearably. Leaping to a stand, Rebecca wrestled with the shrinking trousers, finally shucking them off with one final tug. She looked over to Flo, who looked utterly ridiculous cradling her waistband on one side, while the other hung to her mid-thigh. Rebecca walked over to her friend, finding herself just a couple of inches shy of her eyeline.

“Not so easy now, is it, Short Stuff?” Rebecca teased.

“Careful, Becks. I still have the advantage.” Flo remarked, shuffling closer. The two girls were now inches apart; Flo looked her roommate up and down, biting her lip. “Becks… I-”

Rebecca put her finger to the shrinking girl’s lips. She looked deep into Flo’s deep blue eyes.

“Thank you,” She said, and kissed her.

It was euphoric. The world seemed to fall away as their lips intertwined with bated anticipation. What did fall away was Flo’s sweatpants, which tumbled to the floor with a soft thud, along with her underwear. As the two broke off, they gazed into each other's eyes.

“I’m sorry about Freddy,” Rebecca said before she could take them back.

Flo shrugged.

“I was a little obvious, wasn’t I?” Flo cringed.

Rebecca nodded before falling into a fit of giggles. She took a step back, and looked Flo up and down.

“What?” Asked Flo, suddenly very self-conscious of her less-than-flattering predicament.

“Nothing,” Rebecca said. “I just think I like us on equal footing.”

Suddenly, Flo shuddered again, shunting down to direct eye level with Rebecca.

“How about now?” asked Flo, seizing her opportunity.

“Yeah, that’s better,” said Rebecca, with a mocking furrow of her brow. She pecked Flo on the lips, before making her way to the door. “I’ll fetch us something to wear.”

***

The roommates continued to shift for the next few minutes. Having grabbed her t-shirt from earlier, along with the sweats that Flo had borrowed, Rebecca made her way upstairs; on her journey, however, she experienced another growth spurt on the penultimate step, causing her to catch her foot and sprawl across the landing. Meanwhile, downstairs, Flo marvelled at the familiar yet suddenly alien surroundings of their living room. She picked up common items like the television remote and dirty mugs, playing with the sudden shift of perspective. She hopped on the sofa before feeling her feet leave the floor as she experienced a shudder, her socks dangling, and eventually falling away as her legs withdrew into the hem of her gargantuan shirt.

Upstairs, Rebecca changed her dirty shirt for a baggy sweatshirt, put on a fresh pair of underwear, and retied the drawstring of her trousers. She caught herself in her full-length mirror. It was an odd sight to see; she had never seen herself mid-shrink since that night at the party, partially to avoid bad memories, but mostly because she rarely had the interest. Judging by the familiar items in her bed, along with the way her clothes still hung awkwardly on her body, she must have been around the 5’8” region. She observed the subtle differences; The way the world still looked the same, but gently larger, not enough to be fully aware of it, yet just raising just enough suspicion.

She thought about what Flo had said, how she secretly relished in it; that feeling of the world racing around her, rather than her to it. She thought about the station, and the subtle thrill of the chaos, being stuck in it rather than above it. Rebecca even thought about the way that Flo had handled things, with such compassion and patience. How much time and effort she had devoted to fixing this issue.

And she thought about Flo. How caring she was, how safe she felt. How vulnerable this whole ordeal had made her, and how strong Flo was. Rebecca felt a tinge of melancholy that she would not be hugged or lifted by Flo in the same way tonight. Maybe this custody idea would not be a bad thing.

And she thought about Flo.

Before she realised it, Rebecca was back in reality. She had not even noticed that she had had her last growth spurt; her clothes fitting, if a little wonky, the room suddenly back to the scale she remembered.

And she thought about Flo.

Oh shit, Flo!

Hastily, Rebecca went to her bottom drawer, where she had packed her ‘shrinking’ wardrobe, and pulled out a fresh shirt and underwear. She took a beat to look at the shirt; a white short-sleeve, with the picture of a dinosaur printed on it. Rebecca giggled to herself.

Even at a kids' size, she thought, this is still going to drown her.

[ensmallen]

Well done!

[sallyfourth]

Thank you for sharing this. I really enjoying Rebecca's shrinking and the interactions that followed. Your characters come across as very genuine and believable. I really loved Flo's shrinking as well. I've been waiting for a story like this for some time.

Seeya!