"Hey Leon!" Charlotte Nicholis shouted from the front desk of the department store where she was currently employed. Her coworker, Leon, had just walked through the front door, and as usual, she greeted him with a cheerful smile.

He looked towards her, and gave her a smile of his own. "Good morning, Charlotte. How are you today?" He asked as he walked towards her.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm SO glad today's Friday, though! I can rest easy for the next two days!"

Leon chuckled. "I hear you, but we have to get through today first, right?"

Charlotte nodded. "Yep. Hopefully it won't be too busy today."

"When is it ever NOT busy?" Leon teased.

"Oh... Right..." She pouted.

"But hang in there. You're a tough girl, and I know that there isn't anything that can get you down."

Charlotte blushed. "Th-thank you! You're so nice..."

"Don't mention it." Leon smiled, before beginning to head towards the back room. "I'm going to see what's going on back there."

"Okay, Leon!" Charlotte waved as he walked away from her, and made his way further into the back of the store, before he was completely gone from sight.

Charlotte let out a cheerful sigh, before grabbing a scrunchie out of her pocket, and tying her frizzy red hair into a pony tail, though leaving a few curls free in front of her face. Even though she knew that he would be coming into work that day, actually seeing him brightened her day; she felt as if she could easily make it through the rest of her work day now.

~~~

Lunch hour could not arrive fast enough for Charlotte. The store was met with a deluge of customers during the morning hours. She felt as if she had already seen them all; from the demanding prima donnas, to the mothers shopping with their young, loud, and crying children, to returning customers demanding refunds for items they had bought the day before. Already, Charlotte was tired out, but she knew that all she needed was an hour to catch her bearings, and then she would be ready for the remainder of her tiresome day.

She walked into the back room, and as the door closed behind her, leaned against it momentarily and let out a sigh. Then, she continued to walk further into the room. Her eyes scanned from left to right, trying to seek out Leon. There was something that she wanted to ask of him, something that had been on her mind since she saw him that morning, and she felt that it would be better for her to get it out of the way now.

Soon, she found him near the very back, and her face lit up. It seemed that he was talking to someone, but whoever it was was obscured from her sight by a stack of cardboard boxes. She took a deep breath, and began to approach him. She worried if he would see her as an intrusion on whatever conversation he was having, but felt that it would be fine in the end.

As she drew closer, the second person slowly began to come into view: It was a young female with brown hair that extended well past her shoulders and slightly tanned skin. As soon as she saw who it was, a feeling of anger began to stir deep inside of her.

"No..." She said to herself. "Not her..."

Once she got close enough to the two, Leon caught sight of her, and gave her a smile. "Oh, hey Charlotte," he greeted.

The woman with him turned to face him. She smiled slyly at her. "Well, look who decided to come all the way back here."

"Kayla," Charlotte said. "What are you doing back here?"

"What? I can't have a conversation with Leon here?" Kayla asked in a annoyed tone.

"You just got here. Shouldn't you be working?"

"I'll get to it in a minute."

"You should be working now," Charlotte said.

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Geez, who are you, the boss?"

"With you, I might as well be!"

"You're only telling me to get lost because you want to get in Leon's pants!" Kayla said quite loudly, which garnered the attention of several of their coworkers nearby.

Though blushing, Charlotte gritted her teeth in anger. "You-"

"Ladies, please," Leon said as he stepped between them. "Don't fight. I don't want you two to get fired."

Kayla put her hands on her hips and pouted.

Charlotte sighed. "You're right... Sorry."

"Anyway," Leon said, "I'm glad you came, Charlotte."

"Really?" Charlotte asked.

Leon nodded. "Yeah. Y'see, I'm thinking about going out this evening, and I'd love it if you and Kayla could join me."

"Really?!" Charlotte's face lit up.

"...That is, if you're not too busy."

"No, I'm not!" Charlotte answered excitedly... and loudly.

Leon's eyes widened in surprise. Kayla snickered. Once again, the other coworkers had shifted their attention towards the three of them.

"Sorry..." Charlotte's cheeks were red with embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it," Leon said. "So, you can come? Great!" Leon dug into his pocket and pulled out two small cards, and then handed one to Charlotte and the other to Kayla. "That has my apartment number and address on it, and my phone number as well. Don't lose it."

"I won't," Charlotte looked at the card for a few seconds, before shoving it in her pocket. "What time do you want me ove-"

"Us," Kayla interrupted.

"What time do you want me over there?" Charlotte repeated.

"You can both come over at around eight-thirty," Leon answered. "Is that alright?"

"It sure is!" Charlotte replied.

Leon nodded with a smile. "Good. I look forward to seeing you two. Now, if you'll excuse me..." He then walked past Charlotte and made his way towards the front of the room.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked as he left. "Aren't you on your lunch break?"

"No," Leon answered. "My break isn't for another hour."

"Oh..." Charlotte was somewhat disappointed. She had wanted to spend her lunch hour with him, but it seemed that it would not be the case. However, at least she would be spending some time with him later that day.

"Hey, you," Kayla called.

Charlotte turned towards Kayla, who was looking back towards her with an unpleasant expression on her face.

"Don't try anything stupid, like getting there early," Kayla said. "You'll just look like a desperate hussy."

"Whatever, Kayla," Charlotte retorted. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" Kayla laughed. "I don't care. You're going to be seeing a lot of me later today, anyway. You should just get used to seeing my face. Who knows?" Kayla drew her face closer to Charlotte's and gave her a sly smile. "We might even become friends."

"I'd rather gut myself."

Kayla sighed. "You're so difficult..." Then, she walked past Charlotte and made her way back towards her work area.

Charlotte watched her leave, and was met with a mix of emotions. On one hand, she was thrilled that she would finally be spending time with Leon outside of their workplace. On the other hand, she would have to share him with Kayla, at least for that day.

In the end, however, any time with Leon would be worth having to put up with Kayla's presence, and thus, she was looking forward to meeting him later that day.

In the meantime, she figured that she should go get something to eat at the nearby Wendy's restaraunt.

~~~

Standing in front of his bedroom mirror, Leon combed his hair, making sure that it looked perfect, that it would look as if he was indeed planning to go out that night. Of course, he knew that that was not the case.

After the final stroke, he examined himself in the mirror. His combed light brown hair, his grey T-shirt, and his blue denim jeans that matched the demin jacket hanging off of his bedpost. Then, a slight grin appeared on his face.

"You handsome devil, you," he said to his reflection. "Attracting all the ladies... Trapping them in your sticky web..." He glanced at his analog watch on his left wrist. "They should be coming in around 30 minutes."

He turned around, and looked towards the floor near his bed. Standing right next to his favorite pair of brown flip-flops was the 3-inch-tall Jessica. She merely looked back at him, her face emotionless and her eyes blank. Understandably so, as in the three week that he had her, he had put her through some of the most demeaning and sadistic things that he could think of, or rather, things that did not involve her being mutilated or maimed, as much as he wanted to.

He walked towards her, not saying a word, until he was standing directly in front of her. She craned her head upward, looking directly back into his face. To her, he must be as tall as a mountain.

"So, you might have some company in an hour or so," he said to her. "I'm sure that you must have been lonely in that box of yours. Maybe some 'girlfriends' might help you loosen up a bit. How does that sound?"

She did not respond. This did not surprise Leon, as she had been a shell of her former self since a few days after he came back from Idaho. Her unresponsive state almost made Leon felt as if he was playing with an actual doll instead of a tiny human. It was as if she had just given up.

He jabbed her with his big toe, finally garnering a tiny squeak from her and knocking her off of her feet. "I believe I asked you a question. That means you better answer, little girl."

Jessica did nothing but lay on the floor in front of his feet.

"You know, you could at least try to act like you're still in danger. I mean, I could stomp you to death at any time, you know that, right?"

Still, she did not respond in any way. Leon stared at her for a few seconds, before sighing.

"Maybe you just need a break. ...Well, whatever. Like I said, I'm going to be getting a couple more girls in here, so I might lose interest in you for a while."

He stepped over her, and sat down on his bed. Then, he set his bare right foot right onto the small woman's body, before laying back and interlocking his fingers behind his head. He looked up at the ceiling, waiting for when he would finally hear the knocks on his apartment's door.

~~~

Charlotte stepped off of the elevator, having arrived onto the 5th floor as it said on the card that Leon gave her. Carrying a purple purse on her shoulder, she had chosen to wear a brown vest over a short-sleeved white shirt, brown pants, and black ballet flats. Her hair was still tied in the same scrunchie from earlier, as she felt that it looked rather nice on her.

Walking to the right of the long hallway, she sought out apartment #519, which, going by the numbers on the doors that she passed, seemed like it would be near the end of the hall. Her intuition was right, as soon she arrived at her destination. She looked around. Kayla was nowhere in sight. Deep down, she hoped that something had happened, and that Kayla would not be able to come. Then, she would have Leon all to herself.

She gulped, before knocking on the door. Her heart beat began to speed up. Time seemed to march slowly as she awaited a response from the other side of the door.

Then, the door opened, revealing Leon's face, the sight of which put a smile on Charlotte's face.

"You made it!" Leon said. "A bit earlier than I expected, but come on in!"

He opened the door wider, allowing her to step inside. As he closed the door, she looked around the room. His apartment seemed slightly smaller than hers, with the kitchen in plain sight from where she stood. She wondered how large his bedroom and bathroom was. Two places that she would love to go into... with Leon in tow.

"Nice place you have," Charlotte said.

"Thanks," Leon said. "It's nothing special, but it keeps me off the streets, and with my income, I have to take what I can get."

"You make it sound like it's horrible. It's not that bad."

"By the way, you look gorgeous."

Charlotte blushed. "Thank you. I hope I didn't overdo it."

"No, not at all," Leon responded. "You look nice, ready for a casual night out. Both of you."

"Both of-?" The tiny bit of hope inside of Charlotte withered away. "...So, Kayla is here already?"

"Yep!" said Kayla's voice from the back, before she stepped into the living room. Her attire consisted of a pink sleeveless shirt, a dark green skirt that barely came down to her knees, and lacy pink sandals that showed off her French pedicure. "I got here before you, missy!"

"Really?" Charlotte said, a bit agitated. "After what you told me at work, that I would look like a desperate hussy if I got here early? You are such a hypocrite!"

"So? At least I got here before you did! No alone time for you!" Kayla stuck her tongue out at her.

"That's enough," Leon said. "Kayla, please don't do anything to upset Charlotte." He looked at Charlotte. "Same to you."

"Fine..." Kayla said, actually sounding disappointed.

"Okay." Charlotte wondered why he invited the both of them here. After all, he did know about their feelings towards one another.

"Anyway, you girls hang tight, and I'll be back in a minute," Leon said. Then, he walked towards the back, where Kayla had come from, and soon he was out of Charlotte's sight.

Kayla walked towards the center of the room, and turned towards Charlotte. "I know what you're thinking... I was in the bathroom. I only got here a few minutes ago."

"How could you possibly know what I'm thinking?" Charlotte asked.

"C'mon, Char..."

"Don't call me that."

"Your friends call you that all the time."

"Yeah, well YOU'RE not my friend."

"Not yet."

Charlotte shook her head. "People wake up from dreams eventually."

"Yeah, I could say the same to you, Mrs. Jansen," Kayla mocked.

"What did you say!?" Charlotte's anger began to rise again.

"Looks like you can't take what you dish out." Kayla said with an arrogant smile.

Charlotte sighed and placed her hand on her forehead. "I don't know how I'm going to make it through tonight with you..."

Suddenly, as she opened her eyes, a bright blue light flashed throughout the room. It seemed to have disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Both she and Kayla looked around the room, confused.

"Did you see that?" Charlotte asked.

"Obviously," Kayla replied.

"I wonder what it was... Maybe Leon took a picture of us?"

"Why would he do that? And even if he did, wouldn't he take off the flash?"

"Huh..." Then, Charlotte noticed something. She looked past Kayla, and saw the couch behind her growing. She looked around, and saw the entire room around her growing. She could bot believe it. Her heart began to race again, though this time in fear. From Kayla's expression, she must have noticed as well.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Charlotte asked. "Why is everything getting so big?!"

"Why are you asking me?!" Kayla answered. "I don't know!!"

"Oh my god..."

After a minute, the growth of the room stalled to a stop. Charlotte fell to her knees, feeling a bit nauseous, thought she could not bring herself to vomit. The same could not be said about Kayla, who began spewing out as soon as the room stopped its sudden growth.

"Dammit..." Kayla said between coughs. "Why... did I wear... sandals?"

Charlotte slowly rose to her feet, and looked around. The room that they were standing in seemed like a different place now. The carpeting below them was like grass, the couch and other furniture in the room looked like tall buildings, and the ceiling hung over them like the sky.

"What happened?" Charlotte asked. "What-"

Suddenly, another surprise. The ground started vibrating, and with each vibration came a crashing sounds not unlike thunder. The vibrations became more violent, and the crashes louder.

"What's going on-" Charlotte asked before she was interrupted.

"Look, look!!" Kayla said loudly as she pointed towards the back room.

Charlotte looked in the direction that Kayla pointed, and her heart dropped at what she saw: Leon approaching, except like the room, he was giant. He had pulled on a demin jacket over his grey T-shirt and slipped on a pair of brown flip-flops.

"Huh?" He said, looking around in a confused state. "That's odd. Where'd they go?" He began to slowly walk towards them, searching around the room while doing so.

"Oh my god!! Leon!!" Kayla shrieked. "Does he see us?!"

Leon drew dangerously closer to the two women. "They were just here a second ago."

"He's going to step on us!" Kayla exclaimed.

"What?!" Charlotte looked towards Kayla, her face awash with fear. "Leon wouldn't do that!"

Kayla turned in the direction opposite of Leon. "He doesn't see us, stupid! You see how big he is!? He'll flatten us and not even know it!!" With that, Kayla bolted away from the apporaching giant.

"But-" Charlotte looked towards Leon. His gigantic foot was coming ever closer to her, and in that instant, she knew that Kayla was right. Dropping her purse, she ran after her, narrowly avoiding succumbing to Leon's weight as his foot crashed down behind her.

Unfortunately, while he was walking slowly, he was still much faster than they were.

"Leon!!" Charlotte frantically called out. "Leon, we're down here!!"

"Huh?" Leon stopped walking, and looked around. Her words seemed to reach him, as he was looking around the room for the source.

Kayla also stopped running away, and came back to rejoin Charlotte.

"Leon! Leon!!" They both started calling out to him. "We're down here!!" Charlotte added.

Finally, Leon looked downward. His eyes widened in shock and surprise. "What the hell?! What happened?!" He kneeled down in front of them.

"We don't know!!" Kayla said. "We saw a flash of light, and then the room started to grow big!"

"Grow?" Leon said. "I didn't notice anything different here. You two are just... small."

"What?!" Kayla yelled.

"How did we get small?!" Charlotte asked. "What about our date!?"

"Let's see what's going on here before we even think about that," Leon said. "I don't think you two are in any condition to go out like you are now. Let's go back in my room."

He reached down for them, and picked them off of the floor and into his palm. Charlotte flinched as his gigantic fingers wrapped around her and dropped her in his palm, before he stood from the floor and began to walk back towards the back of the apartment.

"I knew it," Kayla said.

"What?" Charlotte asked.

"I knew you thought that this was YOUR date with him."

Charlotte sighed, as Leon made his way into his bedroom. She did not expect to enter into this place like this. Sure, she would have loved for him to carry her inside, but not while she was in such a state. His bedroom was rather small, or rather, just slightly smaller than hers.

Leon walked to his bed, and sat down on it. Then, he reached down and placed the two women on the floor in front of his feet.

"This is weird..." Leon said. "I've only seen this in TV shows. I never thought that people could shrink for real."

"Maybe that flash of light did it!" Kayla said. "It started right after we saw it!"

"I didn't see a flash of light," Leon said.

"Good thing you didn't!" Charlotte said. "Then you would have been as small as us!"

"I guess so." Leon shrugged.

"So, what now?" Kayla asked.

"Well, like I said, I can't take you two out like you are now. People would see you and ask questions. Someone could even steal you... or worse."

"Yeah, and keeping us in your pocket all that time wouldn't be any fun," Kayla said.

"So, for now, I'm going to keep you two here. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great!" Charlotte exclaimed. "I know that you'll take great care of me- us!" She blushed at her almost intentional slip-up.

"I'll do my best." Leon gave them both a smile.

Kayla reached into her shirt, and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open, and pressed a few buttons before bringing it to her ear. She waited for several seconds, before saying, "I don't hear a dial tone or anything."

Charlotte pulled her phone out of her pants pocket, and also opened it. She speed-dialed her parent's house, and brought the phone to her ear. However, there was no ringing sound. Just silence. "My phone isn't working, either."

"You guys are so small, I don't think your phones can pick up any signals," Leon said.

"Well, that blows," Kayla said. "You think you could call my parents for me?"

Leon stared at her for a few seconds. His soft demeanor seemed to slowly melt away.

"Well?!" Kayla said.

"Sorry, but no," he finally answered.

"What?!" Kayla was stunned. "Why?! Don't you think they should know what happened to us?!"

"No. They're not going to know. No one is. No one except you and me. You two little girls belong to me now."

"Leon..." Charlotte's infatuation began to transform into concern and fear. "What are you talking about? Quit joking."

"I'm not joking," Leon said. "Let me let you two in on a secret: I shrunk you."

"What?!" The two women said in unison.

"I have this neat power that lets me shrink anything I want. Obviously, I was acting like I had no idea what happened. I also saw you two the second I went out there."

"So you were just pretending?!" Kayla yelled back at him. "You almost stepped on us!!"

"I know, but you two were pretty fast." His facial expression was now more of a smirk.

"Change us back!!" Kayla demanded. "Now!!"

"Or what? You'll call the cops? On your useless cell phone? Dream on, bitch."

"Leon..." Charlotte was in a state of disbelief. "Please tell me you're just messing with us..."

"In fact..." Leon slid off of his bed, and crouched onto the floor. He reached under his bed, and pulled out a shoebox, though to the two women it was as big as a house. He reached inside and pulled something out. Then, he stood upright and walked past Charlotte and Kayla, stepping dangerously close to Kayla and causing her to flinch in fear, and stopped in the middle of the room.

"Look at this," Leon said.

Charlotte and Kayla looked at what he was holding in his hand, and gasped at what they saw: another tiny woman, the back of her pants being held by his massive fingers. Her limbs hung down lifelessly, as if she was dead.

"This is my second little lady, Jessica," Leon said. "Say hi to Charlotte and Kayla, Jessie." With his other hand, he forced a wave out of her right hand.

"Second?" Kayla yelled. "You mean she wasn't the first!?"

"No. The first lady was some whore," Leon answered. "So anyway, as I was saying," he said as he kneeled down and placed Jessica on the floor in front of him. She did not try to run; she merely just stood there. Had Leon broken this woman?

"You two are staying with me," Leon continued. "And there will be no objections. You'll do what I say, or I'll crush you like a bug. Got it?"

Charlotte's heart skipped a beat. This latest statement was one that she never expected to hear from his lips. He always seemed so kind and friendly.

"What?!" Kayla yelled. "You wouldn't do that to us!! You can't be that-"

Suddenly, there was a loud thud. Leon had quickly lifted his sandal-clad foot over Jessica, and just as quickly stomped down on her. Both Charlotte and Kayla's mouths dropped in disbelief and shock, and they were overcome with a mix of emotions, but fear was the most prominent one.

Leon turned his head towards the two women, an evil and twisted smile on his face.

"I wouldn't what now?" he said.