“Oh my God, you’re so adorable!” - “Isn’t she!?” -“ I love her hair.” -“I hope I look this good when I’m her age.”

Courtney’s face burned as she was passed from hand to hand. She was nothing but a prop in the current exercise.

“I’m only 28!” She wanted to scream, but the HR director placed her Neuro-chip on mute for the meeting.

Brittany had loaned her and Caleb to HR for the day as an introduction to that that Fall’s intern class to demotions and how they worked.  

Caleb, on the other hand, didn’t have it much easier.

Thanks to the constant work their coworkers put them through, all the shrunken people were lean and svelt. Their muscles well-toned.

“If shrinking gets you this fit, sign me up.” One of the guys joked.

“Oh. I’d put you to work alright.” Another guy joked, which caused the original joke teller to choke on a sip of water.

“Alright y’all.” Megan Smith, the Director of HR of the New Orleans office clapped her hands together with a cheery smile. She stood 9ft tall. Her brunette hair was tied into a Braided Updo and blood-red lipsticks adorned her lips.  “Now for Q&A. Miss Vance and Mister Adams here will be unmuted so that they can answer your questions. As we don’t want to influence your questions or their answers, I’ll step out for the next half hour.”

Courtney at Caleb glanced at one another and gulped. They were to be left alone with the group of 10, 20 to 24 year-olds for the next 30 minutes.

Megan tapped on a tablet in her hands and Courtney felt her vocal cords begin working again.

“Y’all have fun.” Megan left the room with a smile. Her chunky heels thundered down the hall.

Caleb and Courtney stared up at the 20 eyeballs looking down at them. 14 of them belonged to girls, the other 6 to boys. Silence. Until a tall brunette raised her hand. Caleb and Courtney once again looked at one another. Courtney shrugged and turned.

‘Yes. You. Miss Sacramento State.” Courtney pointed, using the girl’s sweater as a point a referenced.

She giggled at Courtney’s high pitched voice. “Oh my god. So adorable.”

This caused Courtney to fume.

“Hi. My name is Jessica.” She put a stop to the Courtney’s name early and then asked her question. “Why don’t they give you clothes?” This made the two miniature people suddenly aware of their nakedness.

Caleb stepped forward, “Costs. You know how much it cost to, not only make the clothes, but also supply them to the number of demoted resources Vilecio has? A LOT.” He spoke confidently which caused the interns to nod and look at one another like the answer was obvious.

“Doesn’t that, like, make you embarrassed?” She followed-up

“Are you embarrassed to talk to us?” Caleb retorted.

“Um. No.” She replied, blushed, and slinked back.

“Any other questions.” Courtney added.

“How old are you?” A male student in a “National Champs 2025” Oregon Hoodie blurted out.

“You first.” Courtney encouraged Caleb, “Uh. 32”. He looked at the ground as he spoke. Courtney then answered, “I’m 28.”

“Yo what.” The student hit the guy next to him in the arm. “That’s kinda young, right? I thought they’d only get rid of the old useless people.”

“No. You idiot. Didn’t you listen at all to what Miss Smith said the last hour?” A blonde in an MIT tshirt corrected her classmate. “Vilecio demotes hundreds every week for a number of issues. Whether it be something severe as theft or parking in an executive’s spot.” She beamed at her knowledge.

“Very good, uh?” Courtney asked the Blonde looming above, “Courtney. But you will call me Miss Hodges.”

“Oh. My names Cour-“ Courtney began to reply but was cut off.

“I really don’t care what your name is. You’re a demoted. Miss Smith made it very clear that you are beneath everybody. Even lowly intern me.” Larger Courtney boomed.

Small Courtney was pissed, “You listen here, you little fucking brat. I’m not going to take attitude from somebody who still takes their shots from a sippy cup. I used to be-“

The larger Courtney’s hand smacked the desk.

“That’s right. USED. To be. I don’t care what role you used to have. Look at you now. 2 inches tall. Caleb Is like, only 3 inches and he towers over you.” Miss Hodges paused, “Now. If you’d be respectful to your superiors. I have a question.” The larger girl smirked.

“Go-go ahead…” Caleb told her.

“Go ahead, what?” Courtney Hodges crossed her arms and bore down into Caleb.

“G-go ahead, Miss Hodges.” He replied, head hung in defeat.

“Good boy.” This caused Caleb to blush as the blue-eyed girl domineered over him and his ‘coworker’.

“How many butts have you had to kiss?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Enough.” Smaller Courtney replied. She didn’t care how big this bitch was. If she wanted her respect, it would be earned.

Larger Courtney sighed and rolled her eyes, “Time out.”

Caleb and Courtney’s classmates all looked on in horror as the larger girl picked up her miniature opponent from the table and pushed her through her plush lips. Courtney Vance screamed as she entered the giant maw of her young adversary. She was sure this was the end. She was pushed past the girl’s pearly teeth and onto her tongue. The appendage waggled and wagged side to side and up and down.

The group watched as Courtney Hodges pushed her cheeks side to side.

“Anybudy gotsh a cupf?” She asked, her mouth full of something.

“Uh just finished my coffee.” One of the other girls handed Courtney Hodges her cup still lined with coffee residue.

“Perfect.”

Courtney Vance continued to scream as she was pushed around in the darkness. Her head pushed under what seemed like gallons of saliva as she fought to stay afloat. She found herself choking on spit.

The group washed as Courtney Hodges hovered over the coffee cup and pursed her lips. A trail of saliva soon exited.

“Ew. That was supposed to be refillable, but you keep it.” The girl who handed Courtney her cup spoke up at the sight.

Courtney Vance screamed in terror as she was pushed back into daylight. Her body riding in a stream of the larger girl’s spit.

“There we go. You can hang out in there until we’re done.” Courtney Hodge’s lifted the cup to her face and stared through the clear plastic at Courtney Vance. The 2-inch tall woman struggled in a pool of her spit. Frothy bubbles and other fluids surrounded her. Her soaked hair clung to her face.

Courtney Hodges placed the cup on the floor under her seat and turned her attention to Caleb. “So you’re owned by Brittany Dunham, right? She asked.”

Caleb nodded eagerly.

“Well, don’t leave us hanging.” The one true Courtney motioned with her hand for the small man to continue.

“Well, um. Yeah. The great Brittany Dunham…owns me…” The words felt weird coming from Caleb’s mouth. He always knew that’s what it was, but to actually say it. It felt odd.

“Why? Was she your boss? Did you perform poorly?” A girl in a sweatshirt with “Florida Volleyball” on it asked.

“Yeah. That’s the thing,” Caleb felt himself grow embarrassed. He had never had to vocalize any of this for better or for worse. His mind flashed back to the day he was shrunk. Running to escape and being caught by Brittany. He gave his story:

“…So Brittany was my intern about 6 or 8 years ago? Dang. How time flies. Anyway, some things to know about Brittany is that she’s as tenacious as they come and she doesn’t let go of grudges. I wish I knew these. I underestimated her. She didn’t’ seem special, some poor hick girl who barely kept her scholarship to Cincinnati. But when I interviewed her, she was cute. 5ft 4in. Super eager to please. I figured I could at least have a fun year out of her and never see her again…”

“Fucking pig.” Courtney spat from above.

“You’re telling me.” Caleb responded.

“Anyways. As you can see. Things did not go the way I had planned. Brittany came in with all these great ideas and ways to implement them. She was a prodigy. After about a month, I began passing them to my bosses as my own. They loved them. Mobile SMOL? Her idea. Neuro Chip? Her idea. I was praised for helping to grow the company exponentially. Brittany, however, was completely overlooked. She soon started going behind my back. It was after her first promotion -first ever Intern to do so by the way - I realized I needed to get out of there. I knew she knew about what I had done. I mean, how couldn’t she? After every meeting with me, the company would announce a new development which turned out to be one of her ideas. I was able to maneuver my way through the ranks to become the company’s CTO. Youngest ever. Got moved to a different office and everything…”

He coughed. “My throat’s getting a bit parched. Could I get some water?”

“I got you.” Courtney replied and then leaned over him. A globule of spit landed next to him. “Drink up.” She smiled.

“Uh. I think I’ll power through it.” Caleb cleared his throat and continued.

“About two and a half years after that. My day of reckoning came. I was told to come down here for a meeting with the R&D department. I thought Brittany had a hand in it, but apparently leadership just didn’t appreciate me lying my way to the top. Funnily enough, I almost escaped, but it was Brittany who caught me.”

This earned claps from the girls of the group.

Caleb laughed. He was somewhat happy to get this off his chest and glad the interns found it entertaining.

“Imagine yourself. 4 feet tall…”

“Never.” Courtney replied.

This earned eye rolls from the group.

“Anyway. 4feet tall. Youngest CTO ever. Sentenced to demotion, but you’ve escaped. You’re outside the building. You found some bushes to hide in and are holding your breath. You’re trying to think of your next move. Suddenly you hear somebody closing in. Large steps. Then your 7ft tall former intern is towering over you. The girl you avoided for so many years who you wronged, holds your fate in your hands.”

All the interns leaned in and held their breath.

“Then what?” Jessica asked.

“Here I am.” Caleb held his threw in the air.

“Wonderful story little guy.” Courtney clapped. She leaned back in her chair and swung her feet onto the table which Caleb stood. Much to her classmates’ displeasure. “I hope that’s me. Shrinking my boss and bringing him back to MIT. ‘That’ll teach you to have me get your coffee.’ I’ll say. ‘Courtney please no.’ He’ll scream. Then I’ll shove him down my pants.” Courtney drifted off into her fantasy world.

“Oookay then.” A voice came from the doorway. Megan reentered the room. “I see you all were entertained by Mister Adams’ story and Miss..” Megan paused, “Where’s Miss Vance?”

Courtney blushed. “Oh. My bad.” She leaned under the desk and pulled the cup with the smaller woman swimming in her spit upward. “Um. Here you go Miss Smith.”

Megan Smith took the cup from Courtney with a look of disgust. “Uh. Thank you…”

“Was that story true?” One of the guys asked.

“Every word.” Megan confirmed, much to the pleasure of the female interns. “I was the one who processed his shrinking, actually.”

Caleb nodded.

“You would not believe the things Brittany subjected him to his first year.” Megan shuddered.

“Oh. Something like this?” Courtney spoke as she tapped away on a tablet. Caleb’s body began moving. Megan and the other interns watched as his body moved robotically to one of Courtney’s soles and began lapping the dirt from her heel.

Megan laughed, “Exactly like that. I assume you’ll be going to R&D with technical ability like that.”

Courtney nodded and pulled her feet off the table.

“Until next time, little guy.” She spoke down to Caleb who was still licking air. “And to you as well. LITTLE girl.” She gave Courtney Vance one last loogie, to Megan’s displeasure.