Tim sat sulking in the middle of his cage, resting on the tissue that Aunt Julia had dropped in the cage earlier, which the tiny teenager had folded into a makeshift blanket. Nearby, sat a small, torn piece of napkin, upon which lay a tiny helping of noodles and meat that Aunt Julia had scooped from Mrs. Peterson’s casserole for him to eat, along with a small thimble-full of water for him to drink out of if he was thirsty.

     Although Aunt Julia had put his cell phone in his cage to give him something to watch while she and his mother were having their girls night in the living room, and had graciously pulled back the towel covering his cage when she brought him his dinner, Tim was far too depressed to pay attention to the movie, nor did he have an appetite despite having literally not eaten anything the entire day. He’d spent the entire morning avoiding Aunt Julia and getting stepped on by Mrs. Peterson, then ended up suffering for the remainder of the afternoon at the hands—and feet—of his aunt, albeit willing to endure his punishment under the assumption that his mother would eventually be home with the antidote that would finally restore him back to his normal size.

     Alas, all his suffering had been for nothing; at his mother’s behest, he was forced to spend yet another day the size of a bug, and enduring whatever cruel torment Aunt Julia could think up.

     Tim didn’t want to wait another day; he wanted to be big now! He wasn’t sure he could take another day of Aunt Julia’s torture, especially since his suffering was bound to be exponentially increased after his mother’s scolding of his aunt about her feet; there were still plenty of other parts of her body that Aunt Julia could torture him with.

     Tim also realized that in all his excitement when his mother got home, he’d missed yet another opportunity to tell her about Aunt Julia’s cruel treatment of him over the past week. Sure, his mother found out about the foot massages, but that was only because Aunt Julia had freely admitted to it, as if it were no big deal. In fact, gauging Aunt Julia’s calm and poised demeanor during the incident, Tim still wasn’t sure if she had been thinking up a believable explanation for the foot massages and every other incident on hand if she was ever found out, or if his aunt was just devious and clever enough to be able to make up an excuse one on the spot. Would it even be worth telling his mother about his suffering at this point, only to have Aunt Julia merely explain everything away?

     Unfortunately, at present, even if Tim wanted to tell his mother, he wouldn’t have the chance: Aunt Julia had wisely kept his mother at bay for the evening, never allowing them to have any time alone together, and constantly chaperoning any fleeting contact Tim and Natalie did have. Not that there was much: Natalie still felt guilty for dashing her son’s hopes of getting him back to normal that evening, and had opted to keep her distance until she could find the courage to face him…

     Tim was unexpectedly snapped back to reality by the sound of knocking on his bedroom door.

     “Knock, knock,” Julia called out with a chortle, feigning sweetness as she barged into Tim’s bedroom room and removed the bath towel from the cage, tossing it over on the other side of the dresser.

     “Well, hey there, Tiny Tim,” she cooed down at the tiny teenager inside, a huge, devilish smile on her face. “Did you enjoy your meal?”

     “I told you to stop calling me that!” Tim complained grumpily.

     “Hmph,” Julia shrugged and crossed her arms. “I’d have figured you’d practically be used to it by now.”

     “Well, I’m NOT!” Tim shouted up irately as he jumped to his feet. “How would YOU like it if YOU were the one who was small, and I kept poking fun at YOUR predicament?!”

     “Well, as I’ve no doubt reminded you before,” Julia replied smugly, “I’M not the one who drank your mother’s shrinking potion, little guy, YOU did.

     “Besides,” she chuckled, “It’s fun teasing you about it.”

     “It’s not fun for ME!” Tim recoiled. “Aunt Julia, why are you treating me like this?! How can you be so cruel?!”

     “‘Cruel’?! Julia recoiled, mirroring her tiny nephew’s prior reaction. “You think I’m being cruel?!”

     “Well, what else would you call….stepping on me, and putting your feet on me, or sticking me in your panties…and everything else you’ve done do me this week?!”

     “Oh, that was just me having a little fun,” Julia scoffed, gesturing with her hand.

     “You think tormenting me is FUN?!” Tim recoiled again. “Aunt Julia, I’m your nephew! You’re supposed to take care of me. You’re supposed to love me!”

     “Aw, but I DO love you, Tiny Tim…” Julia cooed, wiggling her index finger at the glass “…and I love you even more now that you’re so small.

     “Hm,” the giant woman moaned softly, “I wonder if your mom’d be willing to leave you tiny for a couple more days. I could sure go for a few more of your foot massages.”

     “Yeah, well don’t count on it, Aunt Julia,” Tim retorted. “By this time tomorrow, I’ll be back to my normal size and this’ll all be over.”

     “Hmph, you seem pretty sure of yourself, little man,” Julia replied incredulously, crossing her arms again. “What makes you think you’re even gonna grow back tomorrow, hm? Your mom’s smart, but even she can’t predict all the possible side effects of that antidote she cooked up. For all you know, it could turn you into a frog or something.”

     “Nice try, Aunt Julia,” Tim rebutted assuredly. “Mom already said her test rabbits grew back to normal when she gave it to them, so at least we know it works.”

     “Yeah, and how do you know it’s not just temporary, smart guy?” Julia posed.

     “Temporary or not, at least it works…well, for a little while anyway, but so what?! Even if it IS only temporary, I can still take it and grow back to normal. I’ll just have to keep taking it so I don’t shrink down again, that’s all.”

     “Hmph,” Julia scoffed again, sneering. “So….you’ve got it all figured out, don’t ya, little guy? Well, we’ll just see about that…”

     Julia leaned forward, spouting a deviously scornful grin:

     “ …Gonna be a little hard to grow back if you never get that antidote, Tiny Tim,” she said.

     “Wh…What’re you talking about, Aunt Julia?” Tim inquired suspiciously. “Mom already said she’s bringing the antidote home with her tomorrow.”

     “Uh, as I recall, what she said was: she’d bring home the antidote IF there were no side effects….but even if she does, what makes you think I’m gonna let her give it to you?”

     “What do you mean: ‘let her give it to me’?” Tim recoiled suspiciously. “You don’t have any say in the matter.”

     “Yeah, that’s what YOU think, little guy,” Julia chortled smugly. “I can be very persuasive. Maybe I’ll just convince her to leave you this way for the rest of the summer. I’d love keeping you as my tiny, little, foot slave.”

     “That’ll never happen, Aunt Julia!” Tim shouted up defiantly. “Mom wants me un-shrunk just as much as I do.”

     “Sure, maybe right now,” Julia said pridefully, “but by the end of the night, I’ll have my sister convinced to keep you this way. Mark my words, you’re days being tiny are far from over.”

     “You’ll never get away with it, Aunt Julia!” Tim retorted. “I’m sure, as hell, not staying this way forever!”

     “Oh yeah, and just what’re YOU gonna do to stop me, small fry?!” Julia impugned contemptuously, tapping on the glass of Tim cage. “Don’t forget, you’re still the size of a bug, and it’d only take a second for me to snatch you up and stomp you flat. By the time you’re mom could even do anything about it, you’d be nothing but a tiny, red stain on the bottom of my foot.”

     Tim was about to shout up a response in kind, but wisely composed himself and kept his mouth shut.

     “Uh-huh, Julia ginned pridefully. “That’s what I thought. Face it, Tiny Tim, your fate is in MY hands, so I suggest you learn your place, or else you’re gonna find yourself stuck the size of a bug for a very….very long time.”

     “Yeah, well we’ll just see what happens tomorrow, Aunt Julia, ” Tim replied impudently. “Just you watch. I’ll be un-shrunk by tomorrow afternoon.”

     “Oh yeah, we’ll see all right,” Julia sneered, lifting the lid of the cage.

     Tim recoiled as he saw Aunt Julia’s open hand coming down towards him. He scrambled to avoid the giant hand and find cover, but there was honestly no where he could run. He squealed in terror as the giant woman’s fingers curled around his body, quickly disappearing into her grasp.

     “LET ME GO!” Tim shouted demandingly with his aunt’s fist, fearful he was mere moments away from being stomped.

     Julia quietly lowered the lid back onto the cage and headed out of the room back down the hall to the master bedroom. Once there, she pushed the door closed and marched over to the laundry hamper, lifting the lid.

     “HEY, WHERE’RE YOU TAKING ME?!” Tim shouted again when he felt Aunt Julia come to a stop.

     “Hmph,” Julia snarled at her tiny nephew still enclosed within her fist, “‘un-shrunk by tomorrow afternoon’, huh?! Not if I have anything to say about it!”

     Julia threw her fist down towards the open hamper, tossing the tiny boy inside. Tim screamed as he hurtled downwards, landing in a small pile of clothes at the bottom.

     “Let’s see what a few hours trapped in the laundry hamper’ll do for that little attitude of yours!” Julia sneered.

     Before Tim could come to his senses and recover, Julia slammed the lid of the hamper slammed shut, trapping the tiny teenager inside.

     “Enjoy your evening,” Julia chuckled maniacally as she kicked the side of the hamper and proudly marched out of the room, closing the door behind her. Then, she headed back down the hall into Tim’s bedroom, hurriedly collected the remnants of the tiny teenager’s dinner, covered the empty cage with the towel again, and took a second to gather herself before heading out of the room and closing the door behind her.

     “Hey sis,” Natalie called out, pausing the movie as Julia stepped back into the living room. “Was Tim finished with his dinner?”

     “Oh yeah,” Julia replied coyly, “quite finished. In fact, I was just collecting his trash.”

     “Is he feeling any better?” Natalie inquired apprehensively.

     “Oh, he’s calmed down a bit…” Julia nodded, “…buuuuut he’s still pretty upset. I think it’s best if we don’t bother him for the rest of the evening. Are you finished with your dinner?”

     “Actually, I think I’m gonna have another helping in a second,” Natalie replied, moving her bowl to the coffee table.

     “Yeah, I might have another helping myself,” Julia concurred, motioning to the remnants of Tim’s dinner in her hands. “Let me just take care of these things real fast, and I’ll be back in.”

     “OK,” Natalie replied.

     Julia stepped into the kitchen for a moment and dumped out the thimble of water into the sink. Then, she flicked the piece of napkin off her finger into the garbage disposal, rinsed off her hand, and re-joined Natalie on the couch to finish their movie.

     Tim scrambled to right himself and quickly clambered to the highest point of the pile of clothes he’d landed in. Streaks of light flooded in through the wicker-mesh sides of the hamper, and the tiny teenager could only gaze upwards, awestruck at the sheer size of his newfound prison as the light beams illuminated its towering heights.

     “That giant….bitch!” Tim cursed as he crawled towards the sides of the hamper. “I swear, the first thing I’m gonna do when I get big again is give that woman a piece of my mind…if I don’t strangle her first.”

     Tim slid down one of mother’s tops, hopped over to the side of the hamper, and gazed through one of the wicker-mesh holes: from his vantage point, he could see the foot of his parents’ bed, and could just make out the closed bedroom door off to his right. If he just could squeeze through one of the hamper’s holes, he was sure he could shimmy under that door. Then, all he had to do was make it down the hall, hop down the step into the living room, and scurry over to the couch where his mother should be sitting and get her attention…all without being spotted by Aunt Julia. Simple.     

     Tim took a moment to inspect the wicker material immediately surrounding the hole, then braced himself as he tried pushing it apart, hoping to open a hole wide enough for him to squeeze his body through. The wicker had some give, but the material proved too strong to pry apart enough for him to escape through. He quickly clambered to another hole and repeated his efforts, trying to find a larger opening, a loose strand of wicker…any weakness he could exploit to escape; alas, he found none.

     Tim frustratedly yanked at the wicker, smacking it with his fists in anger. The tiny teenager quickly realized there were only two ways out of the hamper: wait for someone to come along and get him out—hopefully his mother—or start climbing.

     Tim heaved a heavy sigh; he already knew the answer.

     “Great,” Tim groaned sarcastically as he surveyed the huge chore that lay ahead of him, finding his first hand and footholds. “Of course, Aunt Julia would have to throw me in here right after doing the laundry a couple of days ago.”

     Slowly but surely, Tim carefully climbed upwards. Luckily, the wicker mesh of the hamper provided an ample supply of hand and footholds for him, but the task still seemed insurmountable. Even after all several minutes of climbing, Tim still had over halfway to go.

     “Aunt Julia’s not keeping me small forever,” Tim affirmed as he climbed higher. “Not if I have anything to say about it. I’ll show her. I’m gonna get to mom and tell her EVERYTHING Aunt Julia’s done to me if it’s the last thing I do…”

     Tim paused, gulping loudly:

     “…even if it IS the last thing I do.”

     Tim sighed morosely. He could already picture in his mind Aunt Julia squashing him beneath her foot once he squealed on her, and knew he’d be better off just biding his time and waiting for his mother to give him the antidote the next day, continuously reaffirming that Aunt Julia couldn’t possibly keep his mother from giving it to him. Alas, his aunt’s ominous warning kept echoing in his mind: all it would take was a few seconds, a brief moment when his mother was distracted…and he’d be on the floor, watching in horror as his aunt’s huge sole came down on him. Although, if it really came down to it, Tim reaffirmed he’d rather be squashed flat than spend the rest of his life stuck at an inch tall and subservient to his giant bitch of an aunt.

     The tiny teenager held his position for a few moments to catch his breath and rest his arms, then slowly resumed his ascent, hoping he could find a way out once he reached the top.

     “Mm, good movie,” Julia moaned as she stretched out her arms.

     “Yeah,” Natalie concurred, grabbing the remote and returning to the main menu of the streaming service, “I’m always in the mood for a good drama.”

     “How about a romantic comedy next?” Julia proposed.

     “Sounds good,” Natalie replied, “but how about we try to clean up a little first?”

     “Sure,” Julia chortled in agreement, “sounds good.”

     Julia leaned forward and stuck her finger in the middle of the remaining casserole.

     “Hm,” she uttered. “Probably for the best: casserole’s gotten a little cold. So much for second helpings.”

     “Well, we can just scoop a little into each of our bowls and pop ‘em in the microwave for a little bit,” Natalie proposed. “We’ll put the rest back in the fridge for tomorrow.”

     “Yeah, I guess that’ll be fine,” Julia agreed with a shrug as she stood up from the couch and picked up her wine glass from the coffee table. “You want any more wine?”

     “Please,” Natalie said assuredly, grabbing her own wine glass and handing it to her sister. “With the way things have been going around here this evening, I think I’m gonna need it.”

    “Come on,” Julia chuckled, gesturing to the kitchen with her head.

     Natalie helped Julia gather up the casserole dish, then grabbed the their two bowls and headed off to the kitchen. They each took a few minutes to rinse some things off, top off their glasses of wine, and freshen up each their bowls with one last helping of casserole before covering the dish and putting it back into the fridge.

     “Maybe one of us should look in on Tim before we start the next movie,” Natalie suggested as she closed the refrigerator door.

     “Uh…actually, why don’t we give him a little bit?” Julia stammered. “I just started up a fresh movie for him when I picked up his leftovers from dinner earlier, so it’s probably only about half over at this point. He should be OK for a little while longer.”

     “Well…” Natalie sighed hesitantly, “…alright, I’ll just leave him be for now, but I don’t want us to forget about him.”

     “Relax, sis,” Julia chortled offhandedly. “We’re not gonna forget about him. Geez.”

     “Alright, well….would you mind tossing my bowl in the microwave for me? I need to use the bathroom really quickly.”

     “Um….O-OK,” Julie replied anxiously, realizing the trouble she’d be in if Natalie happened to find Tim in the laundry hamper, “but hurry back. I don’t want your food to get cold again.”

     “Don’t worry, I won’t be long,” Natalie scoffed politely as she headed towards the kitchen door. “I just have to pee.”

     Julia looked on nervously as she watched Natalie walk through the living room and head down the hallway, disappearing into the bathroom right before a distant door closed shut.

     Tim was panting heavily, exhausted from his ascent up the inside of the hamper. It had been a long, arduous climb, but he’d just about reached the top. He hated to admit it, but Aunt Julia had been right about one thing: he really needed to start working out and get in shape…or, at least, a shape that was something other than “out of”. He affirmed in his mind that he was going to start exercising as soon as he was big again, but first, he needed to get out of the hamper.

     Tim surveyed the huge, closed lid above him, wondering with dispirited confidence how he could possibly muster enough strength to actually push it open and escape. Luckily, the lid was supported by four, small rubber gaskets at the corners, leaving a small gap between the lid and the edges around the basket. It wasn’t much, but without outside assistance, it was Tim‘s only shot.

     Then, just as he was about to finish his climb up to the lid, Tim heard distant footsteps moving through the house. They were getting louder…stomping closer…

     Tim’s heart started racing; if Aunt Julia looked in and found him in his current position…

     Suddenly, he heard the bathroom door opening on the other side of the wall next to the hamper, the footsteps now lightly smacking the hard, tile floor. Obviously, someone was coming to use the bathroom, but Tim wasn’t sure if it was his mother or Aunt Julia.

     “H-Hello?” Tim called out hesitantly, nervously biting his lower lip.

     The bathroom door closed just quickly as it opened, and a moment later, Tim heard the toilet lid clink against the rear tank.

     He listened intently…

     Then, he heard a heavy sigh just before the sound of urine splashing into the toilet bowl. The sigh wasn’t much, but it was enough for Tim to know exactly who was in the bathroom…

     “Mom!” Tim exclaimed eagerly. “MOM, I’M IN HERE! MOM, HELP ME!”

     Tim quickly stifled himself and conserved his energy, realizing it was no use trying to shout over the sound of his mother relieving herself. She was barely able to hear his tiny voice even when she was literally holding him up in front of her face. He’d have to wait until she was through, and hope he could somehow get her attention before she left the bathroom.

     Natalie sighed heavily as she sat on the toilet and relieved herself, taking a moment to breathe and center herself as she emptied her bladder. Although her shrunken son wasn’t back to normal just yet, with a potential cure waiting for her at her lab, it was nice to finally be able to take an evening to relax and decompress after such a long, stressful week. She finally—or at least presumably—had an antidote to show for her week’s worth of hard work, and although she was a little anxious about going into the lab in the morning, hoping she wouldn’t find anything wrong with any of her test rabbits, she heaved another sigh of contentment and flashed a satisfied smile, knowing in her heart that this nightmare of a week would soon be over.

     Natalie stood up from the toilet and tore off a few squares of toilet paper to wipe herself off, flushing the toilet as she pulled up her pants. Then, she nonchalantly stepped over to the sink to wash your hands.

     As she began drying them on a hand towel hanging on a nearby towel rack, however, a musty odor wafted into her nostrils. She moved her face in closer to towel and took another quick sniff…

     “Phew,” she exclaimed, her face contorting in disgust. “Yuck! I thought Julia washed these the other day. Ugh, oh well…”

     Natalie sighed and yanked the towel off the rack, then stepped over to the door to her bedroom and turned the doorknob…

     Tim tried shouting for his mother again when he heard that she’d stopped relieving herself, but almost immediately, he heard the toilet flushing, and bathroom sink turning on not long after.

     More sounds…more noises that drowned out his voice, and Tim started losing hope that he’d ever have the opportunity to call to her again, let alone getting her to hear him.

     The door just outside the clothes hamper suddenly thrust open, and Tim was so startled, he jerked, nearly throwing himself back down into the bottom of the clothes hamper. When he finally recovered and regained his footing on the wicker lining, he saw his mother’s towering figure standing over by the bed.

     “MOM…MOM!” Tim shouted desperately as he stuck his arm through the wicker mesh, waving frantically to his mother over by the bed in hopes she’d see him. “MOM, HELP! IT’S ME, TIM! I’M HERE, IN THE LAUNDRY HAMPER! LOOK IN THE LAUNDRY HAMPER! MO-OM!”

     Natalie stood by her bed and finished drying off her hands with the dirty hand-towel. The laundry hamper was just to the right of the door, but she also wanted to throw in the leggings and bra which she’d worn that day and had laid out on the bed during her shower to air out.

     Just as she’d finished gathering up all the articles of clothing she wanted to toss into the hamper, she suddenly heard a faint, tiny squeaking sound. She paused, listening intently to pinpoint the sound’s location…

     “Julia?” Natalie called out in a hushed tone, shifting her attention to the bedroom door where she figured the sound was coming from. “Julia, is that you…?”

     “No, mom, it’s ME!” Tim cried out frantically, realizing his mother was apparently reacting to his voice. “I’m over HERE. In the HAMPER!”

     Natalie set the bundle of clothes she was holding on the bed and stepped over to the bedroom door, gently turning the doorknob and cracking the door open just enough to peek out into the hallway…

     …There was no one out there.

     Slightly puzzled, Natalie shrugged and closed the door, dismissing the noise as her imagination playing tricks on her. Then, she stepped back over to the bed to grab her laundry…

     As she turned to walk towards the hamper, Natalie paused again, spotting her bathrobe hanging on the back of the bathroom door. It had been there, in her line of sight, since she entered the bathroom earlier, but hadn’t given it much thought up until that point.

     “Hmph, might as well throw that in, too, while I’m at it,” she shrugged as she stepped over to grab it. “Should be dry by now…”

     “YES, mom, YES!” Tim shouted excitedly as his mother finally started walking towards the hamper. He quickly climbed the last few steps up to the top, pounding his fist on the lid.

     “I’m in HERE!” he cried out again. “Get me OU—HOWT!”

     Natalie reached for her robe, grabbing a handful of the soft fabric around the breast area and tried lifting it off its hook…unfortunately, the robe didn’t come off the door. Apparently, it was still caught on its hook. Natalie fidgeted and maneuvered the robe around for a few seconds as she tried to get it off the hook with one hand; alas, she still couldn’t pull it down.

     Natalie sighed in frustration, keeping one hand on the robe and reaching for the hamper with her foot…

     Without warning, the huge, hamper lid suddenly lifted open above him. Tim yelped in surprise as a huge burst of air suddenly rushed in through the holes in the sides of hamper, thrusting him upwards and clean over the edge, sending him tumbling downwards towards the carpet below…

     Natalie lifted the lid of the hamper open with her toes and quickly tossed in the bundle of laundry in her hands just before it slammed shut again with a loud smack.

     As she turned back and reached her newly freed hand for her robe, she suddenly heard the tiny squeaking sound again. She immediately looked back stepped over to the hamper again, raising the lid and peeking inside.

     Natalie moved her ear closer and listened, thinking there might be a mouse or something trapped inside, but yet again, the faint sound had disappeared just as quickly as it began, and she didn’t see any signs of movement as she stared at the pile of laundry in the bottom of the hamper.

     “I must be losing my mind,” Natalie sighed to herself, shaking her head as she stepped back to get a better grip on her robe.

     “Julia was right,” she continued as she successfully pulled her robe off its hook and stuffed it into the hamper. “I think the stress is getting to me. I really need to relax and clear my mind this evening.”

     Natalie closed the lid on the hamper, taking a couple steps back to close the bathroom door. She had no idea her tiny son currently lay on the carpet next to the clothes hamper, still recovering from his recent fall…nor that he was directly in her walking path as she stepped around the hamper to head out of the bedroom. By the time Tim recovered enough to realize his precarious position, his mother’s giant figure was already bearing down on him. With a tiny squeak, the shrunken teenager disappeared beneath his mother’s bare sole as her foot crashed down to the floor.

     Meanwhile, Natalie, still unaware of her tiny son’s plight, casually walked out of her bedroom and headed back down the hall towards the living room…

     Only a few steps down the hallway, however, Natalie paused, stopping dead in her tracks as her gaze alighted upon Tim’s bedroom door. She stood there for a moment, contemplating, almost frozen in place as she stared at the door.

     Natalie sighed, racked with guilt: she wanted to go in and speak with her son so badly, but she still couldn’t muster the courage to face him. Tim was so upset when she told him he’d have to wait another day before being cured, that Natalie wasn’t sure she could ever forgive herself for disappointing him…for everything that’d happened to him. The whole shrinking situation had been her fault. If she’d only taken the formula to her lab immediately after arriving back in the states, or even shipped it back home with the rest of her samples, none of this would’ve happened. Perhaps just telling Tim that the responsibility for this mess lay solely on her, it might, at least, somewhat ease his burdens.

     Natalie quietly stepped up and placed her ear against the door to listen: she could hear some sounds coming from inside, specifically the muffled conversations and music from the movie playing on the phone inside the hamster cage. She removed her ear from the door, and slowly reached for the doorknob, grasping it gently in her hand…

     Natalie released the doorknob, dropping her hand as she sighed quietly. She didn’t want interrupt her son’s movie, especially if it was helping him decompress and forget about his predicament, providing a momentary escape from his troubles, even for a little while.

     Natalie turned and carefully tiptoed away from the door, continuing down the hallway to the living room, where Julia was setting their refilled wine glasses down on the coffee table next to two reheated bowls of casserole.

     “…Everything OK, sis?” Julie asked anxiously as Natalie stepped back into the living room.

     “Uh…yeah,” Natalie replied, rubbing her hands together nervously. “Every—everything’s fine.”

     “Good,” Julia sighed with relief. “Ready for the next movie?”

     “Sure. What’d you pick out?”

     “Well, I thought maybe we could watch Bridesmaids?”

     “Sounds good,” Natalie smiled softly, heading around the coffee table to sit down on the couch. “I could use a good laugh…”

     “Hey…” Natalie spoke up, pausing just in front of the coffee table. “…you…. didn’t happen to hear anything coming from Tim’s room while I was in the bathroom just now, did you?”

     “N-No…” Julia stammered, shaking her head vigorously. “…I’ve mostly been in the kitchen getting our food warmed up and topping off our drinks. Why?”

     “Oh, no reason,” Natalie replied, shaking her head quickly. “I…thought I might’ve heard something when I was coming down the hall just now. I was gonna check in on him, but I didn’t wanna bother him until his movie was over.”

     “Probably a good idea,” Julia nodded quickly, relieved by her sister’s statement. “Why don’t we…sit down and enjoy our movie for a while. I-I’ll check in on Tim in a bit.”

     “Sure, sounds good,” Natalie said as she continued around the coffee table…

     “Hey, Jules?” she spoke up again just before turning to sit down on the couch.

     “Yeah?”

     Natalie’s demeanor relaxed, and she flashed a small grin:

     “Thank you…” she sighed contentedly, “…for…you know, helping me relax this evening. I really needed this, what with everything that’s been going on.”

     “My pleasure, sis,” Julia smiled, stepping closer and gently rubbing her sisters arms.

     “Besides,” Julia chortled, “I could tell you’ve been wound a little tight lately.”

     “Well, can you blame me?” Natalie proffered. “My son’s literally turned into the incredible shrinking teenager.”

     “Yeah,” Julia chortled again, “but we’ve got things under control now: Tim’s safe and sound in his cage, and you’ve got an antidote waiting for you when you get to your lab in the morning, so stop worrying.

     “All you have to do now,” Julia said assuredly as she sat down on the couch, “is just sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your evening.”

     “Yeah….I guess you’re right,” Natalie acknowledged with a heavy sigh, collapsing onto the couch as well.

     “Of course, I’m right,” Julia said haughtily, kicking her feet underneath her and reaching for her glass on the coffee table. “Now, what’s say we have some more wine before starting our movie?”

     “Alright,” Natalie sighed, picking up her own glass and crossing her left leg underneath her as she turned to face her sister, “but don’t forget: one of us needs to look in on Tim in a little bit just to make sure he’s okay.”

      “He’s fine, sis,” Julia replied coyly, raising her glass. “Trust me. At the moment, our tiny boy is right where he needs to be.”

     Tim was grateful he finally had some semblance of a reprieve from his recent ordeal, but he was still in extreme peril. One minute, he was trapped in the clothes hamper, shouting for his mother to help him out; the next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on the carpet, recovering from an apparent fall. He lay in shock for a moment, staring blankly at the towering hamper off to his left, unable to process how far he had fallen.

     Then, just as he’d managed to sit up and come to his senses, and a huge shadow shrouded him in darkness. As he looked skyward, his vision was suddenly filled with the wrinkled underside of his mother’s bare foot.

     “MO—!” Tim screeched as his mother’s foot slammed down on top of him, cutting off his screams as it smashed him into the carpet. The pressure was immense, but brief, dissipating just as quickly as it began; unfortunately, as Tim felt his mother’s foot lifting off the floor, he felt himself being carried along with it. He began screaming hysterically, but his face was stuck, plastered to his mother’s sole, muffling his cries.

     Tim frantically struggled to peel himself off his mother’s foot before the giant woman could take another step, but he was already firmly adhered to her flesh, and every step she took only pressed his tiny body deeper into her wrinkled sole.

     Each step his mother took was sheer torture, and even the fleeting moments when she stood still, the situation wasn’t much less painful for Tim, especially when she shifted her weight onto her right side, causing him to scream in agony from the immense pressure.

     Tim repeatedly screamed for help, but with his face buried in her foot flesh, he knew it was unlikely his mother would actually hear him. His only hope was her feeling him squirming beneath her foot, but she as yet appeared to give any sign that she’d stepped on him, nor that he was stuck to her sole.

     At one point, he could hear his mother and Aunt Julia talking, and continuously shouted and yanked his body back and forth in hopes to get her to feel his presence, but each time she started walking again only reconfirmed that she had no idea he was down there.

     After several minutes of torture, the pressure finally receded. Tim couldn’t tell if his mother was about to step down again, but for the moment, her foot appeared to be somewhat stationary. Once again, he could hear his mother and Aunt Julia talking, but from what he could make out, their conversation seemed casual, and both seemed unaware of his plight no matter how much he shouted and struggled.

     At least, for the moment, Tim wasn’t constantly being stepped on, and with the momentary reprieve, he refocused his efforts on peeling himself off his mother’s foot, concentrating on slow, deliberate movements that might have been more productive and likely to yield results.

     Throughout the process, Tim couldn’t help but moan, confused as to why his mother’s foot was so sticky. Hadn’t she taken a shower earlier?

     What Tim didn’t realize, however, was that since her shower, Natalie had been walking throughout the house, specifically through the non-carpeted floors of the kitchen and bathroom, which Julia had mopped the day prior. As the floors had dried, the cleaning solution that Julia had used left a slightly sticky residue behind—a residue that had since transferred to the bottoms of Natalie’s and Julia’s feet and they puttered about getting dinner ready. To any normal sized human, including the two, giant women, the sticky residue was weak and went relatively unnoticed as they walked around the house, but to a tiny, one-inch teenager, it had the strength of a powerful, industrial adhesive, and Tim was now struggling desperately, fighting to un-adhere himself from his mother’s foot.

     After several minutes of tugging and pulling at his mother’s foot flesh, Tim finally managed to pry his right arm off her sole. He quickly pressed his hand into the part of the sole adhered to his face, slowly sliding his fingers between the two stuck layers of skin, eventually prying them apart and peeling his face free.

     Tim gasped the first breath of fresh air he’d inhaled in several minutes, shaking and wiping the grime from his face. He craned his neck to look around: he couldn’t see much from his vantage point, as the ball of his mother’s foot blocked his view, but looking from side to side, Tim could see distinct landmarks around the living room couch, and could hear music and conversations coming from the TV above, quickly surmising that his mother and aunt were presently sitting on the couch, watching a movie.

     “MOM!” the tiny boy shouted desperately, pounding his free hand into her sole. “MO-OM!”

     Tim’s efforts, however, yielded no response. Natalie was still unable to hear him, nor feel him on wiggling on her foot. Quickly surmising that his mother wouldn’t be able to hear his tiny squeaks over the blaring TV anyway, Tim concentrated on redoubling his efforts to pry himself off her foot, praying he could free himself and get clear before she got up from the couch.