“ Matthew are you in there? Matthew? I'm getting worried, I'm going to come in.” I heard from outside . .was that Christina? Jesus, how long was I out for this time? Wait . .did she say she was coming in?

“ U-uh . Hold on a second! I-” While I tried to find words, I got up from the couch and tumbled onto the ground tripping over my pants. I immediately wondered how I managed to be so clumsy and pulled myself and my pants up and got a very clear answer. My pants were now much too long for me, I must have shrunk throughout the night.

Before getting the opportunity to do anything else Christina opened the door and was greeted with the ridiculous sight of me holding up pair of pants that were too large on me. Christina covered her mouth, despite not knowing what to say, her eyes told a much more compelling story. “ Did you . shrink again?”

I stared back at Christina with the same exasperated look and why wouldn't I? She was huge! The last true interaction I had with her was when we went running when this all started. Then we were only talking a difference of about 2 inches, now? A difference of over 2 feet!

“ Y-yeah.” I flatly responded.

“ Christina's face was wrecked with pity and sympathy. “ How about you get ready so I can take you to the doctor.” I sighed internally, since she only knew half of the matter. The fact that I was shrinking was absolute, the circumstances surrounding it though is beyond her knowledge. Going to the doctor will be more a formality rather than anything that I can hope will solve my dilemma.

“ Wait, you're taking me . .and how did you get in?”

“ In your state you definitely won't be taking yourself there, we already talked about this. You also gave me a spare key in case any . . .incidents happened.” She said the last part lowly considering an incident of me shrinking jut happened.

“ R-right, okay give me a few minutes.” I went into my bedroom to freshen up and also in hope of finding something to wear. I fumbled through all my clothes and noticed unlike my early ordeals in shrinking where my clothes all seemed adjusted to my height, now I wasn't as fortunate and everything was too large for me. Improvising, I rolled up the legs of some jeans and threw on the smallest t-shirt I had, which was still slightly large but better than my other options.

“ Alright, I'm ready.” I meekly declared, I really wasn't looking forward to being out in public like this, hopefully this will be painless. Taking hold of my hand Christina guided me to her car the way she held my hand though wasn't only to guide me, it felt protective.

“ I'm sitting in the backseat . .and in that!?” I asked, seeing that she led me to the back, but the other thing that caught my attention, there was a booster seat!

Christina clutched my hand a little tighter. “ I know it may not be the most flattering thing, I just want you to be safe alright?” I both liked and hated that aspect of her at the same time. She can be a lot to handle at times, but how could I be mad at her though? She had my best interest at heart and like or not, it is true that it's unlikely I'll fit in a regular seat-belt now.

After helping me into the car, I simply looked the other way while Christina buckled me in, it was becoming harder and harder to see myself as a young adult. If this booster-seat was any indication, it's going to be getting more difficult for the people round me to keep treating me like one.

“ Alright, all set.” Christina said with a small smile and pat on my head.

For the time being the booster-seat was the worst of it, and getting to urgent care wasn't so bad. Much like before, Christina unbuckled me and held my hand while we walked through the door and to the receptionist (who of course gave me a funny stare when seeing on the documents that I was 22 and looked at my height) and was to check in.

Christina read some of the magazines in the waiting area and I was content to just keep staring anxiously at the ground. The advantage of being around Christina right now was that most of the patients that came in and glanced in our general direction likely thought of us as a mother and son, and went about there business. While being far from ideal it at least kept me under the radar.

After waiting 15 or so minutes Christina set the magazine down. “ I need to run to the bathroom right quick, I'll only be a few minutes. You'll be okay, right?”

“ Sure, no problem.” I replied, hardly giving it any thought. Weirdly enough without Christina next to me, I felt much more . . .exposed, like I lost a layer of security. I felt far more paranoid at the thought of other people coming within my vicinity. As much as I hate my diminishing independence I hoped Christina would be back soon. I looked around a bit impatiently when I noticed a young girl about 13 perhaps come in with her father and coming in my direction.

“ Wait right here Taylor while I go up and fill out all the paperwork.” He said and left his daughter alone. Taylor simply sat down in a chair next to me and fumbled around on her phone with a facial expression that translates to ' I want to be anywhere but here right now.' I cursed to myself wondering why she couldn't pick somewhere else, the room was empty besides us but at least her attention was on her phone.

It didn't divert her for long though, she quickly grew bored and put her phone away for something else to give her attention to, sadly that happened to be me.

“ Are you waiting on your parents, they shouldn't be leaving a little kid alone.” She curiously asked. I really didn't want her to get a good look at me so I tried to keep my head low, but Taylor leaned forward a little to get a better look.

Just play it cool Matt. . “ . . . . .U-um . .no I'm waiting to be called back.”

Taylor continued gazing at me, now with more of a perplexed look. “ This is the adult section though . .for people 17 and up.” Crap, that's what was suspicious to her. Now I can sense it I know what topic was about to be the highlight of her next statement.

“ Are you really a teenager or adult, you're like short . . really short.” She predictably commented.

“ Yeah I am . .” I again responded simply, I took a glance up hoping that either Christina would come back, my name would be called, or her father was finished, none were happening.

“ Hey, stand up.” Taylor said getting up with new found excitement in her voice. Without waiting for me she grabbed my wrist and pulled me up. My mass not being what it used to be, her force was more than sufficient in making me stand to my feet. Taylor stood close soaking in the disparity in our heights. “ Why are you so little?”

I really wanted to ask for help, but there wasn't anyone else in the waiting room and the lone receptionist was busy with this brats father; plus I also didn't want to admit to myself I couldn't even handle a lone 13 year old. “ I . .dunno. Born this way I guess.”

“ On my last physical, my doctor told me I was hitting my growth spurt and was 5'1. I feel like a giant next to you. You can't be much more than 3 feet tall. I was probably a little taller than you even when I was in kindergarten.” My temper was rapidly flaring, this girl just wouldn't drop the subject and it was becoming painful to hold my tongue. I know if I mouth off things will go from bad to worse, but emotion was starting to trump logic.

“ Get on your tippy toes.” She asked, knowing damn well that I'll still be considerably shorter than her. I can tell she was loving this, a kid that was realizing that she was on the path to adulthood relishing the superiority of being so much taller than someone, rather than a child that had to look up at most of the world up until this point. I once again did as she asked, getting on the tips of my toes as best I could and as expected it hardly made a difference. The top of my head was barely level with the bottom of her developing breasts.“ Wow, you're still pretty short.”

“ I fucking noticed.” I lowly said, not going unnoticed by the young teen. Her face flashed briefly with irritation, before settling down to a grin.

“ Hey now, little kiddies shouldn't be using language like that.” She said wagging her finger at me and added further insult placing her hand on my head and ruffling my hair like I was her little brother.

Not wanting to make a scene I kept my voice low, but I was still very frustrated. “ I'm a fucking adult, now leave me alone you little bitch. .” I knew I'd regret that, and with Taylor sporting such an obvious advantage right now, she took no heed to me swearing at her.

“ Is the squirt throwing a temper-tantrum? I think I'm going to have to teach the kiddy a lesson.” Expending no effort Taylor lifted me up and forced me to sit on the chair, and before allowing me the chance to move she turned around and lowered herself on top, sitting on my lap.

It was uncomfortable, slightly painful, and most importantly humiliating. I was only kidding myself by squirming and pushing against her thinking that it'd actually be enough to move her.

“ Aww, the kiddy must not have been eating his vegetables. If you did maybe you'd be big and strong like me.” She taunted at the useless resistance I could muster. “ Apologize and I'll let you off the hook.”

“ N-no.” I defiantly replied, I may not be able to force her off but like hell am I going to give her the satisfaction of apologizing when she was being the annoying, rude, bitch!

“ I know, you're a little upset but for once maybe you should try being the bigger person.” She mocked. I still refused to give in. This was far from pleasant, but it was bearable, all I had to do was wait for her dad and I'll be out of this mess. . .So I thought, my body began to feel strange . . . hot. . .No, not in that way, but internally hot . .just like yesterday. That's when my brain put two and two together, my body was shrinking whenever that happened! As my temperature rose, I felt my body sinking on itself and contracting. It was hard to tell by how much, but it started to make me deathly afraid, and now I was having other problems. Relative to my shrinking, this brat started to feel heavier as I slipped further into the chair. Now this girls punishment went from being uncomfortable to painful, this had to stop.

“ Alright, alright . .I give .just stop please.” I said, trying to hide the anguish and panic in my voice.

“ Apologize for swearing at me.” She chirped.

“ I'm sorry for swearing at you Taylor.”

“ That's MISS Taylor to you young man.” She added, only wanting to add more salt to the wound.

“ I'm sorry for swearing at you Miss Taylor.” I squeaked out. At last I felt my temperature fall back to normal, and like-wise Taylor finally stood up (even if she took her sweet time in doing so). I sat up trying to get myself in a comfortable position, and noticed the makeshift job I did to my clothes wasn't cutting it anymore, as they felt and looked noticeably looser on me.

Taylor turned around and ruffled my hair once more. “ There, now that's better. I hope you learned your lesson on how to talk to people. I'm sorry I had to be so hard on . .you.” She paused momentarily in her sentence while she stared down at me. With me knowing clearly what happened and that Taylor now looks slightly bigger than before, I could see on her face that she was trying to pin point what exactly happened. I was in internal disarray, but I tried to keep a straight face to the best of my ability so Taylor wouldn't think I was hiding something.

“ You . . look different. .Stand up again.” Oh shit, I'm fucked. If I don't do it, she already demonstrated she can make me.

I was getting ready to bite the bullet when I heard the door open. “ Mr. Matthew Valon.” The doctor said, Taylor stood aside not wanting to look like she was causing trouble. Right on time, Christina also stepped out of the bathroom. “ Hey Matthew? Was your name called?”

“ Y-yeah, lets go.” I said making my getaway. Taylor stood aside and watched me keenly. I tried to stare straight ahead, but I couldn't help taking a short glance while I walked away at her and indeed she looked a few inches taller now than before. As Christina went to meet me, I saw the jaw-dropping epiphany on her face right as Christina and I walked past the door.

“ Right this way you two.” The doctor said as we walked to the back.