"Annie," Josh called again, a nervous tension in his voice as he looked up expectantly at the giant girl, "what happened?" His voice was soft enough to mask the fear, but Annie, perceptive as she was, quickly caught the breathy huff of desperation. The look in his eyes was anxious, his gaze darting to Annie's equally nervous face.

"I--I," she stuttered, finding it difficult to place her words. "I don't know." Her words were quick, almost as if she had no direct control over them, but it was the opposite, and she couldn't help but bite the inside of her cheek, nearly drawing blood as a direct response to her shameless, unnecessary lie.

In reality she knew exactly what had happened, but she couldn't bring herself to be honest. Acknowledging that Josh's inch tall form was most likely permanent, she just couldn't bring herself to tell him she had forced him into a life under her watchful eye without hesitation.

"You don't know?" Josh asked, his voice now wavering in defeat. His question was not one of disbelief, but one of bargaining as he wished to himself that Annie would answer differently. A slow, grim nod of the head was all it took for Josh to reaffirm what she had just said. Whatever hope he had on getting answers was immediately crushed by a lie consisting of only three words, although it was the ambiguity that bothered him most of all.

It took Annie a second after it was too late to realize that Josh would have accepted the truth. His voice and expression practically begged for an answer that she had nervously refused to say. Mentally kicking herself, Annie promised herself to commit to her story for now until it was the right time to speak the truth.

The blonde sighed before saying, "you just started shrinking, and I don't know why." Her words were robotic and spoken in a way that was meant to convince herself just as much as him.

"Oh," he said hopelessly. As soon as he spoke, Annie felt a needle stab cleanly into her chest as the guilt finally settled in. She looked at the boy and felt the need to do something, console him, talk to him, hold him, anything to lift his spirits, but instead she stood there, feeling sorry for both herself and the shrunken boy.

They waited in total silence, and the painful tension between them biting at their minds, they spoke as if they were total strangers, completely forgetting their near six year long relationship since middle school.

Annie, feeling responsible for the situation, acted first, reaching into the cardboard shoebox with her palm facing upwards. Josh instantly recoiled in fear, falling flat on his back and pushing away with his hands until he hit an immovable wall. His heart raced as he couldn't help but stare at the massive hand that seemed too aggressive for his liking.

Much to Annie's surprise, Josh avoided eye contact as he stared directly into the floor below him. A newfound sensation of claustrophobia washed over him as his breaths grew shorter and the feeling of asphyxiation became more real by the second.

"Josh," Annie called, keeping her voice soft enough to be approachable, "please." She lowered her fingers, creating a gentle slope for him to climb on.

Taking a deep, relaxing breath, Josh cautiously inched towards her, placing his hand onto her ring finger's padded tip. After getting a quick, uncharacteristically careful judgement of his landscape, Josh slowly climbed his way to the center of Annie's open palm, fighting to keep his balance while doing so.

She brought her right hand to eye level, albeit a bit too roughly as the movement's force  knocked the boy off his feet. "Sorry," she apologized meekly while looking into the startled expression of the tiny boy.  Instinctively, Annie cupped her hands, placing one over the other and creating a protective dome of soft skin around Josh. Of course Josh stayed silent, trying to ignore the nervous perspiration coming from Annie's clammy hands.

Annie made her way to her bed, sitting crisscrossed in the center of the sea foam green comforter while sinking firmly into her soft bed. She simply dropped her friend off directly in front of her, watching him slide down her hand and onto the comforter.

He hit the plush surface with a soft, albeit heavy, thud, using his forearms to break his fall. He laid on the ground for a brief moment, sluggishly standing up and taking in the awe inspiring sight of his giant best friend.

She was beautiful, radiant, despite the stony expression on her face,  and he was completely transfixed. Her massive form seated in an enlightened position, she was stunning, her form rivaling the greatest of monuments dedicated to greater deities. It made him wonder why a goddess like her would waste a second with a lowly wretch such as himself.

They waited in an absent, unbearable silence as neither wanted to speak up first, letting the interminable pause last out of pure reluctance.

"About last night," Annie said softly, breaking the silence when it became too painful. She looked down at Josh, searching for a sign that he was listening but found none, his expressionless face staring right through her. "You-- You were drunk." Once again her words fell upon deaf ears, and irritation settled in, nestling itself forcefully into her mind.

Josh stayed silent as Annie began to feel a little heated by her friend's lack of response. She dug her nails into her calves, something she did while nervous to help get her mind on something else, but she found the situation too important, and the dull, self inflicted pain wasn't enough to stop her indignant thoughts from taking over.

"Josh," she called  harshly, her sudden shift in tone breaking the boy's trance. His head bolted upwards, his focus moving from whatever he was staring at to the giant, nearly angry woman in front of him. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Annie continued,  "you don't have to talk, just listen." This time Josh responded with a slow nod, not wanting to incite any more aggressive actions.

"You were drunk," she repeated, having a little more confidence in her voice as she spoke.  She gripped the comforter, creating tiny wrinkled hills between her fingers and bringing her hands to her knees to support her posture, rising as tall as she could while staying seated. "I took you home, and you said some pretty heavy things."

"Like what?" Josh asked, speaking up curiously. There was a certain intensity in his eyes as if he was caught committing a crime and was put on trial. He was unaware to the events of the night before, digging for an answer that he probably wasn't going to like. As far as he knew, Annie caught him drunk, took him home, and he then he was like this.

"You said that you fucked up and that you were sorry." Annie stated truthfully, debating whether or not omitting Josh's confession of love and more importantly his suicide note was a good idea.

"Oh," he said simply, his voice almost disappointed as the intensity began to die down and was followed by a shaky sigh of relief.

"You wanted to tell me something, but you couldn't." Annie brought up, hoping Josh would be comfortable enough to speak about his problem on his own. "You looked pretty bothered by it, and I just want to know if you, now that you're sober, would like to tell me something."

"No," he answered quickly, his statement forced and clearly hiding something.

"Oh, okay," the disappointment apparent in her response.

Annie's discomfort seemed to rub off on the shrunken boy. He shifted his weight between his legs, leaning over left and right. He began to think on how she stayed by his side the night before, wondering to himself on how Annie might have taken his death, noting and fully recognizing she was one of the few people who actually cared about him.

An overwhelming sensation of guilt washed over him, feeling his breaths decrease as the sensation of drowning filled his lungs. Sure enough, it dawned on him what he had put Annie through, believing he didn't deserve a single second of her time, much less what was happening now. Josh had her full, undivided attention and focus as he was her full priority, but he felt he didn't deserve any of it.

"Sorry," he croaked weakly, hoping to ease his thoughts of being a burden.

"Don't say that!" Annie nearly hissed, his apology striking the wrong chord with her. She realized the harshness in her voice by looking at herself from his perspective, noting how terrifying a giant woman's wrath might be, especially when said giant was all he had for support. "Just promise me that you won't do it again, okay?" Her voice became quiet right after her upset outburst, not wanting to startle Josh any more than she felt was just.

Josh's head bobbled with a terrified vigor, hoping Annie wouldn't yell at him again, his motivation being that he couldn't stand seeing her angry. He stared at the ground to avoid looking at the rage induced tears that began to form. Annie, quickly catching Josh's shifty body language, began to blame herself for his state of unresponsiveness.

Annie wiped the tears from her face, telling herself to be strong for both his and her sake. "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid. I just don't know what I'd do if you..." Annie fumbled around on her last few words, finding it hard to bring up the topic of death. She was in a state of denial, refusing to believe her best friend would even consider suicide as an option.

"Got drunk again." Josh quickly interrupted.

"Yeah, that's it." Annie said quietly, kicking herself again for failing to bring up his note. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to mention it.

In an attempt to be direct and get rid of their emotional barriers, Annie had added an unnecessary filler by lying about how Josh shrunk, keeping her involvement secret and backing herself into a wall she had constructed herself while already feeling remorse. Her mind had convinced her that if she told Josh now, he would wonder why she'd lied, blame her for ruining his life, and find another way to off himself while she slept or was away. No, she couldn't bear to let that happen; it had to stay a secret for Josh's well being, at least that's what she kept telling herself.

A lie of omission is just as bad as a boldfaced lie, Annie thought, quoting her mother's words that she often brushed off without a second thought.

And in that moment, Annie realized how different she was than her mother. Responsibility was one thing, but maturity, whether it be mental or emotional was a whole other level that she wasn't ready for. She actively refused to believe Josh nearly killed himself and was struggling with his own emotions. She simply wanted to believe he was happy, and she wanted to him to be with her.

Annie knew it would have been definitely easier to  tell him the truth, to tell him she hastily shrunk him to protect him by keeping him at her side, to tell him she knew all about his mental illness and how he didn't have to hide it anymore, and to tell him he could cast aside his problems so she could handle them. But now her chances were gone, and she could only wish she had the courage and strength to say all those things.

She just couldn't.

She didn't want to.