“My name is Rebecca”, she said offering her hand.

“Umm…” he paused, then replied, 

“Adam” while reaching out his pinky for her to shake.

“What are you?” Adam asked.

“I’m a person, like you. Only much much smaller”, she was trying to keep cheerful disposition so she didn’t freak him out more than he likely was.

“No way”, he said, “I mean you look like a person but people aren’t this small. What are you really? Some kind of robot?”

Before she could answer he grabbed both her feet between his thumb and index finger and lifted her upside down in front of his face to inspect her further. 

She screamed and demanded he put her down but he kept checking her out. She was reminded of her nudity when she saw his eyes stop at her breasts for much longer than the rest of her. When he reached out to touch them she reached up and tried to slap his fingers away. Although he barely felt her slap he got the message and stopped his inspection, lowering her to the table and speaking again.

“Ok, so maybe you’re not a robot. But if you’re a person, why are you so tiny?” 

Adam wondered

“It’s a long story but all you need to know right now is that the woman who lives hear did this to me and she’s crazy so you need to get me as far away as you can right now”

Adam pondered this then replied, 

“You mean Mel? Nah, she’s the sweetest woman I know. There’s no way she…”

“PLEASE!” Rebecca begged, trying to maintain her composure, “Just get me out of here and we can talk all you want”.

“I don’t know about this” he looked confused, “I’d better call her”, he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his phone then dialed the number he had in his contacts for her. 

Rebecca could only look up in horror as she watched her only hope doing something so…

“STUPID! DON’T CALL HER! SHE’LL…” but it was too late, he was already connected.

“Yeah, hi Ms. Burke, it’s Adam from the grocery store” he went silent as he listened to Melanie on the other end. Rebecca was praying it was just voice mail until he spoke again,

“Well, this is going to sound weird but I found something… odd in your house when I made today’s delivery”

another pause while he listened

“I know this is crazy but it’s… well, it looks like a tiny woman. She was…”

he was cut off and Rebecca could hear Melanie’s voice raised like she was yelling but couldn’t make out the words. She went on for a few minutes and when she stopped he replied,

“Ok. I’ll do that and call you right back”, then hung up.

“Why did you do that?” Rebecca shouted up at him, no longer able to hold in her tears. He looked down at her seemingly angry and said, 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” Rebecca asked.

“That you’re contagious!” he was rummaging around the table looking for something. When he found a jar of cotton balls he popped the top and after emptying the contents dropped Rebecca in then sealed the. Lucky for her it was a screened lid so she had plenty of air.

“Did you want someone else to keep you company as a mouse person? Is that it?” he demanded.

“I-I-I” was all Rebecca could say as she listened to his accusations, clearly having bought whatever lie Melanie just told him.

“She told me all about you and you’re little shrinking disease. How you’ve been making people catch it so they’d end up like you and moving onto another person when you get bored. Was your next victim?” he asked.

Rebecca looked up him, trying to reason with him, and said “please. You’ve got this all wrong. I’m not the one shrinking people, it’s her. She did this to me. I used to be big like you until…”

“Oh really?” he said to her, “that’s exactly what she said you’d say” he thought for a second then added, 

“Oh shit. She also said you’d stall me. I’m done listening to you” and he ran out of the room.

Rebecca could only sit and stare at the now empty room, hearing him run down the hall and open then slam a door somewhere in the house. 

When he came back he was holding three syringes with a very familiar looking liquid in them. At first she thought Melanie had told him to shrink her further but then realized that would only ruin her lie. She didn’t know what he had planned until he sat down, took his short off, and injected himself with one.

“NOOO!” Rebecca screamed at the top of her lungs, “That’s what shrank me!” She tried her hardest to knock the jar over but couldn’t budge it.

“Yeah, right” he scoffed at her, “Mel told me that the only way I won’t get as small as you is if I inject myself with three doses. Because I touched you I’m at a higher risk” as he injected the second one.

Rebecca begged and pleaded with him more, 

“Please! Just grab me and get out of here before you shrink too much. We’ll find help from someone, we just need to be out of here before she gets back and you’re too small to…”

“I’m not going to fall for your tricks”, he told her as he picked up his phone and dialed Melanie again. 

“Hi, it’s me. I did it. One more to go” 

more silence

“Ok, hold on” he pressed a button and activated FaceTime. Rebecca saw Melanie’s smug face on the screen, smiling at both of them. To Adam it was a smile of sweetness and concern but Rebecca knew it was something far more sinister.

“Ok Adam, take the third shot now. It’s the most important”, Adam was too busy injecting himself to see Melanie wink at Rebecca. 

Rebecca had given up at this point and could only watch helplessly as he emptied the third syringe into his arm. When he was done he told her and she said to wait for her to get home, she was leaving work now and should be there in about a half hour.

Adam ended the call and turned his attention back to Rebecca.

“I bet you thought you were so clever” he scolded her, “what you’re doing is wrong. Just  because you’re so small doesn’t mean…” his eyes widened as he felt a sensation Rebecca was all too familiar with.

“Oh no, I wasn’t fast enough. I’m shrinking now too” 

Rebecca jumped to her feet and begged him again, 

“Please! I swear I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t do this to you, you injected yourself with the shrinking serum. You’re going to get very small. Maybe even smaller than me, I don’t know. For now just get me off this desk so I can help you hide before she gets home” 

He looked like he finally believed her as he reached over to pick up the jar, now needing two hands to do so. He lowered her to the floor and tipped the jar over, letting her out. 

Looking up she saw he was somewhere around three feet tall and shrinking faster now.

“Come on, let’s get to that dollhouse over there before you’re done”

He followed, getting smaller as they went. She didn’t look behind as she ran toward her house, not stopping until she reached the door. When she did she turned around and didn’t see him anymore. 

“Oh no! She shrank him into nothing!” she said out loud until she felt a light tap on her thigh. Looking down she saw Adam, now barely as tall as her waist, looking up at her.

“Please, help me!” he begged, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I don’t want to be this small”.

He seemed terrified and although she knew better she knelt down next to him, still taller than he was, and holding him close to her chest said, 

“It’s ok. We’ll get through this”.