Under the microscope Melanie could see the bump in the tiny man’s leg that was the broken bone. He was lucky it didn’t break the skin but she could tell it was still pretty severe. She didn’t have the tools or expertise to fix something like this on someone so small, although she didn’t tell her this, she wasn’t even very capable of fixing someone as ‘big’ as Rebecca so it was a good thing this had never happened to her. 

She thought for a moment and decided to go and get Rebecca in the hopes that someone closer to his size could do more than she was able. 

Adam was in a lot of pain as he watched the mountain of a woman walk away leaving him alone on the massive glass slide with his broken ankle wedged painfully underneath the lens of the microscope. He tried to pull out from under it but she had it zoomed too much and it was impossible.

He didn’t know if she was aware or just too big to notice but she had pulverized the rest of the bones in his shin when she did this. Even if he ever did get restored he was sure he’d walk with a limp for the rest of his life. As he currently was, he didn’t want to think about it. Being less than an inch tall was bad enough but being hobbled could be a death sentence at his size.

While he was dwelling on his predicament he didn’t notice Rebecca set down next to him and leaning in to get a better look. 

The first thing she saw was that his leg was almost flattened underneath the microscope. She yelled up at Melanie, 

“You’re making it worse! Let him out of there!” 

She was surprised when Melanie complied without giving her crap for her attitude, maybe there was a part of her, however tiny, that really did feel bad about what she was doing. She didn’t have time to think about it though, she carefully lifted him off the slide and lowered him to the floor/desktop. 

As she did she noticed he seemed smaller, at least half the size he used to be which left him barely longer than her forearm, but she’d deal with that later. For now she knelt down and as gently as she could touched his leg while asking him to let her know if he could feel anything. 

He was screaming in pain the instant she touched him which was a bad sign but when she asked how many fingers he felt on his skin he couldn’t answer her. Another even worse sign.

Starting to panic, she looked around for anything she could use as a brace. 

To her surprise she saw that Melanie had placed a toothpick she had broken into small pieces along with some dental floss and a small dixie cup of ice shavings next to her. 

She found the smallest piece of the toothpick she could find and using the dental floss, which was still a bit too large for Adam, she was able to fashion a crude splint for his leg. She then took some ice and placed it around his leg hoping to bring the swelling down.

She heard a loud crushing sound above her head and was surprised once again to see Melanie crushing up an aspirin and placing the dust next to her. She dug through the pile until she found a piece she hoped was small enough for him to swallow and was relieved when she saw that it was.

Finally, she sat down next to the tiny man and silently took his hand in hers, hoping she had done enough but not too sure judging by the look of things.

She looked up and saw Melanie watching her intently.

“Wow, you’re pretty good under pressure” she complimented the smaller woman.

“Thanks”, Rebecca replied, not really caring that she was being praised but grateful for being treated like something close to human for once, 

“I used to try helping birds when I’d find them with broken wings when I was little”, she paused then corrected herself, “I mean when I was a kid” and laughed.

Melanie got it and started laughing as well and for the first time in a while Rebecca felt almost normal.

“How did they do?” Melanie asked, “the birds, I mean?”

Rebecca felt a wave of guilt when she told her, 

“They never made it” but added, “but it’s pretty hard to help a wild animal like that. There are so many things that can go wrong. Hopefully it’s not as bad for people. Even when they’re…” 

she trailed off but Melanie got what she meant and for the first time seemed to actually be sorry when she said, 

“I know. But I can’t make him big again. He’s way too small for even the tiniest needles I have. I mean, even you’re pushing it but I’m sure I can…” she stopped and quickly got up then left the room leaving Rebecca in shocked silence. 

Did she just say she could be made big again? And she had thought about it? Or maybe she was just messing with her again, but she seemed sincere this time and upset that she let something slip. Maybe she had hope after all.

Just as she was starting to feel better about things she looked down at Adam, who she had just learned was doomed to be this small for the rest of his life and her spirits were dampened.

For the next few days Melanie gave both of her shrunken captives a wide berth. She would only check in on them once before she left for work, and then again when she came home and mostly to clean out the dollhouse and replace any supplies Rebecca needed for Adam. 

The break would have been nicer if not for the fact that Adam was getting worse with each passing day. He was in and out of consciousness for the first day but after that he passed out and hadn’t woken since. There was no accurate way to take his temperature but she could tell it was bad when she touched his forehead and he was burning up. 

No matter how much ice she packed the leg in the swelling wouldn’t go down, and now the skin above the break was darkening and small lines were going up to his knee. She knew what this meant and was afraid of what her next step would be.

Melanie would ask her every day how he was doing and she would give a vague answer but she knew she was getting closer to having to tell her the truth and make the tough decision. She just hoped he’d wake for even a little while so she could give him a choice.

Later that night she got her wish when she heard him stirring and saw his eyes open. 

“Wha-what happened?” he half whispered.

Not sure how much he remembered she started from the beginning, 

“Well, you were shrunk and…”

“No”, he weakly raised him arm to dismiss her, “I know I’m shrunk, I mean what happened after I fell? I know I’m shrunk”

She wondered if he was a little delirious considering he was repeating himself life that but explained the situation to him. She decided to leave out the part about being this small forever to spare him that.

She watched the color drain from his face when she told him what condition his leg was in and was about to give him the choice when he interrupted her.

“I-I know what you have to do”, he looked into her eyes, “and it’s ok. If you need to remove my leg to save me I won’t blame you. None of this is your fault, it’s that psycho bitch who did this to me… to both of us”.

She nodded while trying to fight the tears, she didn’t want him to see how upset she was, she felt he needed someone strong right now so that’s what she would be.

She didn’t need to hold them back too long though because he soon slipped back into unconsciousness.

As Melanie approached the dollhouse she could hear a soft sobbing coming from inside. She lifted the roof off and saw Rebecca sitting in a corner of the room with her head in her knees crying. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked with genuine concern.

Rebecca looked up and told her everything. That Adam’s leg was in rough shape and she was sure it was infected. That there was only one thing she could think of it and she wasn’t happy about it. Melanie listened and when she was done answered simply, 

“I’ll take care of it. You just tell me where I need to cut. He’s so small I doubt I’ll even feel it when I do it”, she tried to offer a reassuring smile but she could tell Rebecca wasn’t in the mood.

She decided that it would be easier to just move the entire bed rather than risk hurting Adam more so she told Rebecca to climb on and took them both to her vanity where Rebecca gently picked him up and Melanie lowered them both to the desktop then got her Exacto knife and a box of matches from the kitchen and while holding it as close as she could over the leg asked her to position it exactly where it need to be. 

Rebecca carefully maneuvered the giant blade into place and Melanie gave her time to get out of sight so she wouldn’t have to see anything and then brought the blade down. 

As she expected she felt nothing and was afraid for a moment she had missed until she saw the small red puddle forming under the tiny body. She then lit a match, blew it out, and pressed it against the fresh wound.

She was afraid of hurting him this whole time but he never once woke from his sleep.

When she was done she let Rebecca know and watched as she went over to check on him.

As she got closer the smell of burnt flesh was almost unbearable but she tolerated it and went to check on him. 

She wrapped the stump in some pieces of tissue Melanie had given her then raised her arms indicating she wished to be picked up and placed into the bed with him. 

“Do you want to stay here for tonight?” she asked and Rebecca nodded.

Rebecca tossed and turn most of the night, luckily she was small enough that she didn’t have to worry about rolling over Adam if she stayed on her side. She eventually drifted into a fitful sleep only to be woken by Melanie’s giant finger poking her.

As she wiped the sleep from her eyes she looked up and asked what’s going on and could see Melanie had tears in her eyes. She immediately looked over where Adam was supposed to be and saw that he was gone.

“What did you do with him?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry” Melanie said quietly, “he didn’t make it”.

Although she wasn’t surprised, she was still upset at this revelation and lost it. She unleaded all the pent up anger, fear, frustration, and every other negative feeling she’d experienced during her time as Melanie’s captive. She didn’t care what happened, she was going to let this giant maniac know what she thought of her. 

When she finished she collapsed and waited for the punishment to come but was surprised when Melanie instead left the room for several minutes before coming back with a syringe in her hand.

“I think it’s time you leave”, she said as she reached down and picked her up.