It was only bitter in her mouth, despite how sweet the chocolate-peanut butter cup was supposed to be. Adrian had lost her appetite on a long-term scale, and she doubted candy, of all things, was going to recover it. Her eating options, however, were limited only to what Melanie would permit her to eat. Lunch was thus a circular slab of chocolate, wide like an extravagant wedding cake but only as high as her knees.

“Not hungry again…?” Melanie asked. She hovered overhead, like she always did. One arm was propped up on the desk where Adrian stood, used to hold up her laid back head. She sighed, “It’s… your favorite…”

Adrian’s gaze was lost in the subtle ridges of her chocolate meal. She blinked back to life, looking weakly up at her captor. Her lips quivered before speaking, “I don’t want to eat.”

“You have to…” Melanie closed her eyes, softly pouting about Adrian’s stubbornness. “I told you -- I won’t let Kimberly or Wormslut eat until you start.”

Adrian twitched at the threat. Her blood boiled knowing that two others were connected to her like this, their hungers bound to her own. She held her stomach, and as unhappy as it was, she moved to eat. If just one bite was what it took to convince Melanie, she would make that simple sacrifice.

Melanie was pleased by this, and her smile expressed as much to her captives. She hummed happily as she went to open the prison cell-like cabinets of her desk. First she plucked Kimberly up, then Scarlet, setting them both beside the snack as if she were planting toys around an imaginary scene. However, she couldn’t help but note their dreary demeanors, a contrast to the fantastical concept of giant candy for lunch.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, her tone totally different when changing direction from Adrian to the others.

Kimberly limped up to the chocolate, activated by Melanie’s pressuring voice. Scarlet was not so motivated, choosing to sit down instead. Kimberly quickly glanced back at her, but she didn’t dwell on it, soon returning her focus onto the food and the handfuls of chocolate she was having to dig out.

“Y-You should eat,” Adrian said. Scarlet looked to her with a sour disposition. Adrian gestured towards their meal, “Seriously. Please?”

Scarlet glared in silence. She was the type to bark and snarl, she didn’t take kindly to those that stepped on her nerves, and thus far in her life only one person annoyed her more than Adrian. Her instincts to stand up and speak down on her, however, had been tamed and flattened. She knew better now than to disagree with Adrian, especially with Melanie present, looming over them like an observant goddess.

Scarlet turned her head away. “Who said I was hungry?” she asked. “Whatever…” She stood up defeatedly and approached the peanut butter cup, her glare now pointed at it instead of Adrian. She knelt down, but she lacked the inspiration still. Kimberly had no shame in diving right into the food, using her bare hands to pull apart chunks of chocolate and peanut butter. Scarlet had just enough resistance, left sitting right in front of the food with a blank face.

“Eat!” Melanie urged. “What’s the problem now? I can’t have you starving on me.”

Scarlet stuttered to speak, having been taught now that her voice only caused more problems. In her absence of a reply, Adrian stepped in, “I-I think it’s too big. It’s kind of hard for us to eat it…”

“Ahh, is that so.” Melanie reeled back in her chair. “I’ve got an idea…” She opened up one of the larger drawers beneath the desk’s surface, and from there she pulled out one of her favorite items. It was a pocket knife, basic in design but decorated with a shimmering purple color and designed with a cool, modern grip. She chuckled first before flipping the knife around between her fingers, a display that was meant to show off some expert dexterity. “Pretty cool, r-right, Adrian?”

Adrian shook her head, waking up from a brief trance. A knife had since been introduced since she had dazed out. “A knife? You-- Well…” I shouldn’t be surprised. Adrian sighed, “Can you just--”

“Whoops…” Melanie misjudged one twist of her knife and juggled it out of her fingers. She winced as the blade fell to the desk -- clung-clung, it hit the surface hard, first its handle and then bouncing once off the blade. Where it had fallen was also precarious, only inches from Kimberly and Scarlet, who reacted appropriately by stumbling to the side with their arms over their heads. Adrian, too, buckled down in response, but Melanie only giggled. “Forget that happened, please…” Melanie requested. “I-I’m usually pretty good at that…”

The scene de-escalated as the three shrunken women composed themselves. Kimberly massaged her temples and turned back to her food, while Scarlet scoffed but otherwise returned to what she was doing -- not eating.

“What was that?” Melanie asked. Everyone else froze. “What did you say, Wormslut? Do you want to speak up?”

Scarlet still didn’t move. “Wh-What? W-- I didn’t… I didn’t--”

“You talked back,” Melanie asserted. “Do you have something to say or not?”

“No! I-I didn’t speak at all!”

“She didn’t say anything,” Kimberly stuttered, coming to Scarlet’s defense. “She just--”

Melanie pounded the desk with her left fist, demanding an earthquake against the three. They shuddered. “I don’t need to hear anything from you either,” Melanie said, pointing a hard finger at the trembling Kimberly. Her other hand reached for the knife. “What the fuck did you say to me?”

Scarlet scrambled to form a reply, desperate to resolve the issue. “I don’t-- I didn’t say shit! I didn’t!” Still not an acceptable answer, her entire body was greeted by the sharpened point of a giant knife. She stumbled backwards and fell, only making it easier for the steel to hang over her small frame. She squeaked out pleas of resistance, afraid to bring any part of her closer to the knife.

“Huh? Are you afraid of some pocket knife?” Melanie asked, nearing the tip closer and forcing Scarlet to flatten herself out more and more. “Then just tell me what you said.”

“P-P… Please…!” Scarlet was too scared, even tears failed to form in her eyes. “I swear…! I-I didn’t say--”

“She didn’t say anything!” Adrian had picked herself up now, in place of Kimberly who had been stricken down instantly. “Melanie--”

“Should I fucking dissect you?” Melanie asked Scarlet, always emphasizing her most critical words with little thrusts of the knife. “I could cut your gut open. Or maybe I could just take off an arm or a leg? Why not all of them?” She laughed at that premise. “An actual worm-- I could make you like a real worm, Wormslut!”

Scarlet shivered, growing intensely aware of how her body was so delicate now that it could be playfully dismembered -- playfully, for the amusement of this maniac. When she finally found the heart to speak, all she could do was cry out a long whine. At its end, a surprise howl left her throat; “Just kill me!! Just fucking kill me, you bitch!!”

Melanie was shocked, enough so that her cool and dominating personality had immediately shattered, if only for a split second. Her knife wavered in its aim.

“Kill me!! Do it!!” Scarlet demanded, even lifting her chest up closer to the blade, yet too hesitant to get much closer. “Stop being a coward and do it! I don’t give a shit, just do it!”

“A-Are you… fucking testing me…?” Melanie’s eye twitched, her expression being gradually absorbed by darkness. “I’ll gut you! We can’t have a normal meal around here with you, can we?!” She lifted the knife high into the air, angled straight down at her diminutive target. “You wanna act tough?! I’ll slice you open and let you bleed out--”

“Melanie! Stop, stop, stop!” Adrian shouted, again trying to intervene. She dashed to where Scarlet lay, but the shadow of the knife hanging over them made her chill to a stop still far away. Her begging didn’t cease, “Please, do not kill her! Don’t kill any of us!”

“Let her!” Scarlet spat. “I’m so tired of this! I’m tired of this!”

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” Adrian yelled at Scarlet, trying to overpower her chanting with her own. “I’m trying to help you, damn it!”

Scarlet and Adrian breathed heavily, their throats hoarse from their combative shouting. They looked up at Melanie, trying to read her next action. Melanie looked ghostly, as she usually did, but with a more demonic flare in her eyes. An anger was clearly being held back, and both women feared that without a moment’s notice, she could turn and unleash a deadly fury upon any one of them. They flinched when the knife was moving again, but instead of coming down with tremendous force onto Scarlet, it instead stabbed lightly into the chocolate candy. It was split open into six fairly even slices, though there was a crudeness in every cut. Afterwards, the knife clapped close, and she lazily dropped it back into the drawer it came from.

“Adrian… You and Kimberly can eat.” Melanie’s voice was vacant, dismissed of even its usual hesitation and awkwardness. Before Scarlet could rise back to her feet, two fingers pinched roughly at her body and escorted her high into the air. “Wormslut is spending time with me for awhile.”

“Wait! Let her go!” Adrian demanded. “Please, I said to not kill her! She didn’t even say anything, Melanie!”

“I don’t care. She wants to die, doesn’t she?” Melanie gave Scarlet a wicked grin, one that drained the energy from her tiny victim. “You heard her! She wants to die. Who am I to separate her from that?” Still feeling the need for cruel emphasises, she shook Scarlet when needed, tight in her fist. All Scarlet could counter with were weak pummels against the gripping fingers, which were ineffective as always.

“Be reasonable, Melanie! We’re stressed the fuck out!” Adrian called upwards again. Creeping on her mind was the upcoming guilt of being responsible for some twisted death.

“Aww… Don’t worry, Adrian,” Melanie said softly. “She can’t die just yet. Believe it or not, this pathetic thing has reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to do. I suppose if she wants to hurry up and be crushed or something, then I can move on with my plan.”

Scarlet grunted, fearing now not only for her life but for what other atrocities Melanie was scheming. “What the fuck?! What are you going to do?!”

“Nothing painful,” Melanie said, brightening up her smile. “At least, not if you cooperate.”

“Cooperate--?! Ugh!” Scarlet groaned feeling the tightness around her waist restrict her even more. A mere flex of Melanie’s fist was all that was necessary to deplete the fight out of Scarlet. With her silenced and limp, Melanie rose out of her chair, towering even higher over Adrian and Kimberly. She left the desk, walking away from it and over towards the closet in the opposite corner. The doors were opened, revealing a slew of black clothes, boxed-up collectibles, old junk, and other random items that Melanie had collected and stashed away.

Melanie sorted through some of the things with her one free hand, careless in her search. “You’ll be with me for awhile, as I get this all set up,” she informed Scarlet. The green in her eyes lit up when she spotted it -- “Aha…! Doesn’t this look familiar?”

Scarlet looked to what Melanie held. She withheld a response, only less certain now of what Melanie was thinking. Held in front of her was her purse, an item she had long forgotten over the past weeks of torment. It was pink, stylish, and giant. Even the silly bunny decoration which attached to the zipper was as big as she was. But it wasn’t the size of the purse that was once hers that frightened her the most. It was the potential Melanie had, and what may be within it.

“Definitely a whore’s purse,” Melanie muttered, not even trying to direct her comment at Scarlet. “Remember this? Don’t you think you left something important behind? Hehe… I looked around inside after I took you. I found out something interesting about your life.”

Scarlet felt faint, realizing then what Melanie’s implications were. It was obvious now, and she felt nothing when Melanie unzipped the purse and withdrew from its pocket a cellular phone, old and traditional, a model from over a decade ago. She flipped the phone open with a snap, and a moment later, the screen and dial pad lit up with activity. Scarlet forced herself to look at it, acknowledging the number of missed calls and texts.

“I wondered if you were just poor or some shit,” Melanie explained, “like… why else would a snotty tramp like you have such an old phone? Then I went through some of the messages. You deal drugs.”

Scarlet blinked, having not expected such a blunt end to Melanie’s sentence. But, it was absolutely true. Shortly after starting school, Scarlet found an opportunity to start selling weed to other students across campus. It was a lucrative business, allowing her to feed her expensive tastes and live a carefree lifestyle. That life was far behind her, and being recalled to those memories -- just the fact that she was once normal, not tiny, and had a life with responsibilities and money and friends -- churned her stomach with something toxic.

Melanie was actually not entirely confident that her guess was right, and she judged her accuracy based on Scarlet’s reaction. Even with all the evidence, Melanie’s self-doubt had still prevailed. However, she was positive now that her accusation was correct, and she was excited to move onwards.

Melanie scrolled through the contact list, causing the old device to lag and stutter. There was a long list of names and connected to some were addresses. The depth of the predicament was dawning on Scarlet, as much as she tried to fight off that horrible realization.

“You want to die? Then find me a replacement.” Melanie turned Scarlet so that she was right in front of her eyes, her words spitting over the tiny frame. “This will be our little project. You’ll help me kidnap someone, and then I’ll consider just killing you off. You’ll do this, won’t you? I can really feel it, you know. You’re desperate to escape, so desperate that you’d choose another person to be shrunk down and taken, just so you can die quickly. That’s shameful… You’ve fallen so low, haven’t you?

“Don’t think you can back out of this,” Melanie added, forcing another shake to Scarlet’s already-disoriented senses. “It’s too late. I’m going to kill you, once this is done, and if you make this difficult, I’ll find a way to make things worse. I can always bring back that knife, or maybe I could dig up some actual worms and force you to breed with them. Huh? Does that sound better? Answer me.”

“Nnn… No…” Scarlet could only whimper, a soulless reply that was almost too soft to be heard by Melanie. “I’ll… do it…”

Two quiet days passed. Scarlet was never returned to her cabinet on the desk. She was kept instead by Melanie at all times, usually locked away in the night stand’s drawer. This left Adrian and Kimberly alone with their thoughts, which were plagued with concerns over Scarlet’s safety, as well as their own. During this time, Melanie told them very little, and in general interacted with them less. Even Adrian was unable to get an explanation from Melanie, other than that Scarlet was being “punished” for “something.”

In the end, Adrian and Kimberly were at least relieved that they were being given a break. Often times, Melanie would even leave them unobserved on the desk so that they could roam around. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see on the desk or out in the huge space that was the rest of the bedroom. Silence and boredom weighed painfully on the two captives, but it beat having to endure Melanie, who lounged in bed with her nose deep into her smartphone.

Adrian massaged her head with both hands. She was seated on the desk, hunched forward and trying to rub out the mental pains that burdened her. It was maddening for her to simply sit there, unable to do anything but watch and fear Melanie. Another minute of silence was going to be the death of her; she needed a distraction, something to keep her mind off all the worries. As things were, just thinking about problems was not going to solve them.

Back towards the multi-colored cabinets was Kimberly, sitting with her bare back against one of the cells. She never did anything, Adrian had come to find out. All Kimberly would do was listen to Melanie’s demands, and when not issued something to do, all she did was wait. Nothing had been said between the two, but Adrian did try to get a read on Kimberly from her interactions with Scarlet. However, even those moments were sparse, and mostly it was Scarlet venting to Kimberly.

Adrian approached her. She needed to talk to someone, otherwise her restless thoughts would never cease. She figured as well that Kimberly, too, needed to speak. The two were alone now, even from Melanie’s watchful gaze, and there was rarely another opportunity like this.

Before she could say a word, Adrian felt intimidated. Just raising her hand up in a friendly, gentle wave was seemingly pushing Kimberly’s boundaries. The older woman lifted her head up, revealing just how pale and defeated her expression was. More on Adrian’s mind was another thought, a memory of how when she first saw this woman, she was tinier than her, locked away in a plastic container. This, too, made Adrian hesitate again.

“What do you want?” Kimberly said.

“O-Oh, hi, Kim…” Adrian stammered.

“... Kimberly…” she corrected. “What is it?”

“I, err… I-I wanted to talk. It’s just us two here, and if we’re going to be trapped like this, we should--”

“I don’t like talking,” Kimberly interrupted. Dismissively, she turned her head back down to her knees. “Maybe you got the wrong idea.”

Adrian shook her head, insulted by this kind of response. Through all this trauma, her patience had truly suffered. “Alright. Is this because of how Melanie treats me?” She pushed the question, making transparent a concern that still weighed heavy on her mind. “I didn’t get to decide that I’d be her favorite or what-the-fuck-ever, I’m--”

“No, it’s not about that.” Kimberly groaned, adjusting her seated position. “Melanie’s just fucking with all of us. That’s all it comes down to. Her being nice to you now… Well, there’s only so nice a person can be when they’re willing to do this to you.”

Adrian stuttered to respond. Her impatience now felt uncalled for, and now an apology seemed more appropriate. “I guess… you understand, then.”

Kimberly shrugged. “Even if Melanie was being nice to us… What does it matter?” Her head bolted to the side, looking into the distance to make sure Melanie was still far away and preoccupied with something else. “She stripped us… of everything. I had a job, and a home… and she has the nerve to say it’s because I didn’t have family or friends. That’s why I get shrunk and tortured, I guess.” She looked back up again at Adrian, giving her the respect of eye contact at least. “And what about you? She shrank you because she loves you, apparently. You really won the jackpot.” She scoffed before Adrian could reply, “Some people would really think that, huh.”

“Yeah, I definitely didn’t ask for this.” Adrian took a seat across from Kimberly, unsure if that was welcomed or not. Kimberly didn’t object, so Adrian continued to get comfortable. However, that was difficult to do, considering not only their shrunken circumstances, but how Adrian herself was dressed in regular clothes, while Kimberly was naked and vulnerable. She tried to push those strange thoughts aside, “How did Melanie get to shrinking you? She said something about working at an office, or something.”

Kimberly first opened her mouth to explain more fully the situation, but the motivation to do so dropped. “Why does it matter to you? Do you just want to be entertained?”

“N-Not at all, trust me. I just want to get an idea of, you know… what the hell is happening! Like, what did she do to you? Why?” Adrian chuckled desperately. “I mean, maybe there’s some clue to getting un-shrunk that only one of us knows. Or maybe we can prevent this from happening to someone else.”

“I doubt it,” Kimberly said. “It’s not like any of this makes sense. It’s a curse, for god’s sake, it doesn’t make sense. But what’s scarier than that is Melanie herself.” She again looked to Melanie, ever cautious of that possibility that they were being eavesdropped upon. “She’s playing this whole game really smart, whatever this game is to her. She made sure I would be alone and could be picked up. She cornered me and she even admitted that I was just a ‘test’ or something. I got shrunk so she could better understand how this curse shit works.”

“Something about her is definitely… cunning,” Adrian said, taking a beat to find the right word. “She’s not just shrinking anyone she can get a hair from. It’s really calculated. She pulled me aside in an alley, when I didn’t know what was going on. I wish I had known what was going to happen.”

“You didn’t run?” Kimberly asked this sourly, but realized afterwards how cruel that was to question. “Sorry… I was in my office, when it happened to me. She took off all my clothes… I thought I could trust her. She felt like a niece, or something. I’d ask her about work, she’d tell me about her family… All those times, I was talking to a monster.”

“Yeah…” Adrian couldn’t add much more than that. She felt the same way, how someone she once generally believed to be an ordinary acquaintance was in fact a scheming kidnapper backed by occultic superpowers. “I still don’t understand her. She--”

The conversation was cut by the sound of Melanie rising up to her feet. Both women jittered to frozen positions, acting calm and quiet under the fear of Melanie’s fickle judgement. Adrian was the first to turn her head, desperately curious to watch the giantess’s movements. Fortunately, despite their worries, Melanie seemed none the wiser of their conversation, only approaching the desk with her usual gait. Adrian did notice, however, that Scarlet was still with her, rather than being locked up in the night stand once again.

Scarlet was placed on the desk. Immediately her balance failed her and she dropped to her knees, held up with one arm. Melanie smirked, “Did you miss them? I’m sure they were having such a great time without you. Sorry, Adrian, Kim.” But Scarlet said nothing, her only response being a weak, pitiful glare up at her fellow captives.

Adrian stood up to meet Scarlet, but Melanie’s voice beckoned her full attention. “I’m leaving for awhile. It shouldn’t take too long… When I come back, I’ll have a little surprise for all of you! W-Won’t that be nice?”

“What surprise?” Adrian firmly asked.

“Aha~ You’ll see, you’ll see!” Melanie giggled, clapping her hands together joyfully -- as joyful as Melanie could pull off. “Ahh… I’m sure you’ll guess, though. Now I feel like I should just tell you… B-But I won’t! Agh…” Melanie felt flustered, and Adrian and the others noticed, to varying degrees. Her little movements, her tone, her flushed face all felt different from the Melanie they had endured together just these past few days.

Adrian’s guess was on the end of her tongue, and she wanted to say it aloud. But, she realized, it didn’t matter. Her objections would never sway Melanie, the same way no choice words could push a mountain. She declined to say anything, only continuing her approach to a motionless Scarlet.

“Okay. I’m off.” Melanie grabbed a gray hoodie that had been cast on her desk chair and robed herself with it quickly. “D-Did… Uh, does anyone… want anything? From the store? S-Since I’m out, I mean. The gas station isn’t far away…”

“... What?” Adrian felt like laughing, and perhaps would have if she was just an observer to all this.

“Like… candy? A soda? I-I’ll get you some more candy, Adri--”

“No! P-Please, no more fucking candy.”

“Mm… Okay… Uh, Kim? Did you want something Kim?” Kimberly was completely silent. Melanie nodded, “Wormslut? Do you need condoms? Or do you just let anything cream inside of you?” Scarlet shivered, for everytime she thought she could withstand more verbal lashings, Melanie always found a way to get to her. Like Kimberly, she said nothing. “Okay, well, I don’t know if they even make condoms for micro-dicks, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

Melanie had everything she needed and had turned towards the door. She stopped, just short of the door knob, and went back to her desk with a couple long steps. Adrian hadn’t expected this, but Melanie had grabbed her, ignoring her astonished writhing and lifting her to her face.

“I’m n-nervous, heh,” Melanie explained, smiling with said emotion. Adrian flinched under her speech, but studied Melanie closely, reading the red all over her face. “A kiss for good luck… Please?” Adrian winced, knowing that without any way to prevent it, all she could do was prepare for the massive lips to rush into her. Indeed, that exactly happened a second afterwards; two pink ridges of flesh encompassed her body while she was unable to move, covering her body with a damp kiss that sucked a breath out of Adrian’s body. She was pulled away only slightly, so that only Melanie’s grin was in her vision, and then she was set back down on her feet.

“For real!” Melanie said, seemingly an ounce more confident than before. She waved goodbye only to Adrian as she went back to the door and left.

The truth of Melanie’s departure wasn’t believed for another minute. All three of her shrunken women were positive that Melanie was tricking them, and so they kept waiting, listening closely for the sound of the front door being opened and closed off miles in the distance. Once that was heard, an immediate sense of relief washed over the trio, like a weight had been lifted from their shoulders and they could finally stretch.

Scarlet felt a bubble of energy once Melanie was absent, but appropriately, that energy popped away the next moment. She had the strength to stand and step forward, but her stamina was lacking. Adrian had gone to meet with her again, but Scarlet kept one arm up to keep the distance between them, a warning that she needed space.

“What has been happening?” Adrian asked. “Are you okay? What did she do to you?”

“Shut up, just shut up,” Scarlet snarled in retaliation to such quick questions. She closed her eyes, disgusted by the sight of Adrian, still healthy and well. “And no, I’m not okay, because look the fuck around you, we’re still pathetic fucking toys for a psychopath bitch that’s going to eventually kill us. Are you okay? I’m sure you’re doing fucking fantastic.”

Adrian shivered, tanking Scarlet’s attacking comments out of sympathy for what she had been put through. “I’m… just checking up…” She shook her head. Scarlet would just yell at her, again. “Can’t you at least tell us what’s been going on? What is she planning?”

Scarlet opened her eyes in disbelief -- she had to see if Adrian was being real. She laughed, “Fuck off. You know what’s happening. Come the fuck on, Adrian, you know what’s going to happen!”

“Th-Then… you were helping her…?”

“Helping her?! You--” Scarlet’s voice dissolved into a growl, intimidating Adrian enough to back off. Scarlet gripped her scalp, like trying to physically contain some leaking sanity. The same way her fingers itched her head, they too itched to strangle Adrian. “Like I want to help out this damn psychopath?! Ha, yeah! Yeah, that’s my plan, Adrian! You caught me!”

Adrian groaned. “Y-You know what I meant! Wor-- look… look, c-can we all just--”

“Huh? You were gonna fucking say it, huh?” Scarlet had snapped. In an instant, she was almost nose-to-nose with Adrian, their heights exactly equal. Adrian tried to distance herself, but every step of her’s was mirrored. “Call me what she calls me, I dare you. You think you’re safe because she’ll fucking kill me if I do something to you?”

“Chill out!” Adrian pushed Scarlet back. She feared immediate retaliation, and she sensed it too, but Scarlet was weak. Adrian felt it from her palms, how fragile Scarlet felt to push. Suddenly, if only briefly, Adrian regretted her outburst. It continued, however, “You’re still on this whole favorite shit, aren’t you?! I told you I didn’t ask for this, either! I don’t know what the fuck her issue is with me!”

“Who gives a shit if you know? Or if any of us knows?! Shit, does she know? She’s fucking unhinged!” Scarlet held her chest, where she had been struck by Adrian. “All that matters… is that she fucking adores you, and she does this all for you, supposedly. Fuck… how do we know you’re not a f-fucking spy or some shit!”

“Wha--” Adrian chuckled, but it was serious. “A spy? Are you joking?”

“Is it really that ridiculous? She’s a maniac, and maybe you are, too -- maybe you agreed to this, just so she could fuck with us more!” Scarlet scoffed. Part of her genuinely wanted to disbelieve her own accusations against Adrian, but there was a drive to act out, an impulse that wanted to be lived. “Either way, I bet if we fucked you up, that’d really get to her…”

“Do not start something over this.” It was Kimberly that interjected, though neither Adrian nor Scarlet turned to face her and her entrance into the argument. “Are you listening to me? You can jump off the desk if you really want to get yourself killed, go right on ahead, but don’t do something that’s gonna fuck us over with you.”

“Us! Haha!” Scarlet immediately laughed, spitting on Adrian in the process. “You two -- ‘us,’ huh! So you two really fucking bonded when I was away!”

Kimberly approached them, engaged more with this conversation. “This isn’t about sides -- you both really are kids, aren’t you?”

“Fuck yourself, and open your eyes, too, while you’re at it.” Scarlet flipped a weak bird at Kimberly, still holding her aching torso. “Are you mad because you told her a bunch of shit and now you’re afraid she’s gonna tell on you?”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about…” Kimberly groaned, truly disappointed with both girls in front of her. “I’m not going to suggest we have a group hug and start working together, but maybe we can try to just not screw each other over? Is that hard? Because trust me, I don’t give a shit about her.” She pointed hard at Adrian, who was now mixed with conflicting emotions. “But she’s obviously important to Melanie, and I’m not going to get killed here on some desk because you had a little tantrum.”

“I-I’m telling you-- I swear, I don’t fucking know Melanie!” Adrian said this, but Kimberly and Scarlet had moved beyond her. She was ignored underneath their escalating argument, caught between two women, shrunken and naked like lonely dolls, and only able to endure their distrust of her. Nothing she could think of would change their perspectives, nothing that could happen now. The chances of working together and finding a solution had dwindled to an even more abysmal state.

The only thing that ended the arguments was fatigue. Adrian lost her patience and exited the conversation early, leaving Kimberly and Scarlet to yell it out until their throats were sore. Nothing productive came of it, and all three went to their own corners to remain idle. All they could do was wait for their abuser to return.

Hours later, the bedroom door crept open. Melanie had come back, looking no different than before other than that her hood was up. Her expression was stoic and uninterested, as it usually was when walking out in public. Thawing this cold disguise was the sight of her pets -- but most of all, it was Adrian, providing a light in the dark fogs of her heart.

Of course, Adrian and the others were not as relieved. Adrian tensed up the most, feeling targeted by Melanie’s chilling eyes immediately. She was accurate to think that, as Melanie came directly at her, lifting her off the corner of the desk. Unlike how she treated the others, Melanie held Adrian as though her hands were a platform, allowing her obsession to sit, stand, or anything else.

“I’m home, Adrian…” Melanie sighed, loving even the little weight Adrian had on her palms. “It feels… so warm to say that. I really missed you. Did you miss me?”

Adrian didn’t want to say anything, but keeping Melanie amused seemed better than testing her. “You’ve… only been gone for, like, a few hours.”

“Mhmm! Th-That’s so long, isn’t it? Being away from you, even for a minute, makes me want to bleed out and die. After spending this time with you…” Melanie began to turn. She was conscious of her motions, aware of how a fast movement could throw the tiny person in her hands. “... It’s like taking an organ out, and trying to live without it.”

Unsettled, Adrian had no reply to that. She wanted to get to the point, though it was distracting to be moved while so high up. “Wh-Where have you been?”

Melanie giggled. “Busy, busy…! You want to know so much, don’t you?” She sat down in the bed and kicked off her shoes. “I’ve been following someone. You might be able to guess why…”

Adrian felt hollow. It didn’t feel good to be correct. “Then…” It was all she could mutter, as much as Melanie wanted to hear it from her. To confirm her suspicions, Melanie dropped one hand to retrieve from her pocket the singular hair. It was dark and short, about as tall as Adrian was. She saw someone in it, a blank image or silhouette of a person that had to be out there in society, blissfully unaware of what supernatural fate was ahead of her.

“I picked a cute one… I promise.” Melanie smiled brightly again. “I can tell you’re still scared… so I’m going to shrink someone who’s more relaxed. Kimberly is complacent, for now, but Wormslut is a bad influence. R-Rather… she’s making the atmosphere really stressed, isn’t she?”

Again, Adrian felt no motivation to speak. The truth on her mind was that it was obviously Melanie that was at fault for any “stressful atmospheres,” but what would it do to say that? Melanie really was a goddess with these powers, able to select almost anyone she could find and turn them into personal playthings. There was no contest to prevent her from doing so. In the drowning of her doubt, Adrian thought of Kimberly and Scarlet, and what pessimistic perspectives they’ve had and how right they’ve been.

Melanie stroked Adrian with tender touches. She went on, “Tomorrow, you’ll have a new friend. And I’ll have someone new to own~ Isn’t that exciting? Hehe… Maybe, one day, I-I’ll make a little village for the people I own…! Little houses, and little streets… I can’t wait… I can’t wait…”

Coming out of her fantasy, Melanie blinked and looked for the time on her phone. She twisted the hair, a cutting smile across her lips. It was a burning feeling to have this much power, all concentrated within a single strand of hair; something so forgettable was the key ingredient to casting a curse upon someone. A low laugh escaped Melanie before she stood up and moved to the center of the room.

The occultic book and the bowl of wine were gathered on the floor. Adrian returned to the desk where Kimberly and Scarlet had been waiting. Melanie had told them that they could watch, taunting them and their inability to interfere with the ritual. They were powerless to stop her, and she was effectively forcing them to watch her magic come to life. She wanted Adrian especially to observe, to possibly feel the same thrill she did when unleashing such wicked magic.

Everything was in place. Melanie took the hair and dropped it into the wine. Adrian flinched, like the hair touching the dark red surface had stung her. Was it decided then that this other woman would be shrunk? She continued to watch, mystified by Melanie’s routine. After the hair was dropped, she had begun a chant, a prayer that she couldn’t understand. Where Adrian expected a visual of magic, such as swirling blackness or bubbles of manifested evil, she saw something worse; nothing, no special effects or wondrous creations, just the mundane view of a girl who was deeply dedicated to using curses for her gain. The room was silent for all but the ongoing chanting. Kimberly watched, seated far from the other two with her knees tucked to her chest. Scarlet turned away, this being her third time now witnessing the dreaded ritual and she had no stomach for it anymore -- especially after the past days of torment.

The ritual ended without fanfare. Melanie opened her eyes and unclasped her hands. Each time she had committed herself to the ritual, there was always a puff of doubt that it worked. In the end, only time would tell, but her success rate was unopposed. She stood up, quite confident after a couple seconds, and looked to Adrian immediately. Embrace this, Adrian! This is who we are! This is our power!

It was a cold night. Adrian shivered; she had only a paper towel to blanket herself against the room’s temperature. That wasn’t why she couldn’t sleep. Having twisted around, laying on the nightstand, she faced Melanie’s direction, witnessing the slumbering giantess like a breathing mountain range. Melanie, too, had turned in bed, though she was completely asleep. Light snores made for ambient noise, and that still wasn’t what kept Adrian awake.

It was Melanie’s smile. She looked content, resting her head into the pillow and with the blanket wrapped well over her. Her sleep seemed so peaceful and relaxed, certainly her dreams filled with only pleasant scenes. Adrian watched her in a trance, but no thoughts ever came to mind, a blank stare that only comprehended the facts ahead of her. Even as her eyes grew weary and she was feeling forced to fall asleep, Adrian felt nothing. Sleep came to her silently as she became accustomed to this new, terrifying life.