“Well, it was very nice meeting you, and I look forward to working with you,” Fulda said, nodding to the woman across the table.  Lana nodded back, giving her an awkward smile, and Fulda got up to leave.  She brushed a strand of auburn hair out of her blue eyes and made for the door, her huge Converse crashing onto the floor with each step.  Her undershirt’s sleeves had begun riding up her muscular forearms, so she pulled them down before grabbing the door handle.

“Oh, could wait for me outside for a few minutes?” Lana asked.  “I just need to gather my things, and I’d like to talk more on the way out.”

“Yeah, sure,” Fulda answered, yanking the door open.  She did not quite know what to make of Lana.  At just a few inches shorter than her, the dark-haired woman had the beginnings of a true giantess in her blood.  Not only that, but for the whole interview all she could talk about was how her life’s dream was to grow and shrink people.  However, she lacked the confidence of the other supremely tall women Fulda had met.  Maybe it was her waifish frame or the nerdy glasses, but even if she succeeded in her goal she would need extensive coaching for someone to believe she was a titaness like herself.

On her way out, Fulda nearly ran over one of her classmates walking in front of the door.  She caught his shoulder to keep him from falling, then made sure he was back on his feet before letting go.  Looking down, Fulda recognized him as he sheepishly tried to look away.  “Hey Don!” she said, clapping him on the shoulder.  “Long time no see!  Where’ve you been hiding these days?”  In the bushes, if the past behavior of men who got obsessed with her was any indication.

“Oh, hey Fulda,” he replied, trying not to look her in the eyes.  It was clear her height intimidated him even though most women were a good deal taller than he was.  “I’ve been around.  What brings you to this part of the library?  This area is usually frequented by, you know, art students.”

“I’m interviewing someone for my English comp class,” she responded.  “I got matched with some girl named Lana for this.  She’s pretty interesting!”

“Lana Ivanova?”

Fulda skipped a beat.  “Yeah.  How’d you guess?”

“Shot in the dark, she was in my freshman orientation group,” Don told her.  “She seemed a little… odd to me.”

“Odd?  How do you mean?”  Nothing too unusual had stuck out to Fulda during their conversation, so she wanted to know more.  Maybe Lana would even approve of her including it.

“Well, she’s… she seems obsessed with making people smaller,” Don answered.  “As you might imagine, I’m a little sensitive to that, and besides, it’s well-documented to be impossible.”

Fulda smacked her lips as she looked down at him, pondering what he said.  “What’s impossible?”

“Shrinking people.  In addition to the technical limitations, there’s the Square-Cube law, and the issue of where all the extra matter goes, and how you’d get anyone to agree to the trials in the first place.”

“Hold that thought,” Fulda said, pointing a finger down at him.  Luckily, there was no one watching, since he seemed to disappear in an instant.  To an astute observer – and Fulda’s keen eyes – however, he had been reduced to an absolutely puny size in front of Fulda.  She took a moment to enjoy looming over him, then asked, “How impossible does it seem now, huh?”

Just then, the door opened and Lana strode through it.  Fulda watched her curiously, wondering where her feet would land, though Don did not have the same sense of wonder.  He immediately started running in the other direction, trying to escape the two gigantic women.  His tiny legs could only carry him so fast, however, and Lana’s simple yet stylish flat landed right on him.  She continued on, leaving a red smear in her wake, then turned to Fulda.

“So, want to continue the interview?” she asked.  “I think we have a lot more to talk about, and the café’s got some decent coffee.”

“Yeah, we sure do.”  Fulda would not tell her about the man she had just unknowingly murdered.  It was a lot for someone to take in, and she did not feel comfortable springing that on someone after one conversation.  Plus, it would open up a lot of other questions, like liability and blame, that she wanted nothing to do with.  There was enough to discuss without bringing squishing tiny people into the mix.

Don looked up in horror at Fulda, suddenly hundreds of feet tall, and wondered what he could do.  There was no doubt she had caused this; the timing was too perfect.  He was shorter than her damn shoes, and so long as she was looking at him, he doubted he could get away.  This was a hell of a way to make a point, but she had made it quite clearly.

The enormous door opened and Lana stepped through it, her long legs covering a tremendous amount of ground with each step.  When her feet hit the ground the floor shook, and he felt a pit growing in his stomach.  Fulda knew he was there and had only shrunk him to prove a point.  Lana had no idea, and, as far as he was concerned, posed the greater threat to his safety.

He bolted away from Lana, trying to put as much space between them as possible.  She could easily smash him, and if her foot ended up over him, he would have no chance.  As he ran, he leapt over small irregularities in the tile, left there to give a bit of contour.  If he ran too far, he worried Fulda would not be able to find him to grow him back, but that was secondary to getting out of Lana’s way.

A shadow engulfed him, and he knew he had failed.  Don looked back to see the smooth, beaten sole of Lana’s black flat looming over him, and he futilely raised his hands in protection.  Lana swung her shoe down, and with a loud crack it hit the floor.  In an instant, he was nothing more than a red smudge spread between her shoe and the tile, and after tonight’s cleaning he would not even be that much.  So far, he had mostly been a non-entity at university, and he doubted many people would even notice he was gone.  With one footstep, Lana had consigned him to non-existence, and the only person who could change that had no reason to say anything.