It was a fine October night, the last Saturday of the month, and that meant one thing for Fulda: time to dress in a skimpy costume and get wasted at a Halloween party.  She had received over a dozen invitations, ranging from large frat parties to small groups of friends who “just knew” she would fit in, and had to narrow it down to just one.  Hopping between parties would invite trouble with campus security.  Several of them were easy to rule out due to the desperation of who asked her, and after some discussion with her friends they managed to agree on one.

Her costume was simple, and she doubted most people would pay it much mind anyway.  The sports bra for a shirt would only be an issue while she was outside, and the old jacket ought to make up for its shortcomings.  She had found some old leggings and cut them so they stopped just above her knees, making them look like ragged tatters at the bottom.  While she did not own any boxy boots, a quick trip to a thrift store and a few bucks fixed that, and in addition to completing her costume made her unusually obliged to stomp around.  A pair of tinfoil bolts affixed to her neck with weak adhesive completed the costume.  They would fall off within minutes, but for her, costumes were not the important part of the holiday.

Once Fulda arrived at the party it was easy for her to spot Helen.  She was wearing a powder blue dress with a plunging neckline and miniskirt-length hem, and her light blond hair was carefully straightened and arranged so it flowed down her back.  Fulda strode through the crowd toward her, pushing several people aside who were not smart enough to get out of the way.  Unsurprisingly, Helen had set up near one of the several punch bowls, and her half empty plastic cup showed signs of already being refilled at least once.

“Helen, you exceptionally tall glass of water!” she proclaimed, going for a hug.  When her arms had wrapped around the blond, she added, “I feel like I haven’t seen you for a whole week!”

“Oh look, it’s the jolly green giant!” Helen replied, squeezing her back.  After a quick embrace they parted, and Fulda immediately filled a cup with whatever was in the mixture beside her.  Helen gestured to a waifish woman a bit taller than she was standing next to her and said, “Fulda, I’d like you to meet Jacquelyn.”

Jacquelyn took costuming much more seriously than either of them.  Her bubblegum pink hair almost reached the ground, hopefully with the help of extensions, and it looked like her magenta blindfold had been custom designed to look like shutter shades, allowing her to still see.  A thick black choker accentuated her slender neck, and the black leather corset did what it could to accentuate her skinny figure, ending in a small, loose skirt.  Skin-tight leather boots came halfway up her thighs, and stiletto heels gave her the slight boost over Helen.

“Come on, you know I hate being called Jacquelyn!” she said.  “It’s too formal.  Please, call me Jackie.   Though tonight I guess I’m Rider.”  From her blank expression, it was obvious Fulda had no idea who or what that was.

“Don’t worry, it’s some sort of Japanime thing,” Helen explained, which answered none of Fulda’s questions.  “She explained it to me earlier and I don’t get it either.”

“You’re free to come over and watch it at any time!” Jackie chided, then turned to Fulda.  “Now, what are you supposed to be?”

“I figured these would make it obvious,” Fulda replied, pointing at the neck bolts.  That was when she learned they had fallen off on the walk here.  “Oh.  Well, I’m Frankenstein!  Fitting for my name, huh?”

“Actually, you’re Frankenstein’s monster,” someone butted in.  “Frankenstein was the scientist, and since you’re not wearing a lab coat, I doubt you’re him.”

The three of them turned to face the interloper, and Fulda’s lip curled up in disgust.  While she wanted to believe it was a wig, his dark hair was tightly curled and greasy, and it looked like he was wearing rags.  Even more confusing, he had made the bizarre choice of wearing shoes that made him look barefoot but with a full head of hair on his feet.  He may have been dressed as one of those thoroughly disgusting gremlins she had heard about, and it did not help to smooth over his rude introduction.

“Actually,” Fulda began, exaggerating his nasal voice to more effectively mock him, “the creation of Doctor Frankenstein can reasonably be considered his child, meaning he would take the surname Frankenstein as well.  Therefore, it would actually be accurate to refer to him as Frankenstein, too.”

“I’m not really sure that holds up to–“

Fulda shoved him and he hit the wall with a hollow thud.  She followed up, taking a long stride to close the distance and only leaving an inch between them.  Her hand kept him pinned against the wall while she glared down at him.  “Listen, twerp,” she started.  “The overwhelming message of Frankenstein is that humanity is the monster, not his creation, so if you want to get technical, it’s inaccurate to say that his creation is the monster to begin with.  Now, do you have any other hot takes or topics you’d like to mansplain to me?”

While he sputtered for a response Fulda glanced around.  With her wide frame between him and the rest of the room, the only people who could see what was happening were Helen and Jackie.  She had been hinting to Helen about her powers for the past month, and if she brought Jackie along it was a fair guess that she was cool.

Fulda focused on the invasive know-it-all, imagining that he was as small as he wanted to make her feel.  He rapidly dwindled, shrinking below her waist in a split second.  She smiled as he continued to diminish, and by the time he realized what was going on and tried to scream he had already reached his smallest size.  The ugly, beaten-up combat boots Fulda chose for this costume had thick soles, and he was nowhere near as tall as they were.

Before she could finish him off her limited audience spoke up.  “Whoa, you just shrank him!” Helen exclaimed, trying to keep her voice hushed.  Though they did not fully understand what was happening, it seemed natural to avoid drawing attention to it.

“That was so cool!” Jackie added.  It seemed she had chosen the right audience.

Fulda turned to face them but kept her right heel in the air.  “Yeah, I shrank him,” Fulda confirmed in a low voice, “and yes, it is cool.”  She slid her foot back over the carpet, positioning her heel over where the shrunken man should be.

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Helen asked.

“Yeah, me too!”

“Yeah, I guess I can,” Fulda answered.  She set her heel down, and felt the satisfying sensation of a body crunching beneath her boot.  Fulda paused to enjoy it, knowing that nobody heard his last scream of abject terror.  “But you have to promise to keep it, and what we do with it, a secret.”  She ground her heel on the floor, mashing what was left of the annoying man beyond recognition.

“You have my word,” Helen said solemnly.

“And mine,” Jackie confirmed.

Fulda knew she had chosen wisely by showing them.  Lessons could start tomorrow, though.  For now, she needed to get a drink or ten inside her.