With a lively image of his Goddess in mind – looming over tons of microscopic cities pledging their allegiance to her – Dr. Goof lowered his head and started uttering a prayer he had written a long time ago. It was a piece of writing he had written initially for Cassadee Wiggins whereby he glorified her like a deity. Only minor adjustments were necessary to make the text fit for her niece, Addison. Keeled over on his knees in a floor-hugging position, Dr. Goof's whispered words rose in volume to a conversational level. Then the door of his office slammed open. Standing in the doorframe stood his object of veneration in person.

"What are you doing?" Addison frowned while taking a lick of her not-so-small rainbow-colored lollypop.

While attempting to hide the shame in his eyes, Dr. Goof hastily stood up from his kneeling stance. "Nothing, child. I was just doing some yoga exercise for my back." he groaned painfully as he stretched his back.

"Yoga?! My aunt used to teach classes in that. She taught you too?" Addison sauntered into Dr. Goof's office without asking for permission and collapsed on some chair.

"No," Dr. Goof answered curtly as his eyes followed the juvenile making herself comfortable in his office. "Aren't you suppose to be in school or anything?"

"Yeah, I actually should." Addison shrugged while taking another lick of her lollypop.

"Well, why aren't you at school then?"

"Don't feel like it. Can I stay here with you?"

Dr. Goof sighed, taking a seat behind his desk. "I have work to do. quite essential work."

"I know," Addison smiled mischievously. "Like, how to turn me into a Goddess, right?" she winked.

"How exciting that may sound to you. I'm afraid there's not much to see, Miss Wiggins. Right now, I'm wrestling with all kinds of high-level mathematical equations. It's really boring, actually."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Addison smiled while continuing to devour her lollipop. Her front teeth

cracked free a huge chunk, which she chowed down eagerly – clearly audible – before swallowing it.

Dr. Goof took one last glance at Addison. He noticed that her former classy prom dress with high heels and a thick layer of makeup had made place for her usual scruffy garments. She wore short denim dungarees with frayed circles around her petite thighs. A brightly leaf-green loose-fitted shirt with big pink neon-like letters printed at the level of her chest stating the word REBEL. A pair of worn-out sneakers that undoubtedly ended the lives of many shrunken Caspivurians. A clean face – free of any makeup – with a permanent smug little smile. And a pair of roughly tied twin tails – bonded with two black scrunchies.

Two red sticky smears – looking like Indian war paint - adorned the corners of Addison's mouth. They folded when she smiled at Dr. Goof – creating two cute-looking dimples in her cheeks.

Feeling a warm sensation fluttering in his body, Dr. Goof gave an uneasy smile in return before sinking his thoughts into the soup of mathematical notations beaming at him through his laptop screen. He always felt a bit unsettled – like some high school twink after receiving attention from the hottest girl at school – when Cassadee Wiggins smiled at him. It seemed that young Addison could ignite the same effect in him. It vexed Dr. Goof. The girl was merely a child. A thing like this was not supposed to happen. As a grown-up, he should be able to keep his wits around her. He was only glad that Addison seemed utterly unaware of the effect her mischievous smile had on him – in comparison with Cassadee Wiggins, who was more than eager to kick it up a notch when she caught wind of his insecurity. The former owner of Kaiser and Wiggins could cackle quite loudly when Dr. Goof started to stumble over his own words and feet.

"Have you always been this small?" Addison asked out of the blue. Her piercing eyes assessed him as her tongue continued feasting shamelessly on the lollipop.

Dr. Goof chuckled. "Now, you don't beat around the bush now, do you?"

"Well?" Addison prodded.

"Yes, Miss Wiggins. Yes. Unfortunately, I have always been this… small, yes."

"Why?" Addison asked as her teeth took a hard bite on the lollipop – breaking another a huge chunk. She leaned back in the chair – getting all comfy as she rested one of her legs over its armrest.

"Dwarfism. Or if you rather want to know the scientific term, achondroplasia. It's a genetic disorder that causes an abnormality of the bone growth."

"You're smart, right?" Addison asked.

"My cognitive capabilities are above average, yes. Vastly above average, if I may be so bold to admit. Why the question?"

"Then I do not understand," Addison said.

Dr. Goof cocked an eyebrow.

"You can shrink down whole cities, but you cannot make yourself big. What's the deal with that? Can't you just grow yourself a few feet taller?"

Dr. Goof chuckled. "I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that, child."

"Miss Wiggins! Its Miss Wiggins!" Addison fumed as she almost stood up from her chair.

Dr. Goof brought up his hands in a disarming manner. "Miss Wiggins, yes, of course. My mistake, how could I forget. Silly me."

"Yeah, silly you, alright." Addison crossed her arms. "In fact, you have to address me as Goddess even before long."

"I'll stick to Miss Wiggins for now if you don't mind."

Addison leaned back in her chair again.

"If you don't mind, Miss Wiggins, I have to get back to work now."

"Yes, yes yes yes," Addison waved with her hand like a Queen does to her servant. "Go ahead, I'll just… check on these walls for imperfections or something."

Glad that he was finally allowed to get cracking, Dr. Goof bent over to hide behind his laptop and started pounding the keyboard.

Tik

Tik

Tik

Tik

The thumping was heard after roughly five minutes of undisturbed working. His brushy brows peeked above the laptop.

On the other side of his office, he saw Addison slumped in a lazy chair. She sat there with her head leaning against her hand on one side and one leg draped over its armrest on the other side. Her foot swung from side to side, causing its top to collide against the side of a printing device. Again. And again. And again.

Dr. Goof subtly cleared his throat – hoping that the juvenile would pick up the hint. He saw Addison's head leaping up, looking around a bit muddled before her eyes sank off again in a state of daydreaming-absence. And the tapping continued.

Dr. Goof's hands took hold of the table's edges, squeezing it, attempting to break it, dent it, or damage it in some way out of sheer frustration. Coping with Addison's frivolities was head hurting business. He already knew that while observing her from the sideline as she conversed with Cassadee or some of the employees here at Kaiser and Wiggins.

Now, however, Dr. Goof stood in the line of fire of Addison's fickle behavior. Things would only become worse if his venture to turn Addison into a living Goddess succeeded. All brakes are off then. There would be no one to curb her temper. Her voice would represent fate. And a very cruel fate for many, without a doubt.

Perhaps that was the main reason why Cassadee had chosen Addison to be her successor. She was always quite cynical about humanity and wished them nothing less than sorrow and pain. So maybe she'd made the assumption that Addison would grow out to be an even crueler person than herself.

"That also a present for some royalty?" Addison suddenly said.

A Caspivurian city that was neatly boxed within a terrarium of about one foot square on top of a filing cabinet ogled for her attention – or so Addison imagined.

"You like?" his eyes peeped above his laptop. "It's Xardiff. One of the best-preserved ancient cities of Caspivur. The history of this town dates back to almost 4000 years ago."

Addison eagerly walked over to the city before Dr. Goof was able to finish his sentence. As she bends over to take a closer look, Addison could see all sorts of ancient-looking structures dotted around the city, some not even bigger than the nail of her thumb. Buildings crafted of white marble with rows of pillars and pointy roofs, triangular-shaped mountains constructed of an innumerable amount of stone blocks, a handful of arch bridges meandering among hills, gorges and rivers, and a horseshoe-shaped stadium.

"It's also a holy city. Its where one of Caspivur's most dominant religions was founded. That pyramid looking structure, the one adjacent to that red-colored puddle – that is aptly-named Lake of Blood – is where prophet–"

Dr. Goof stopped talking when he saw Addison plunging her finger straight on top of the mentioned pyramid – pulverizing it to nothingness. Addison looked curiously at her fingertip, where crumbs of shrunken debris were mingled with the lake's red substance.

"That really blood?" Addison asked, dumbfounded while gaping at Dr. Goof.

"You… you've just destroyed a historical property of inestimable value. Just like that."

Addison stuck her finger in her mouth. "Mmm, it doesn't taste like blood. Well, gramps, gotta go. You let me know when the world is ready to great their new Goddess, right?"

Addison was about to saunter off but changed her mind and loomed over Xardiff once more. She took one more lick of her half-devoured lollipop before crashing it bluntly in the middle of the shrunken city – destroying a good amount of ancient architecture.

"Lake of Blood, ha! I'll show you religion."

Addison slammed the door close, leaving a baffled Dr. Goof behind in his office.