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Author's Chapter Notes:

Here's the first chapter.

 

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Brian Chapman sat in his room at his parents house. The twenty-one year old college junior was home for his spring break. As tempted as he was to go to Cancun with some of his college buddies, get shit-face drunk by pounding tequila shots and hook up with drunken sorority girls, Brian was in a way relieved to just be laying low for a week and a half. Nope, Brian decided to just go home and visit his family for a week, see some buddies from high school, and work on a major project for school.

Despite the fact that he was essentially a scientific and technological genius, Brian had always loved movies and film. He was currently taking a film class at his college, but was doing very poorly in it. For some reason, he just didn’t get it. Sure, he was smart enough to create a working shrink ray, but the concept of making a “simple” student film eluded him.

One thing Brian was not looking forward to, was dealing with his parents about his poor grades, particularly, his mother. His parents, Jerry and Cynthia, were loving parents who supported their three kids as best they could. Brian’s dad Jerry did something in the world of finance and had a nice office downtown, though Brian had absolutely no idea what his actual job title was. Cynthia, his mom, worked as a doctor and often worked very random hours. Brian knew his parents loved him, but also knew his mom was very frustrated with him, knowing how smart he was but she believed he was wasting his time focusing on these film projects.

While home from college, Brian shared his parents’ house with his older sister Megan, a twenty-four year old who worked as a receptionist at a law firm, and his younger sister Isabelle, an eighteen-year-old high school senior who was smart but lazy, often choosing to hang out and surf with her friends, rather than focus on school and getting ready for college next fall.

That evening was a pretty standard family dinner. Brian’s parents asked him how his classes were going and what his plans were for spring break. He didn’t mind these conversations, but he could go without his mom making passive aggressive remarks on how he should be focusing on his gifts in the world of science. He was more into Megan’s questions about his party life at college, as she hoped her little brother would follow in her footsteps and become a party animal. Isabelle did her best to embarrass him and try to find out about Brian’s love life, to no avail.

After dinner, Brian was going back to his room, when his mom stopped him to talk. “Honey, I’m worried about you,” she started off saying. “You’re so smart and I’m worried you’re going to fail because you’re focusing on this film project.”

“It’s fine mom,” Brian said defensively. “I’ve already got an idea and a script for my project. I’m gonna work on it over break.”

“It’s NOT fine,” Cynthia corrected. “I’m not going to let you put your future in jeopardy. I’m going to help you with your project, whether you like it or not!”

Brian shot his mom a confused look. “Wait, what? How?”

Cynthia smiled. “You said you’re gonna work on it over your spring break. You’re right. I’m going to be a star in your film.”

Brian was surprised. He was confident his mom did not know what she was getting herself into. He had created a shrink ray and this was supposed to be a sci-fi film after all. It didn’t take a genius like him to see what he had in mind. “Are you sure? Do you want to read the script?”

A sly chuckle escaped Cynthia’s throat. She had absolutely no confidence in her son as a writer. She figured the script was probably garbage, and felt like she’d honestly be embarrassed to read it. “It’ll be fine honey, I can just improvise.”

Feeling insulted that his mother had no faith in him, Brian shrugged. If she insisted on being a part of this, whatever happened would be on her. “Alright, I guess that’s fine,” he said. “I’m gonna type up the waiver for you to sign,” he said a bit ominously.

“That’s fine, do whatever you need to do,” his mom replied, turning to leave the room. “We can start tomorrow.”

Watching the blonde woman in her late forties walk out of the room and shut the door, Brian hopped on his computer and began typing away at the waiver. His mother had been needling him for months to focus on science and the contributions he could make in the world of technology, rather than chasing a “silly” film dream. Brian fully intended on showing his mother he could do both.

His script for his cool sci-fi film project was sure to wow everyone, particularly with the visual effects that would be on display. He had the idea for a sci-fi movie about a shrunken person trying to survive the perils of being small and returning to normal size. Though he longed for an actress to play the tiny, he had nobody in mind, and intended on just using himself as the miniaturized human being. He thought he could film it while tiny and just grow back. But his mom being small opened up new possibilities.

Knowing good and well his mom had no idea what she was getting herself into, Brian also assumed she would just sign the waiver without reading it, but still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, just in case she wanted to back out. He made sure to include that she was agreeing to be shrunk and would not press charges or any legal action for anything that happened to her while tiny, and that Brian was not responsible. Brian also made sure to say that he would stop filming and immediately grow her back to normal size if she said the safe word, in her case: dude.

Printing everything out, Brian gave it to his mom. “Okay mom, if you’re serious about this film here’s the waiver and release form,” he said, handing it to her. “I’m gonna run to get gas real quick.”

As her son walked out the front door, Cynthia glanced down at what her son had printed out and barely paid attention to it. Why was it a big deal that she sign this? It was just a student film after all. Completely ignoring everything the waiver warned her about, Cynthia signed her name and left the form on her son’s bed.

When Brian returned home later, he saw his mom’s signature on the sheet. He was hoping she would read it and get cold feet, deciding it was too much for her. “Well, guess she’s in,” he said to himself.

Around mid-morning the next day, Brian’s mom came into his room and woke him up earlier than usual. “Rise and shine, Brian,” Cynthia said while knocking on the door. “No sleeping till noon while you’re in my house.”

“Fuck,” Brian mumbled to himself, quiet enough that his mom could not hear it.

“I’m ready to start filming when you are,” she said, way to cheerfully.

Wiping his eyes, Brian rolled out of bed, stood up and stretched. “Alright, I’m gonna make some coffee and take a shower. We can start after.” The young man was relieved to see coffee already in the pot, and hopped in the shower after. After getting changed, his mom eagerly waited for him. Cynthia was wearing a blue and white striped sweater, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of boots. She did not look ready to star in this sci-fi movie.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Brian asked tentatively.

“Of course, I did a little acting in college. I think I can handle this,” she said, showing extreme overconfidence. “I think I can handle your little film.”

With a shrug, Brian opened his drawer and reached for his shrink ray. “So I’m gonna film everything until you say the word,” Brian said.

Having neglected to read the waiver, Cynthia was confused. What the hell did that mean? “Wait, Brian, what’s the word? Keep filming what?” she asked.

Not bothering to answer her questions, Brian grabbed the shrink ray and aimed it at the middle-aged blonde woman. “And action,” he said.

“Wait what’s that?!” Cynthia said in a panic. She saw a bright flash and felt like she was falling. “Brian hellllllllllp,” she screamed as she diminished down. In a panic, she looked around, and realized she was only a mere one centimeter tall.

She looked up and screamed, as Brian’s giant hand started to reach down towards her.

“HEY LOOK WHAT I FOUND,” his massive voice called out.
Chapter End Notes:

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