As soon as Mikayla opened the front door holding her brother in her other hand, their mom rushed to the front of the house. Her eyes landing on Mason, she breathed a sigh of relief before her stern side took over. “Do you realize how scared I was when I got home and you were gone? You could’ve ran away from home for all I knew.”
Mason shrugged, “I just wanted to feel free for a day. Honestly I was gonna text you, I guess I just got so caught up in exploring the place that I forgot.” He sighed, before adding, “I’m sorry.”
“This is on you and Skye too, by the way,” Nicole continued, looking at Mikayla. “You guys took him, so if he didn’t let me know then you should’ve.”
“I thought he did tell you!” Mikayla complained defensively, annoyed that everyone was mad at her today.
Their mom looked down at Mason again, and her face took on a more sympathetic look. “Why’d you never tell me you wanted to visit that place? I could’ve taken you growing up if you’d asked, they have volunteer chaperones to let kids visit if they don’t have family members their size.”
“Honestly Mom, I didn’t even realize how much I wanted to go til yesterday when I visited the tiny store with Mikayla. Besides, like… I dunno, kids are stupid, you should’ve been the one to bring it up when I was younger, you’re the parent.”
Nicole pursed her lips, not sure how to respond to that. And she certainly didn’t want to argue too much with Mason and make him want to leave even more. “Alright, well…” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again. “In the future, please just let me know, okay? My office got reassigned there cuz of the new COO, so they want me available on campus more. Soon enough I’ll be able to take you in on my way to work if you wanted and let you spend the day there.”
The shrunken boy raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Oh, wow. OK, well… then I guess I can’t wait to go back.”
Nicole took a deep breath and turned around, heading back into the kitchen as Mikayla followed. “Well the table’s already set for dinner, so you guys arrived just in time, cuz I was getting hungry and we were about to start eating.” Mason saw that Skye was already sitting at the table with her food, so Mikayla passed him off to the youngest sibling while she went to serve herself.
“Welcome back,” Skye smiled, grabbing one of Mason’s plates from the middle of the table (they always kept a set of dishes and silverware there so he could serve himself if he wanted to). “So what’d you do today?” she asked curiously, spooning small portions of her dinner aside and scooping them onto her brother’s plate once he was seated.
“Honestly, there was this moment in the middle of the day where it just kinda hit me how important the whole place was, and I almost started crying, like just out of gratefulness that I finally got to visit a place like Bayview. That it even exists in the first place, really.”
“Awwww, that’s so special!” Skye remarked, feeling proud to have helped bring him now. “So tell me everything you did then.”
“Well first off,” he began, “I realized like not even 5 minutes in, that for the first time in my life I actually felt normal for once. I’ve never been in a room with more than a couple people that didn’t have at least one giant person, but when I was there, I could just like, walk down the street and pass by dozens of people going about their day. All the exact same size as me. Like I didn’t even have to think about size cuz it became irrelevant. Everyone’s just roaming around outside, enjoying the sunny weather, not a care in the world.
“The first place I went to was bistro downtown, and I got some lunch and ate at a table outside. The bistro’s food options were really weird though. At normal restaurants—like restaurants for people your size—every single food item seems tailored to be eaten by regular sized humans. But in there, all the options were things that had to be modified from regular sized food first. I mean it’s not any different than when I eat at home, it’s just that in there it’s all professionally wrapped and packaged and stuff. It just all looks totally different. Like I went by a grocery store later just to check out more of the food, and they had some salmon there. And I remembered all the times Mom’s bought fresh salmon for us to eat for dinner. The fish gets caught in the morning, it still has its skin and everything. And you guys have to make sure you don’t accidentally eat any bones. But since there obviously aren’t any breeds of fish less than an inch long, all the salmon available at Bayview has to be bought from a middleman first and then cut up into slices that can be sold to the tiny people. Which is nice, cuz I never have to worry about accidentally swallowing a fish bone, but whatever food I buy in Bayview—whether it’s fish or something else—it’s always gonna be at least a day or two old. And usually not look like the ‘real thing.’”
“Got it,” Skye nodded with a laugh, “so always make sure to come home if you really want fresh fish. What else?”
“So after I lunch and visited the store, I spent a few hours walking all around the place. Without any real direction, from downtown to the suburbs. And then eventually I got to Cherry Park, which is like the main park of the town. All the vegetation in the park is from seeds that get genetically modified to be smaller than normal, so everything looks to us like a normal park would look like to you guys. But the coolest part was this humongous tree in the center. I mean it was obviously just a normal tree, but in Bayview, since it’s surrounded by everything sized for tiny people, it felt like something out of a fairy tale. It was like it was the odd one out for being so big, instead of me and everyone else being so small like we normally would feel. I dunno, I guess it’s hard to describe.”
“No I see what you mean,” their mom chimed in.
“Plus, there was a museum built into the trunk. That was pretty cool, that was how I learned a bunch of the stuff about the town. And then I pretty much called Mikayla a little while after that.”
“Was there anything that didn’t live up to your expectations?” Skye asked.
Mason hesitated to answer, figuring out the best way to word his thoughts. “There wasn’t really anything disappointing about the city itself, I think. But… it made me kinda realized that I grew up in a sheltered environment.” He purposefully avoided looking at his mom, since he knew he was ultimately blaming her. “For most of my life, I’ve pretty much only interacted with the same three people. And I think that kinda, I dunno, damaged my social skills.”
“You seem social to me,” Mikayla shrugged.
“Well, so many people were out and about with others, right? There’s couples walking down the street, there’s groups of friends eating together in restaurants, there’s people playing kickball at the park. They’re all with their friends. But I’ve never even tried to make a friend throughout my whole life. I mean I’ve interacted with other people outside of you guys, but it’s never to try and become their friend. I got an anxious feeling thinking about it, like ‘Am I supposed to just walk up to people and ask to hang out? Is that weird?’ It seems weird, but how would I know, you know?”
Mason sighed, “The only reassurance was I realized that there’s probably tons of others in the city who have the same story I do and had to overcome the same issues trying to make friends with people like me. But that still didn’t help the anxiety I felt about it.”
When he finished talking, there was an awkward silence at the table. “Well what if I took you to meet some of my other friends sometime?” Skye offered.
“I mean, I’ve already met some of your other friends though.”
“Right, but it’s always just like when they’re over to hang out with me. Instead, I’ll take you out with me one day, and you won’t just meet someone as an acquaintance, it’ll be like when I make a new friend and bring them into the friend group so they can meet everyone. Like that. Like with the specific intention of befriending people, except you’ll have me to make it a little easier.” She grinned, proud of her idea. “And then if you can become friends with a giant, it’ll be easy meeting other people your size at Bayview.”
Mason was doubtful about the idea, but at least his exposure to his normal-sized family growing up had made him a lot more comfortable around giants than other people his size. “I’ll think about it,” he said. “But I haven’t even started eating dinner yet and everyone else is halfway done.”
Skye smiled, “Good enough for me. It’s just an offer.” With the topic settled, the family finished eating their dinner, while Mason speculated on his sister’s idea.
Afterwards, Mason retired to his room to relax after his eventful day and watch TV. With nothing very mentally stimulating to occupy his mind, it didn’t take long for him to start thinking about what he’d seen Mikayla do earlier that day outside Bayview, and he eventually decided to just go to bed in hopes that sleep could quiet his mind. But he wouldn’t be quite that lucky.
~
Mason was walking through a farmer’s market on an extra sunny day, enjoying the lively ambience of the neighborhood around him. The soft current of the wind kept him cool, and a myriad of smells surrounded him and wafted together. He wasn’t in Bayview, he was out in a real city, surrounded by tall buildings and thousands of people—but he wasn’t 3 inches tall anymore. He was just as big as everyone else, a normal citizen. Unlike his shrunken self, Mason was no longer socially meager, and he greeted dozens of people as he casually browsed the locals’ wares. Strangers, neighbors, acquaintances, and friends; he was fully connected with the community now.
After purchasing a nectarine from one of the vendors, Mason rerouted himself towards a nearby park, eating his peach while he watched the afternoon bustle. There were people gathered at a baseball field, couples lounging around on blankets in the sun, joggers getting in their exercise for the day. Nobody around him was working, they weren’t attending to any errands, they were all just enjoying their life. The scene was so picturesque it seemed like it shouldn’t be possible, and Mason took a moment to reflect on how gifted he and everyone around him was. In a world where so many people were plagued with responsibilities or held back by various limitations, it felt quietly mind-blowing sometimes that he had the freedom he had. He could drive anywhere, talk to anyone, and do almost whatever he wanted.
After traversing through the park, he hopped aboard an electric scooter and rode it downtown, deeper into the heart of the city. He was aimless; maybe he’d check out the new 4D attraction at the new movie theater, or slip into a high fashion shop to dream about splurging on overpriced clothes and jewelry. He only felt called to wherever his attention was drawn, and it wasn’t drawn anywhere in particular—until he was waiting at a traffic stop, and a speeding car caught his eye as it raced by him, ignoring the red light and safety of the nearby citizens. Several nearby people cursed the driver out, but Mason just ignored them. A single burst of energy wasn’t enough to distract him from how relaxed he was anyways. But the car was just the warning signal to what was really coming.
Soon after the sound of the speeding car had subsided, Mason started to feel a vibration beneath his feet, and he stopped to see if it was an earthquake. Hearing some commotion behind him, he turned around and saw several people sprinting, heading in the same direction the car had headed. Others around him began to take notice, trying to see what the fuss was about and focusing in on what they could all collectively feel beneath them.
That was when Mason realized that the tremors he was feeling were patterned, and seemed to take on the cadence of footsteps. The number of people sprinting through the intersection and ignoring the traffic lights was increasing, and once he could start hearing the screams, he knew something horrifying was coming their way. Before he could make his own decision to run away, he saw Mikayla come around the corner of a building—but she was two hundred and fifty feet tall.
She was naked, but completely shameless, unlike his encounter with her coming out of the shower. And not only did she show no remorse for all the destruction she was causing as she walked down the street, but she was actually enjoying it. Purposefully smashing windows in the side of buildings, intentionally kicking over trees, all while laughing maniacally like it was a game, and she was trying to maximize her score by wrecking everything she could.
Her gait was obviously faster than the people trying to run away, so she didn’t even have to try hard to catch up with them. She came upon a crowd and lifted her foot high above their heads, waiting for the perfect moment. “Who’s gonna get unlucky?” she teased down to them, laughing as she caused the screams to wave back and forth depending on where her shadow was cast. But once she found her aim, she stomped downwards where the crowd was thickest, ensuring a dozen people got splattered beneath her, their bones crushing just as easily as the rest of their bodies. She turned her focus to destroying more buildings, but as she kept walking forward, she was still able to step on people without even trying to. Catching a glimpse of her soles, Mason realized there were bits of mangled bodies sticking to the bottoms of Mikayla’s feet.
“You can either take your chances trying to not get buried under a bunch of rubble,” she shouted at the windows of a high-rise, “or you can come willingly and I’ll make your deaths go by a lot quicker and less painfully.” Crashing her hand through the glass, she upturned her palm to see if anyone would climb on, but they all predictably scattered away instead. “Alright, you guys can have it your way,” she sighed, although the maniacal grin on her face made it clear she was more happy with this outcome anyways.
She spotted half a dozen people cowering under the table in a meeting room, and swept her hand in their direction, scooping them all up within seconds. “Ugh, I don’t wanna eat any concrete,” she groaned, picking out broken bits of the walls and floors from her hand, like she was picking out the ingredients she didn’t like from her food. Once there were mostly only people in her hand, she threw them all up into the air and tilted her head back, trying to see how many she could catch in her mouth. Four of them fell right in, one bounced off her lips—damn, so close—and the other two plummeted towards the ground, dead upon impact.
Despite all the terror Mikayla was causing though, Mason started running towards his giant sister, helpless to stop her as she continued wreaking havoc around her. After smashing a building and sending it crumbling to the ground, she spotted a car zooming out of its collapsing parking garage, trying to outrun her and escape. But all she had to do was lean forward and catch it between her fingers like it was a toy. The crooked smile on her face turned into one of mock pity as she lifted it up to get a better look at the tiny people inside. “Aw, looks like you guys were in the middle of a family road trip,” she snickered. “I got a new destination for you guys though…” She held her hand out flat in front of her and set the car down, watching the confusion of the people inside, before clamping her hand into a fist and effortlessly crushing it. Then she reared her hand back and hurled the crumpled heap of car and humans ahead of her, knocking down several of the people who’d thought they’d gotten far enough away from her. “Damn, I got good aim too,” she laughed.
Tears were in Mason’s eyes once he’d gotten close enough to her that he figured she could hear him. “Mikayla, what are you doing?! Why are you hurting everyone?” Surprised that someone was brave enough to actually advance towards her, she stopped herself, and picked him up to bring him close to her face for a closer look. Right away, the expression on her face made it seem like she didn’t recognize him somehow, so he shouted to her as he writhed around between her thumb and pointer finger. “It’s Mason, it’s me!” he yelled. “I’m your brother, remember?”
Without hesitation, Mikayla burst into such a hysterical bout of laughter that the noise hurt Mason’s ears. “Awfully brave of you to try and confront a goddess, huh?” Her total lack of compassion for him sent a chill through his spine, and sent his body into an overdrive mode that ceaselessly tried to escape her grasp despite how high up he was. “Aw, not so brave now it looks like. You just met me and you already wanna leave?” The words sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place why, and it didn’t matter anyways; she was leaning her head back and carrying Mason’s body up towards her mouth, grinning at the sight of him crying. “Whoever you are, you’re not my brother. You’re just a little snack!” And then she lowered her fingers into her mouth, teasing him by letting him dangle in relative safety for a few seconds while surrounded by her mouth, until eventually unpinching his body and allowing it to tumble down her throat, where he was swallowed without a second thought and forgotten about like the rest of the people the goddess had killed.
~
Mason started yelling before his body even woke him up, breathing quickly as he sat up in bed, uncomfortably sweaty and still feeling residual terror from the nightmare. Distressed with his damp bed sheets, he wiped himself off with his covers and got out of bed to go lie down on his coach instead. But even though he closed his eyes, his mind was racing too quickly to let him fall back asleep.
He relived the scenario over in his head dozens of times over the next couple hours, imagining other ways the dream could’ve gone. But over the course of him laying on the couch, the birds outside started chirping the arrival of a new day, the light in his house started getting brighter, and his family members started waking up one by one. By the time he heard Sky leave for school, he realized it was pointless to keep trying to fall asleep, so he begrudgingly got up, got dressed, and started his daily trek to the kitchen to get some breakfast while trying to think about something else.