“Hey.”

“…Hey.”

“Just checking to make sure you got in safely.”

“You dropped me off right in front of the building. Of course I did.”

“…”

“I’m not talking to her about it.”

“Come on, why not? Just a small talk with her will go a long wa—”

“Okay, goodnight.”

Now, Maya didn’t hang up on her friends very often. But bringing up this hypothetical “talk” was one of the quickest ways to get her to end a call. She had heard the same proposition from many of her friends, many times over. And each time, she rejected this prospect.

Maya shut off her phone as she threw back her head with a sigh. A soft light shone down upon her as she traversed her dorm building in the dead of night. Indeed, she was just dropped off by a friend after hanging out at her place for hours on end. As she made her way towards the elevator on the first floor, she didn’t see many other students stirring as late as she was. It was currently 3:32 A.M. on a Sunday night, after all.

She took the elevator to her building’s fifth floor, and turned to her left as soon as she stepped off. From there, she walked down a long hallway as she was bathed in a soft light similar to that on the first floor. During her trek, two things were of worth noting:

The first was that the light on the fifth floor had an orange hue to it, as opposed to the achromatic rays on the first floor. The fifth floor was notorious for this distinct orange glow, which was caused by the fact that its current lights were installed later than those on the other floors.

The second item of note was that Maya walked extremely slowly to her destination. If she was presumably walking to her dorm room… then it sure as hell looked like she was in no rush to get there. This is likely why she stayed over so late at her friend’s place, as well.

The young woman slid her phone into her pocket and retrieved her keys in its place. She finally stopped walking, as she apparently reached her destination. She isolated one of her keys and moved it to the door in front of her… until she froze once it was a mere inch away from the keyhole. Her grip tightened around her key as her arm trembled, and after about five seconds of hesitation, she tilted her head upward and stared blankly at the peephole in front of her. There, she was met with a tiny yet veritable reflection of herself.

Maya Krungthep was a young twenty-one-year-old woman, currently enrolled in her third year of college. She was of Thai ancestry; though she and her parents were born in America, her mother’s parents immigrated directly from Thailand, and the same could be said for her father’s grandparents. Her ancestry was apparent; her skin was a very pale brown, akin to the shade of a light Frappuccino. This pale skin contrasted with her dark brown eyes and her similarly dark hair, with both her eyes and hair bordering on black. Her eyes were almond-shaped, boarding on cat-like. Her hair was combed back in the front, exposing her forehead. While much of this straight hair was pushed back behind her ears, she had two prominent side bangs that obscured her ears from view. This straight hair of hers fell down to her chest area, and framed a rather round face.

Currently, Maya was wearing a lightweight blue jean jacket, which undoubtedly kept her warm if she was out this late at night. This jacket was unbuttoned, and exposed a basic white sweater underneath. This rather thin sweater gave way to a black belt, which was strapped onto a pair of baggy, black sweatpants. These sweatpants fell over her shoes, somewhat obscuring them. However, one could still tell that she was wearing cream-colored Converse. Whenever she was tonight, she clearly wasn’t dressed to impress, instead valuing comfort over fashion.

Notably, Maya’s blue jean coat completely engulfed her small frame. The woman stood at a mere 5’3”, short even for her phenotype. But even beyond this, it was clear to see from the front that she had practically no chest to speak of. Her exposed wrists were thin, her hips didn’t strain the fabric of her sweatpants at all, and the definition of her legs was largely hidden by these pants.

After glaring at her reflection, Maya finally shut her eyes, and finally began unlocking her door. However, she even did this at a much slower pace than what was normal. From the second that she entered her dorm building, something was causing her to hesitate. But just what was it?

Unfortunately for her, the source of Maya’s hesitation resided in the very room she called her own.

Slowly inching the door open so as to not make any noise, Maya finally entered her pitch-black dorm room. She made the conscious effort to stay silent for the sake of her roommate, who was undeniably asleep at this time of night. However, Maya knew that she would be able to turn on her phone’s flashlight without waking her; a necessity to navigate through the dark room.

Before she turned on her flashlight, she made the mental plan to silently retrieve pajamas from her dresser and then climb into her lofted bed, to minimize the time that her light was on. She could skip brushing her teeth just for tonight. Her dresser was to her left against the wall closest to her, so it would be rather easy to just make a beeline for it.

However, as soon as she switched on her phone’s light and turned to face her left, she saw that a foot was lying against her dresser’s drawers.

Notably, this foot was multiple times larger than what was expected, leaving Maya with absolutely no hope of moving it as it blocked her from her dresser.

Looking ahead of her in the now-illuminated space, Maya was met with the sight of her roommate, the owner of the massive foot. This person was the source of Maya’s apprehension on her way up to her dorm.

Of course, this can largely be owed to the fact that this roommate of hers was more than three times Maya’s own size.

On top of this, this roommate was sprawled out on the carpeted floor, obviously in a deep sleep. She was sleeping face-up, her head tilted to the side as she snored. This granted Maya a good look of her entire body. Although, she was already more than aware of what the woman looked like. After all, they’ve been roommates—no, friends—for almost three years now.

Chloe Moore was the name of the woman who was currently passed out on the dorm room floor. She was twenty one years old just like Maya, although Chloe was younger than her by about four months. Chloe was half-Thai, half-white. Her mother was the Thai one; she met Chloe's father while he was stationed in Thailand, the two moved back to America together, and the rest is history. As such, Chloe was unmistakably Asian, but her face demonstrated clear traces of white descent. Her skin was a decent bit lighter than Maya’s, sporting only the slightest hint of brown. Her eyes and hair were lighter than her roommate’s, too. Although they were closed right now, her hazel-colored eyes were decently wider than the rest of her Asian peers’, a surefire sign of her mixed ancestry. Her hair was marginally lighter than her eyes, but still discernibly brown. This hair was fashioned into a wolf cut that fell down to her shoulders, obscuring her ears from view. Two large, wavy bangs were separated to either side of her eyes, exposing her forehead and her center part. Her wolf cut hugged a face that was much more angular than Maya’s own round face; her cheekbones were defined, and her chin stood out more than Maya’s. Despite this, her face remained feminine, which could also be owed to her plush lips and long eyelashes.

As she slept, Chloe wore comfortable loungewear. This consisted of just white tank top and a pair of grey, cotton sweatpants. However, just to provide another difference between her and her roommate, Chloe’s body was much curvier than Maya’s. Her tank top was cut low enough to display a moderate amount of her cleavage, as she sported a decently sized chest. Additionally, while there were curvier girls out there, her hips were nothing to scoff at. Her sweatpants were only tight around her hips and thighs, which meant that one could see how her hips easily matched her shoulders in width. Additionally, her thighs came close to matching her waist in width, her meaty legs rivaling her narrow waist.

However, there was one unfortunate reason as to why Chloe’s frame was currently so visible. Her tank top and sweatpants were much too small on her. Her top’s straps dug deeply into her shoulders and chest, causing the slightest bit of overfill along her chest. Her midriff was completely exposed, her top riding up too high to cover it. Her sweatpants were even more ill-fitting than this tank top. In addition to the fabric straining around her hips and thighs, her sweatpants only fell down the middle of her shins, coming nowhere close to reaching her ankles. Additionally, small tears could be seen circling her leg opening.

But it’s not like one could blame Chloe for wearing clothes that were clearly too small for her. After all, it’s hard to find attire that fits you when you’re 15’7”.

Upon seeing how tight Chloe’s clothes were on her, Maya felt a pang of sympathy—even though it was her umpteenth time being met with such a sight. However, the fact that Chloe was so rudely blocking access to her dresser quickly overrode any sympathy that she may have felt.

Odd… Maya never felt herself become truly angry at Chloe before.

Maybe her friends were right. It was time for a little talk.

…

Maya and Chloe met each other through a roommate searching website—both girls were starting college at the same time, and didn’t know anyone from their own schools who were attending the same university as they were. From their profiles on the website, it was evident that they shared general preferences—they could each see that they shared the same preferred room temperature, went to bed at the same time, etc. But this all paled in comparison to how well the high school graduates got along. From the moment that Maya first messaged Chloe over the summer, they immediately hit it off, casually texting each other as if they’ve known each other for years. They decided to meet up in person before the college semester started, both girls driving over an hour to meet for lunch at the midpoint between their hometowns. Now that they were face-to-face, Maya could truly see Chloe’s personality shine through. Maya was aware that she was more outspoken and extraverted than most other girls, but the exact opposite was true for Chloe. During their lunch, Maya quickly realized that she was speaking more frequently and loudly than Chloe. And while Maya made idle conversation with their waitress, Chloe sat in silence unless she was ordering food. However, Chloe didn’t seem to mind Maya’s extrovertedness at all, and Maya certainly didn’t mind Chloe’s introvertedness. The half-Thai girl appeared more than happy to let her companion do the talking for the both of them, smiling as she beheld Maya carry herself in conversation. And Maya was pleased to hear whatever Chloe had to say when she did finally speak up. Chloe had a sharp tongue, and made sure what she said counted. This usually amounted to snarky jokes and observations that made Maya laugh. And even besides this, Maya noticed that Chloe spoke more frequently as their lunch date progressed.

Finally bidding farewell to each other at the end of their lunch, Maya and Chloe embraced each other in a hug. Maya didn’t think much of it back then, but looking back on it now, it was hard to grapple with the fact that Chloe wasn’t abnormally taller than her at the time. When they first met, Maya stood at her current height of 5’3”, while Chloe stood at a mere 5’10”. This seemed remarkably tall for an Asian girl at the time, but compared to now…

Officially becoming roommates at the start of their freshman year, Maya and Chloe only became closer during their first two years of college. They had hardly any disputes pertaining to their dorm room itself, and the few that they did were quickly resolved without any bad blood between them. Their contrasting personalities paired together nicely when it came to their social lives—Maya would push Chloe to get out of their room and attend parties, and Chloe would force Maya to stay in their room and study or rest when she needed to. Overall, the unlikely pair had a dynamic that was fruitful for the both of them.

However, that all changed a few months into their third year.

The first recorded case of the mutation was documented in September. In Wyoming, a mother of two more than doubled in size overnight. Her husband was the first to notice, as he reportedly felt her body expanding against his own as she slept. Upon medical professionals rushing to the scene in the dead of night, samples of the woman’s DNA were collected. Within a span of a few days, it was found that her sudden growth was the direct result of a mutation to her GH1 gene, simple as that.

Still… even though the cause was apparent, this was still a completely unprecedented moment in human history. The tallest human in history was 8’11”, and his extreme height led to health problems that resulted in an early death at age twenty-two. But this woman was 11’5”, and she seemed to be remarkably healthy. In fact, she’s still alive and well to this very day.

But it wasn’t just the medical community that was confounded. The woman’s growth defied all laws of physics, from the fact that such a large human should logically collapse in on itself, to the sheer impossibility of a human growing more than six feet in the span of minutes. And it wasn’t just that the woman grew taller. No, that would be too simple. Rather, it seemed as if her body was scaled up to place at her newfound height. She retained the exact same proportions that she had before the sudden mutation.

However, a second instance of the GH1 mutation was reported a week after the first, leaving the scientific community with too little time to linger solely on the Wyoming woman. This time, it was a rather young school teacher in Florida who grew to 12’9”. There was relative silence for a while, but then, a full month after the Florida incident, a third case was reported. A fast food worker from Vermont grew to a whopping 14’2” after she fell asleep on her night shift.

By late September, there were now three cases of the freak mutation to the GH1 in the United States. Notably, these incidents only occurred within the United States—no other place on planet Earth had reported such a case. Another point of concern was the fact that each woman affected by the mutation grew larger than the last—from 11’5”, to 12’9”, to 14’2”. This sent the scientific community into a mild hysteria, as they realized that the next woman would be even more logic-defying than the first three.

Meanwhile, the cases were largely publicized. The faces and enlarged figures of the women were plastered everywhere from television news to social media. The implausible women were amongst some of the most well-recognized individuals in the country, up there with politicians and Hollywood stars. There were those people who treated the amazons as a spectacle; sights to be beheld. Crowds rallied outside of the women’s houses, scrapping for just the slightest glimpse of the larger-than-life subjects in person. As such… the women hardly left their houses at all. The last time the mother stepped out was back in August, mere days after her initial growth. As for the teacher and fast food worker, they only left their houses in the early morning for essentials, tiptoeing over the lingering crowds of paparazzi who only rose up to their thighs and leapt at the chance to photograph them. Of course, this meant that both of the workers quit their jobs… The scientists who entered their houses day in and day out swore to keep them both afloat as long as they continued to run tests on them.

Indeed, while there were those who followed the women with awe, there were those who viewed them with apprehension. This trend was especially prominent amongst younger women. While the Wyoming woman was forty-two years old, the second and third cases were merely twenty-eight and nineteen years old, respectively. This led women in their teens and twenties to fear that they would be the next ones to develop the GH1 mutation. Would the next case be even younger than the nineteen year old, or was the descending age just a coincidence? And could the same thing be said about the gradually increasing heights of the cases?

However, even besides the possibility that any unsuspecting woman could be the next to grow, the three mutated women were feared for another reason. And that reason was the threat that their immense sizes posed. Adults and children alike all around the country all asked themselves the same question: what if one of these amazons were to become angry? It was painfully obvious to see that any of them would be able to irreversibly harm or even kill any normal sized human being. A simple punch, kick, or stomp of their foot is all that it would take… it was gruesome to think about, but it was that gruesomeness that made it so compelling to some. The three women were vilified among certain groups around the country—from religious organizations, online communities, and even the localities that the amazons lived in. After all, could the oversized young women be trusted around the paparazzi, who apparently hadn’t done anything wrong? And could the oversized mother be trusted around her own husband and children?

Nonetheless… by the time October came around, a fourth case hadn’t been reported anywhere else in the United States. That is, until Maya Krungthep heard the sound of metal creaking and wood splintering in the dead of night.

One fateful Saturday night in mid-October, Maya was awoken from her sleep, and watched on helplessly as the silhouette of her roommate rapidly outgrew her lofted bed. After a couple of seconds… the bed caved in with her on top of it, shattering the desk that was situated underneath to pieces.

The whole time, Chloe remained asleep, her increased size clearly increasing her pain tolerance. Of course, as two women, the thought of either them developing the GH1 mutation had certainly crossed their minds. But, it felt like such a slim possibility all this time. What was the chance that they would be the unlucky subjects out of 169 million women in America? That chance had to be astronomically low, right?

And yet, as Maya turned on her flashlight, there Chloe lay, nearly triple the size she was just minutes ago.

Desperate to aid her beloved roommate, Maya didn’t hesitate to call 911. She wholeheartedly believed that she was doing the right thing. But Chloe hadn’t been the same ever since the incident… which explains why she was currently passed out on the middle of their floor.