“So, that’s it,” Oscar said, pacing back and forth through the living room. “We’re all going to shrink?”

“Years of school, college, building toward our future, all of it for nothing,” Elias muttered from the couch, where he sat in his sunken posture, arms crossed, leaning atop his knees, while he stared at a floor, he imagined could soon be his entire world. “Our lives are over. Our only career path now is talking insects.”

Beside him Jade and Theo sat in complete silence, contemplating their fate.

Robin sat across from her friends, in a chair she had pulled up from the dinner table. She wasn’t sure how to bring it up without it coming across as insensitive. She felt like she’d just be rubbing it in, but she had to show them somehow. She brushed the right side of her loose open plaid shirt aside, and grabbed the bottom of the t-shirt underneath, raising it to present the mark on the side of her stomach to the rest of the group.

It looked not unlike a regular tattoo, four inches across. The shape of three crescent moons in a row, the middle one mirrored towards the other two, its tips halfway into their curves. All of her friends had a mark just like it somewhere on their bodies, the only difference was that hers was black, while theirs was purple.

“You’re immune,” Jade said.

All Robin could do was nod, keeping her head well between her shoulders.

“Why you?!” Oscar said, causing Theo to shoot him a dirty look.

The question hit her like lightning to the heart. She’d been wondering the exact same thing. Of all of her friends, why did she deserve to be spared?

Why not Jade, the steely-eyed, black-haired metal fanatic, whose grim appearance contrasted a much more happy and peppy personality. She had a love for books, and dreams of running a spookier alternative version of a cozy little café. Her friend circle stretched far beyond the bounds of just this little group, and she would have so many more people who’d miss her.

Or Elias for that matter, the tech wizard with tired, dark blue eyes behind square glasses, his white bleached shaggy hair often covering half his face. He was an absolute genius, the type who’d likely go on to do big things in the tech world, if he had gotten to finish his studies.

While Oscar could be a jerk, he was just as much of a prodigy as Elias, just more brawn than brains. His entire future career as a professional football player had just been snatched by the cruelty of this indifferent universe. A tall muscular jock with dark brown eyes, a coily dark-haired fade and closely trimmed beard, everything that made a guy like him what he was, was about to be reduced to nothing.

Then there was Theo, the sweetest friend anyone could ask for. Unkempt sandy brown hair and innocent hazel eyes. He might not have had big plans, or a crazy career laid out in front of him, but he had this aura of safety around him. An awkward golden retriever, whom Robin imagined could’ve been a great husband and father to someone, living the happy suburban life which she could never imagine herself in.

He was short enough as he was. The thought of Theo shrinking down to a height of only two inches, becoming weak, scared and vulnerable. It was horrible, unfair. Yet, as those angry hazel eyes turned away from Oscar, shifting back to weak uncertainty as he looked at her, Robin felt a rush at the thought of it.

Compared to her friends, why would the glow spare quiet and creepy Robin? The weird bisexual ginger in oversized clothes that almost resembled rags; plaid shirts worn like robes, over loose men’s t-shirts, baggy pants, and canvas sneakers, which looked worn, dirty and even ended up with some holes, weeks into buying them.

Her dark brown eyes had a tendency to look pitch black, adding to the soulless attribute people would jokingly ascribe to her sleek, straight, shoulder-length copper hair, and freckled complexion.

Unlike her friends, Robin didn’t have much of a future or any positive qualities she could list for herself. While her friends were still building up to their life, she had already dropped out of college, and made a full-time job out of the part-time job she worked at the local fast-food joint. What was meant to pay for her studies, now paid for her crappy apartment.

While she was slightly more subdued now, her problematic youth was filled with therapy sessions and a stint in juvenile detention. All throughout she’d get in fights, often ones where she was the only combatant, which is another way of saying she just beat on other kids in her class. In early kindergarten she was banned from arts and craft classes, because of what she’d try to pull if someone gave her scissors.

Throughout her high school years, she figured out how to blend in better, and while she never shared anything of her past with the friends she made in college, there were signs of it even now.

She had a reputation for being the female version of a ‘Kyle’ stereotype; chugging down energy drinks and punching holes in drywall. If there was ever any trouble while she was out with her friends, Robin was often the first one to throw hands, usually relying on Oscar to either back her up, or on Theo to diffuse things. At any given time, it would be rare to see Robin without at least one cut or bruise somewhere on her body.

Her friends loved her all the same. They saw her as the endearing tomboy mess with a protective streak, rather than seeing the hints at her underlying issues.

So, why her?

“I don’t know,” she said, almost sounding apologetic that she wouldn’t be joining them.

“What about Simon and Elena?” Jade said.

Simon and Elena were the only two missing members of the group that was present when the purple glow flashed everyone outside the local pub two days before.

The Omen Glow, people called it. It always happened at random, without warning, without any way of predicting where or when it would strike. Anyone within the bounds of a flash would get a mark. The phenomenon started three years prior, and there was no science that could explain it, or revert its effects.

If you weren’t one of the rare lucky ones to have your mark appear black, then at some point, throughout the following two weeks, you, and strangely enough, every article of clothing you’d be wearing, would shrink down instantly, till you’d be at a height of only two inches.

Elias sat up and used the knuckle of his thumb to push his glasses back in place, “Both their marks are purple. Simon decided to go home and wait it out at his parents’ house. Elena already got her family to pay for her stay at a care facility.”

Jade brushed her palms across her thighs, “Do you think we should do the same?”

“Nah, no way,” Oscar bellowed, “I ain’t staying with my old man at that size.”

Jade sucked in her lips, before making a popping sound, “I guess same here. Finally got away from my toxic parents. Can’t cope with the idea that I’d have to go back and be that reliant on them for the rest of my bug life.”

“There is also this strange intimacy to the idea of someone handling you that closely at that size,” Elias said. “Not to sound weird, but you guys know what I mean, right? I wouldn’t want to interact with the giant body of a family member like that.”

“I guess Simon didn’t mind,” Robin said.

Oscar chuckled, “Yeah, but Simon’s always been a creep when it came to his sister.”

Pretty much the entire room turned to Oscar with a look of disbelief. Jade gave him a scoff that bordered on sounding like a gag, to which the guy simply raised his hands in smirking defense.

“Hey, just saying. He might be the only one of us actually getting some enjoyment outta all this.”

The entire group exclaimed their disgust in gasps and wretches.

“I don’t wanna go to one of the facilities either,” Theo said. “I’ve seen videos. It all looks so cold, so clinical. Even if you’d be able to pay for it, why would you wanna spend the rest of your life under that depressing fluorescent light?”

“Then what do we do?” Jade said. “We’d still need someone looking after us, keeping us safe. With the poor enforcement of human rights when it comes to tinies, we can’t just go it alone.”

Jade was right, tinies who didn’t have some sort of guardian were living dangerously, often scavenging to survive and running underfoot. Robin had first hand experience with that herself. While not intentional, she had put her foot down on a shrunken customer, while carrying an order to one of the tables.

She tempered any guilt she was even capable of feeling; by telling herself it was an accident, and that it was the guy’s own fault for running across the open floor. The way she reacted right after however, wasn’t normal. The way she felt about the feeling of the man crunching under her sneaker… it wasn’t right.

There wasn’t any legal action that could be taken for the incident however. While tinies technically had all the same human rights as regular sized people, there was one change made to prevent countless people from going to prison over accidental tiny deaths. All cases of manslaughter involving a tiny victim were decriminalized. This meant that unless malicious intent could be proven in a court of law, there were no consequences to snuffing out a tiny’s life.

This cold double standard resulted in a society of people that didn’t bother looking where their feet landed, nor did anyone put in the extra care to check if there were any shrunken people in their vicinity. Those that did were considered pretentious holier-than-thou activists.

It also meant that people with intent could get away with it, if they managed to play it off as an accident. Outside of public view, who knows what goes on behind closed doors.

In most cases tinies simply went missing. They could easily be snatched up by strangers, or the smudges they became were unidentifiable. A two-inch-tall body simply disappears more easily than a full size one.

As Robin looked at Jade, she pictured what it would be like. To see her try and make it on her own, running along the side of a building. So pathetic. So slow. All Robin would need is an opening to pretend it was an accident. Perhaps the short stretch the tiny girl would have to run between both corners of an alleyway. Robin could simply pretend to walk into the alley and blindly aim her foot to try and get that satisfying crunchy feeling of her own friend turning to paste beneath her weight.

As the daydream faded, Robin realized everyone in the room was looking at her. Had the rest of them somehow noticed what she was thinking about? Did she unconsciously make a wicked expression for all to see?

“Well, what do you think?” Jade said.

“Huh?”

Theo’s lips curled in an awkward smile, “Being a caretaker.”

“Doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” Elias said.

Oscar snickered, “Oh, does Robin fit the bill as someone whose giant body you could get intimately close to, Elias.”

Elias tried to ignore him, but both Oscar and Robin could see his face turn red.

“Hell, I guess I’d be ok with it being Robin,” Oscar said, followed by an annoyed sigh, as he checked his own muscular arms, making it clear he wasn’t eager to be put in that role. As someone lesser. As someone not in control.

“I’d feel comfortable with you,” Theo said.

“Seems like my best option,” Jade followed up.

Robin’s heart sank. It was not a good idea. They shouldn’t be ok with it. They shouldn’t feel comfortable with her having that power over them. It was not their best option.

Her friends looked at her, eyes full of trust, unaware of what really went on in her head, day in and day out. They hadn’t the slightest clue of what she was really like, what she had always been like. The grumpy quiet and aggressive tomboy they knew was only the tip of a dark, cold-hearted iceberg underneath, the part she kept drowned deep within an ocean of madness.

“N-No,” Robin said, “I’m not safe…”

“I know it’s asking a lot,” Jade said, “but you’re more capable than you think. I know you. You always think you’re gonna screw things up, but you always come through when it’s your friends. I’ve seen that more than once.”

They were misunderstanding, Robin wasn’t expressing insecurity at her capabilities, she was warning them; don’t do this; don’t trust me; I’m not safe. If anything, they should be getting as far away from her as they could.

“What would you all do, until it happens? Just live in my shitty little apartment at regular size with four people,” Robin said, frantically trying to find any argument to push them away.

“It would only be like that for a week or more,” Elias said. “It’s gonna get less crowded each time one of us ends up— small.”

Theo’s puppy eyes locked with hers, “Please.”

The look on his face reminded her of Captain Peanut, the beloved gerbil her little brother had when they were kids. It was the exact same expression the little critter had, as he put both of his little front paws against the transparent plastic on the inside of her mother’s blender. This innocent look that struck her so deep in her stone-cold heart, she couldn’t help but feel bad for him.

Deep down Robin knew she cared enough not to leave them to a fate they didn’t want. To them, she was the least off-putting version of the nightmare that awaited them. These were her friends, not some strangers, like the ones she took pleasure watching come to a grim end in the many videos posted online. She wouldn’t hurt her friends, would she? Maybe the urges and fantasies didn’t have that much of a hold on her.

Her fists grasped both bottom flaps of her plaid shirt, and she looked down at them. These hands, these instruments of whim; could they be caring to people that small?

“Ok, if you guys are sure,” Robin said, causing everyone but her to breathe a sigh of relief.

Theo smiled. Jade stared off through the window, lost in thought. Elias nodded to himself, still analyzing the situation in his head, while Oscar stopped his pacing and sat down on the couch’s armrest.

“You’re gonna do fine,” Jade said.

“Yeah, I’ll keep you guys safe,” Robin said, as the roaring sound of a blender springing to life echoed through her mind.