The drive to work was long the next day.  So much had happened within me.  It had been months since I’d been able to make breakfast for Rebecca, and I strived to knock her out.  Not that I didn’t like cooking, but she was always up before me and never let me cook for her.  It was a nice change of pace from our recent talks about this whole short thing.  I got a little sleep deprived, but that was okay, in my mind.  As long as I was able to put her mind at ease today, it didn’t matter. 

From all the lack of sleep, my body hurt as I drove.  I only got a few hours of sleep from this breakfast ordeal and my body was reminding me of it every moment until I got there.  The Doctor’s tea would be very welcome that day, especially if it had loads of sugar packed into it.  As I got out of my car, I went in the door, finding no receptionist at the desk, once again.  Had I not been incredibly tired, I may have spent some of that extra time for being there early in looking for her.  At this point, though, it wasn’t in my mind much past the fatigue and the stress. 

I finally got into my office, where a cup was waiting for me already.  The doctor must have been psychic.  Or so I thought.  The one day I came in worn out and needing some tea and it’s there waiting for me.  I let my hands go around the cup and downed nearly half the cup in a single instant.  I got so wrapped up in the tea that I wasn’t thinking about much else.  Before I knew it, my alarm was going off to clock in.  I put the tea down with a finger against my forehead, loosely fitting the headset on and beginning my day. 

It was already my lunch break before I fully woke and realized I’d forgotten to measure myself.  I put my headset down quickly and aimed to do it right away, just in case I had a visitor for lunch again.  Getting up, I moved over to the board and grabbed the box cutter.  After straightening my body, I made the slit and then backed away.  As I turned around to look at the indentation I’d made, the box cutter hit the floor.  It fell because I’d dropped it and my jaw when I looked at the board.  There was the indentation there from yesterday, wearing the same shoes as today.  And there was the indentation from today, a clear 3-4 inches lower on the board. 

I stopped and shook my head, making sure it wasn’t just the fatigue making me see things.  I looked again and again, but it was always the same.  My mark from today was clearly a few inches lower than yesterday’s.  That was impossible, but it was there.  A flood of anxiety rushed through my stomach.  ‘She was right?’ I thought to myself.  ‘I really am getting shorter?!’  I didn’t know what to think or do.  The board didn’t look like it had been tampered with or moved.  I always lock the office on my way out, so no one’s been in here.  Could this be a legit reading? 

I fell back down into my chair, staring at the board for time that seemed immeasurable.  The very idea of me getting shorter was impossible, and I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.  I’d gone through all of these projects to prove to Rebecca that everything was fine, didn’t I?  How am I supposed to go home tonight and tell her that she was right?  How could I tell her that I potentially lost almost a quarter of a foot over the course of the past 24 hours?  How could I explain any of this to myself, let alone to her?  Or anyone else? 

My fingers started to quiver when I heard the door open next to me, just as I expected.  In walked the Doctor, who came with a cup of tea in her hands and she just stopped to look at me.  I was so caught in this trance-like state of thinking that my body didn’t even react to her coming into the room.  I don’t know how long she was in there before she’d made the motion to put her hand on my shoulder and ask me what was wrong.  Of course, once she did, my body reacted completely off guard and I nearly screamed when I felt her hand on me. 

It took a few moments to calm down and start to speak again.  “Calm down.  It’s just me.  The Doctor down the hall.  You look like you’ve seen a ghost, though.  What’s wrong?”  I looked at her, fingers quivering and then looking back at the board.  I moved my gaze back and forth for a few minutes before I began to speak, explaining the situation to her.  I left out no detail about the board, and even had her measure me up to it to make sure it wasn’t just me.  The result was the same, though. 

She looked me over for a while as I did her.  I was calming down and she just looked deep in thought about the whole thing.  Likely feeling bad about dismissing this for so long.  In the end, she put her hands on both shoulders and looked up to my eyes.  “You need to calm down, okay?  You’re stressed out.  Couldn’t the board have gotten moved?  You’re going to give yourself a panic attack at this rate.  I want you to just take deep breaths and tell yourself that you’re okay for the rest of the night.”

She then set down her cup of tea and put more stress-reducing herbs in it.  “Because that’s what you are.  You’re okay.  Trust me.  I’m going to go back to my lab, but I’ll be back on last break.  I want you to be more calmed down, alright?  Just sit down, drink some tea, and get your mind off of these things.” 

With that, she walked out of the room, gently shutting the door behind her.  My mind was still a mess, just from seeing a mark on a board.  I then took a deep breath and drank some tea, as she’d said.  Getting shorter or not, she was right about one thing.  I needed to calm down or I was going to give myself a panic attack…