Chapter 5 - Realization 5’7”

Throughout the course of the morning I became more and more aware of the gradual feeling of my clothing becoming looser and looser.  When walking from my first block to second block, I decided to stop in the bathroom to check out my situation.  Putting my thumb in my waistband and giving a gentle tug, my pants almost fell off.

“Should’ve worn a belt today,” I thought again and again, “there is no way my pants will be able to stay up at the rate of this weight loss.”

Matt had stayed home that day, leaving me to sit alone with Helen and Daphne at the lunch table.  I was eating a slice of pizza I had picked from the lunch-line telling them about my now loosely fitted clothing.

“I guess my casual Friday clothing is even more casual,” I joked, “these clothes feel like they are the baggiest clothes I’ve ever worn.  The thing is I have worn them before.”

“Well I guess that drug really does work miracles at reducing swelling,” Helen joked.

“The thing I don’t get about all this is,” I paused to take a bite of my pizza, “what swelling did it have to target in my body fat.”

“I guess it’ll work better as a weight loss supplement, you were pretty fat,” said Daphne in a sarcastic tone, seeing as I was fairly skinny for my height.

“Yeah, definitely!  I do eat this greasy over-processed donkey manure that we know as school food,” I jokingly replied.

I had finished my pizza and stopped talking to go dump my tray.  As I was putting my tray onto the designated counter at the side of the lunchroom for the cafeteria workers to clean it, when I saw Helen and Daphne had also stood up and were walking towards me.  As I passed them heading back to the table, I looked up to meet the gaze of Helen.

“No way I just looked up to meet her gaze,” I thought, “Steve, it is okay another side effect must be hallucinations.  You’re not smaller, that is impossible, right?”

I truly didn’t know the answer to that question at the time.  I continued back to the table as my mind raced to come up with a patch for the proverbial dam that had just busted in my head, flooding my brain with thoughts about the ‘impossible.’  I sat down and waited for the two to come back from dumping their trays.

My skin had been flushed of all color.  I was horrified.  What was happening to me?  I could not comprehend what I had just experienced.  I was still drowning in my mind floodwaters when Helen and Daphne sat down again.

“Okay, Steve we may have found out what’s going on with you.  That drug that you are testing is making you shrink,” Helen stated what was now obvious to me.  The confirmation of my thoughts stung like a slap to my face.

“I don’t know what to do from here,” I said, overcome with fear.

“Here’s an idea,” Daphne proposed, “how about since we already know about your situation, one of us, or both of us,” She was flirting again, “can come check on you this weekend.”

“That may work, I have Helen’s cell number, so I can text her if I need one of you to help me.  My neighbor, Angela, has also offered to help me if anything happens,” I said, “it will be better for me to have multiple people to check on me.  So, I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Okay, sounds fun,” Daphne replied.

Just then the bell rang, signaling students needed to return to class.

“Thanks for your help guys, I will text Helen if I need anything,” I said as I got up to return to class.

“Don’t worry, you can rely on big Daphne as well,” Daphne said in a voice as if she were talking to a baby.  

Daphne then wrapped me in a huge hug.  I couldn’t believe that with her 3” heeled boots on she was two inches taller than me, an inch more of difference than Angela had been the day before waiting for the elevator.

When I got to band class, I had a very rude greeting.

“Hey short stuff,” I heard Rebecca tease from behind when I was getting out my drum sticks.

“Who are you calling short stuff, midg-,” I was cut off as soon as I turned around.  Rebecca was only about 2” shorter than me.

“Do you like these heels tiny?”

I looked down and saw she was wearing heels that added about 5” to her height.  She liked to wear those when we were dating.  Something about being short made her try all should could to be closer to a normal height.  I never knew how a girl as small as her could fit her tiny feet into a show that added 5” of height, but she managed, and she loved wearing them.

“Sure I do,” I said sarcastically, “more importantly how did you know I was getting smaller,” I was whispering so the chances of being heard by a bystander were lowered.

“Helen came to me as a contact, said something about you wanted people to come check up on you,” she replied nonchalantly.

“She did what,” I snapped.

“She figured that since we dated, and are still kind of friendly towards each other, that I’d be a good fit to help out,” she gleefully returned.

“Okay, I’m fine with it, as long as it is just to check up on me, you cannot tell anyone about this,” I agreed, irritated.

“Trust me little man, this will be our dirty little secret,” she promised.