Chapter 6 - Avoid Confrontation 5’7”

After my confrontations during the school day, I had decided to try my hardest to not be noticed on my walk home.  It was a grey, cloudy sky; an overcast.  The weather forecast had said a cold front was coming through the area this weekend.

For the whole walk I kept my head down trying to hide my face in order to keep from being recognised.  I was yet again lost in my thoughts, however, today my thoughts were not of making money, but ones of disbelief.

“I can’t believe this is happening to me,” I thought in a panic, “there is no way it will keep going this way, it will stop soon.  This is just a short term side effect.”

I was trying to reassure myself.  I could not accept the truth.  I was now around the corner from my building when I had a frantic epiphany.

“What if Angela sees me like this.  It cannot happen yet, I’m not ready for her to find out,” I thought to myself.

Walking through the front door I made the out of character decision to take the stairs up three flights to my floor.  Making a b line for the emergency stairway, looking at the ground, I almost ran into a man I did not recognize who was checking his mail.

“Hey, watch where you’re walking man,” he scolded my mistake.

“I’m very sorry sir, I just have a lot on my mind right now,” I apologized.

I made my way through the door to the stairs before the man could respond to my apology.  I ran up the flights of stairs two steps at a time.  I had taken the stairs before, but now with my diminished height it felt as if I was going twice the distance.  By the time I made it to the third floor I was winded, and had stopped to take a break on the bench set up to the immediate left of the exit door to get into the third floor hallway.

I don’t know exactly how long I sat on that bench.  It must have been around three minutes but it felt like an eternity as I was trying get home in a hurry.  When I finally had gotten myself collected I moved swiftly through the door, which exited at the end of the hall.  I had to walk right passed the elevator and around a corner to get to my apartment.

I broke into at fast walk, almost at the rate of a jog, and headed for my destination.  I was making record time.  As I turned the corner my heart sank at what I saw,  Angela and Celeste were walking down the hallway toward me.  I decided that I couldn’t hide.

“Hey Angela, how are you,” I greeted, trying to act as casual as possible.  A hopeful thought filled my brain, “maybe she won’t notice.”

“Hello Steve, Celeste and I are just headed out to get some groceries,” Angela returned my greeting with a smile as she came to stand right in front of me.

“I want fruit snacks,” Celeste added.

“We will pick some up hun,” Angela lovingly said looking down at her daughter.

As she looked down at Celeste I noticed she was only about an inch shorter than me.  There was no way she wouldn’t notice.

“You look a little different Steve,” oh great she noticed.  “How’s the drug testing going?  Are you feeling okay?”

“Oh shit,” was the only thought that went through my mind.  Suddenly my thoughts went completely blank from terror.

“Angela, I need to talk to you in private.  Can you come to my apartment,” I asked.

“But I want to go shopping,” Celeste protested.

“Cel, this sounds important.  We will go shopping as soon as we hear Steve out, okay,” Angela returned to her daughter.

I had already started down the hall toward my apartment.  As I unlocked the door, the girls finally caught up to me.  I turned the lock and hurriedly opened the door.  I held it open so my neighbors could enter before closing it quickly.

I turned around and found Angela standing right behind me.

“What is it Steve,” she asked worriedly, feeling my forehead for a fever.

“Please sit down on the couch,” I said pointing toward the couch.

As Angela and Celeste made themselves comfortable, I went into my bedroom and threw my backpack down behind the drum set.  I then went to the bathroom in order to empty my throbbing bladder.  School has a way of making your bladder want to explode.  I used this time as a chance to compose my thoughts.

I soon entered back into the main room where the girls had made themselves comfortable.

“Okay, I am experiencing a very strange side effect,” I started, “it seems that I have started shrinking.  I know it seems farfetched but please hear me out.  It started this morning when I put my clothes on.  They felt loose but I thought nothing of it.

“As the day went by I felt as if my clothes were getting even baggier,” I continued, “I also have been having trouble reaching things that I typically can easily reach.  I blamed it on fatigue and weight loss.”

Celeste was acting fidgety so I decided to finish up quickly.  I spoke faster.

“I was very put back when I walked past the two girls I sat with at lunch.  They are usually an inch-or-so shorter than I am, but they were both taller!  I realized at that very moment that I am shrinking.”

Angela practically leaped off of the couch after hearing my story.  She hurried to me and wrapped me in a protecting hug.

“Oh my god, Steve!  That is terrible,” Angela sympathized, looking only about an inch up into my worried eyes.

“Three girls, one of whom is my ex-girlfriend, have agreed to help out by checking on me,” I assured.

“Also, remember I am right across the hall if you need help or a place to stay,” upon saying this she released me from her comforts.

“Thank you Angela, now don’t let me get in your way,” I said, “go take Celeste to get her fruit snacks now.”

“Okay, but just remember that I am here for you.”