Kyle woke in trepidation, his breathing heavy and sporadic. His body was sweating profusely and his skin felt cold to the touch. He had just awoken from a nightmare that seemed as surreal as it was believable: being two inches tall and under the control of Janica.
Glancing at the clock, he could see it was still a couple hours before Emma’s alarm would sound. Despite being 5am, Kyle found himself more awake than ever and he had the epiphany during his nightmare that he needed to confront his prior housekeeper and prevent Janica from taking this any further than it had already gone. He stood to his feet and grabbed some clothes along with his phone, moving quietly to avoid waking his sleepy wife. He moved light on his feet before subtly making his way out of their room and into the hall.
The sound of silence allowed his thoughts to collect. Taking out his phone, Kyle decided the next course of action would be to contact his maid’s daughter. She was currently attending the local university. Kyle had visited her place once to drop off her mother one night. Maybe she would be able to help, he hoped. Quickly, Kyle called an Uber to his house, noting that he could no longer drive due to his height.
As he waited for his transportation to arrive, Kyle began thinking of ways to explain to Velma’s daughter what was happening. It sounded profoundly absurd and implausible at the least, no matter how true the reality was. He didn’t even have access to the email that would allow him to prove his accusations.
*Ding
His Uber had arrived. Kyle gathered silently exited the front door and made his way to the car. This was going to be interesting.
—
Knock, knock, knock.
Kyle pounded on the door in quick successions. Several moments passed and there was no answer for him.
Knock, knock, knock.
This time his motions were a bit more firm, creating a louder thump against the door. This time he could see a light turn on from inside as it bled out from under the door and into the hall he was standing in. And yet, the door remained close. He waited for a couple minutes, his patience growing tired and a wave of aggravation taking its place. He took both of his fists and slammed them against the door two more times.
*THUMP THUMP
Suddenly the door cracked open, still bound against the frame with its chain lock. The girl behind looked a bit terrified as she peered out at him.
“Hey, sorry to disturb you Angela,” he apologized. “Do you remember me?”
The door closed again, followed by the sounds of locks becoming unhinged. The door swung open again, only this time fully. Velma’s daughter stood in its wake, gesturing for him to enter.
“Yes. My mother said you may come by.”
“Is she here?!” He asked excitedly.
“No. She’s left the country. Is there something you need me to tell her?”
He took a moment to collect his thoughts. “This is going to sound crazy but your mother is the reason —“
He lifted his arms and began observing himself to make it apparent what he was referring to even though she had already most likely noticed.
“Yes, yes. She feels terrible about it.”
“Wait, you know about this? She talked to you about fucking shrinking me?”
She giggled for a moment. “Yes, she explained to me that she desperately needed the money she was offered for some of our secret potion that has been passed down from generation to generation. I’ve never actually seen someone shrunk, so this is a first for me.”
“Well glad I could help with that. Is there a way to return back to normal?”
“There is, and I have it here with me - mother gave it to me before she left. The only problem is you can’t actually take it until you finish shrinking, otherwise you sort of get stuck. And I don’t think you want that.” She said trying to contain her grin.
“When exactly will that be? It’s already been like 4 or 5 nights.”
“Well, it usually takes a week to finish. Now you’re going to shrink significantly more over the next couple days. So you’ll need to give this to someone you trust as they need to be the one to give it to you when that time comes.”
Kyle couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was still going to suffer for the next couple days until this process finished. His frustration must have been evident.
“Hey, don’t worry you’ll be back to normal soon enough. Let me grab the cure.
My mother is truly sorry….” She repeated, her voice trailing off as she walked down the hall.
Kyle closed his eyes, focusing on his breath so he could reground himself and regain his composure. In clearness, the best outcome had happened: he found his cure. The problem was just waiting it out.
Soon Angela returned, with a small tube in her hand filled with a clear liquid. “Here you go,” she said as she bent over, offering it to Kyle. He eagerly grabbed it with both hands.
“Thanks. You’ve been super helpful.”
“It’s the least I can do for the inconvenience my mother has caused you. Now if you don’t mind, I would like to get back to sleep.”
“Oh of course. I’ll get out of your hair.”
—
When Kyle arrived home, he gave a long sigh of relief. Things were going to be okay after all. He subtly opened the door, unsure of whether anyone was awake. To his surprise, both Janica and Emma were awake, wondering about in the kitchen chatting away. It didn’t take long for Janica to mention his return; she had an uncanny sense for his presence. Something Kyle didn’t exactly appreciate.
“Hey there, lil’ man! Where have you been?” Janica asked.
“Out.” He replied shortly.
“Oh wow. Someone’s a bit grumpy this morning. Maybe this news will cheer you up: I was contacting a modeling agency this morning that’s been trying to get ahold of me for the last few months, and they want to do a shoot with me tomorrow!”
“Wow, how exciting.” Kyle replied sarcastically.
“I said yes, but I also mentioned you and your…unique circumstance. Since the shoot was focused on height anyways, I figured why not ask. They offered you 50k for the shoot!!!”
Kyle wasn’t sure how to respond. Was this good or humiliating? As much as he didn’t want too, it was also 50k they could use. Especially since he wasn’t at work any longer and there was not much of a guarantee for anything in his future. The least he could do was ask a few questions.
“What do you mean it’s focused on height? I don’t want this to be some degrading experience poking fun at my stature."
“It’s not. The original plan was for it to be all tall women models that are 6’3’’ and over. Buuuuut, with you there’s an added element to contrast that: a shorter man. Nothing is meant to be degrading. Just provocative.”
Emma chimed in, “Come on baby, do it. This may be your only chance at modeling. It’ll be fun, you’ll make some money, and this could be an opening for more opportunities. You never know.”
Kyle hated to disappoint his wife, but with the two of them combined, it was hard to say no. “Fine, but I will decide what happens with the money. When is this thing?”
A huge smile shot across Janica’s face. “We meet tonight at the Ritz hotel. They have rooms booked for us and the other models already. We’ll be spending the night to take care of paperwork and so we can mingle with the others. So bring some comfortable clothes and then the shoot will be in the morning.”
Kyle and Janica locked eyes for a moment as though trying to read each other’s minds.