Adrian stirred to a nostalgic sensation. The hum and vibration, the melody of wind just outside, the tempo of lights that passed over her. She was on a road trip, and she fell asleep. Her breathing was deep, it waited for something. Drowsily, she moved her head, but ultimately kept it down; she was comfortable, lying where she was, her arm tucked under her head. Part of her was expecting a cue from her mom, to be told that they were almost there, to be teased for falling asleep.

She knew this wasn’t true. Those expectations drained away. Her right foot flinched, without any reason, until she remembered. A sharp knife dug its way through her sole, up her leg, and ending somewhere in her stomach. The leg was numb, motionless, as she recalled the coldness of her actions. The pop. The breaking. The moisture.

That’s right, I’m… supposed to be sad, Adrian told herself. Her eyes blinked, adjusting to the sparse light and reading loosely into her surroundings. She was surrounded in a huge mound of a blanket, a fold of which had been laid out over her. A scent clung to it, which she inhaled welcomingly, if only because it helped her wake up. It was Melanie’s scent, and it was Melanie’s hoodie. I don’t feel sad, though… I don’t feel anything. She rolled around, switching which arm was under her head. That’s better, right? A nap is supposed to be refreshing… but do I have to wake up?

Refreshed was putting it lightly. Adrian had nearly forgotten everything, as far back as to how she was shrunken by a crazy stalker. That amnesia was peaceful for a time, but she didn’t feel any pain as the memories came back and she remembered it all. It was going back to normal, the way things truly are. She was tiny, her and others were kidnapped by Melanie, and her ex-girlfriend had been killed under her own foot.

There was still a blank, however. She lifted up more, but with one leg not working, she could only manage to sit up so much. She deduced that she was in a car, situated in the passenger seat. The window to her right was a dark-blue curtain of night, with beams of passing street lights blinding her as her eyes still adjusted. Beyond an imposing gap was the console of the car, showcasing impressive luxury tech.

From the driver’s seat, she was glanced at. She had been watched for awhile now, but Adrian made no comment about it. The weight of Melanie’s gaze, currently, left no impression on her. She couldn’t escape Melanie, and so it only made sense that she was here nearby.

A long silence followed Adrian’s awakening, but Melanie was flustered to come up with anything to say. Eventually, she managed to stammer something out. “G-Good… Good morning,” she greeted. “Err…! G-Good evening, I-I guess. Y-You were asleep, a-and it’s late…”

Adrian massaged an eye. At the mention of the time, she looked for a definitive answer. It was after eight, but that didn’t tell her how long she had been knocked out. In the chaos of the situation before this, she certainly hadn’t kept track of what time it was. But this was just one question of many that she had, burdened by little will to learn more. Tempted to go back to sleep, Adrian wondered, Does any of this matter? This is all Melanie’s world. It’s all her’s.

Melanie read into the silence, but her eyes remained firmly on the road. “Well, uh… We’re not at the apartment anymore…” She bit her lip, realizing that to be abundantly obvious. “A-Actually, we’re kind of far from home. I’ve been driving for awhile now, actually…” With that in mind, a yawn stretched out, and her grip on the steering wheel became tighter.

“... Whose car is this…?” Adrian finally spoke. Her voice was half-hearted, defeated in its tone. Her usual curiosity had been subdued to just a simple question, with no theories of her own, just a space to be filled with an objective answer.

“Uh… Candice’s.” Melanie hunched forward, and a shaky breath followed. “Err, th-the detective, I mean. You know…”

Adrian did know. From this alone, she figured out much of what was happening. “If this is her car… you must be taking it away somewhere. It’s evidence.” Melanie nodded. “So, you’re… disposing it.”

“Y-Yes…” Melanie did not sound proud of this. Her expression was shameful, but compared to anyone else who could end up in this situation, her demeanor was eerily collected. She visibly sweat from her brow, but she dared not lift a hand off the wheel to wipe it away.

A traffic sign passed overhead. Melanie felt to smile as she turned to the exit, but she was unable to. “We’re going to a lake,” she explained over the clicking sound of a turn signal. When it stopped, she continued, “We’ll push the car into there. I-It’s the only thing I can think of.”

Adrian’s eyes couldn’t blink. Instead, she envisioned her surroundings -- the modern decor of the car, the high-tech console, the tinted windows, that fresh lumbery smell -- drowned in filthy lake water, its glass broken into as waves overcome everything inside, all while it sinks into a deeper and deeper darkness. So easily was she able to imagine the world around her distorted and submerged, stripped of everything normal while remaining the same.

“... Then what?” Adrian asked.

“Well… Heh…” Melanie offered an apologetic glance, one that didn’t last long. “I… didn’t think about that, until only a little bit ago. I know there’s a motel nearby, so, we’ll probably stay there for the night. As far as getting home… A taxi, o-or something. Ugh. I’ve never had to use one of those before…”

It was infuriating for Adrian to think of how incompetent this girl was. And yet, she was completely in control, and it always worked out for her. Against any hope Adrian had, everything fell into place before Melanie. It’s why she didn’t concern herself over the motel situation, or any of this at all. Worrying when she had no power to change things, she had decided, was a waste of her time.

Adrian surveyed her surroundings again. If her leg was going to remain numb seemingly forever, she decided it was fair to get some closure. “Where’s Kimberly? Where’s Scarlet?”

“Oh. I left them at home.” Melanie chuckled, “Y-You must have really been out of it. I mean, of course you would… a-after what happened.”

“Was I… supposed to remember what you did with them?” As vividly as she recalled the game Melanie forced her to play, it did not come with any illness to appropriately accompany it. She was beyond even that point. Once she had made her choice, and Erin had been sacrificed, everything past that was blank.

“I t-tried explaining things afterwards… I’ll catch you up, since we’re about to arrive anyway...” Melanie sighed, certainly unable to blame Adrian for blacking out. She had to admit, even she herself felt like the time that passed was foggy and difficult to decipher. All at once, the comfort of her home had been abandoned, and she and Adrian were on the road, their destination to dispose of vital evidence…

Pride swelled in her ecstatic state. Melanie’s smile was beyond that of mischief or chaos or evil, but instead it shined with holiness, with ringing bells accompanying it. Before her was a blessing, a turn of fate that she felt confident was tightening the invisible bonds that connected her with Adrian. Beneath her obsession were the red remains of Melanie’s rival, a drop of blood to match the abysmally tiny thing that once existed.

“Thank you, Adrian…!” Melanie whispered. “I knew… I-I knew you would understand.”

Adrian did not move. Her foot was firmly forward, dug into the ground that was Melanie’s desk. Not a shiver or twitch scurried anywhere on her body. The cold, heavy truth had frozen her entirely, like a still painting unable to animate and captured in this singular scene.

Without a word to be said, that paralysis seemed to spread. The entire bedroom was silent; Adrian and Melanie said nothing, Kimberly and Scarlet had ceased their crying, Candi and Erin were eradicated, and Nicky--

“Damn it…” Melanie laughed, despite the swearing. It broke the quiet suddenly, her random amusement in how one of her captives did escape. As much as she wanted to show that it didn’t bother her, in truth, the reality was drilling at her. Accomplishments and strides forward were undoubtedly made, but there was no outrunning this significant problem. Somewhere in the room, Nicky was in hiding.

Unfortunately for Melanie, that was just one of her biggest problems. A groan in her stomach reminded her that there was still more of a mess to clean up.

“Urgh…” Melanie hunched forward, restraining herself from holding her gut. Chuckles nervously crept over her lips, the result of two sides of Melanie fighting against each other.  A dark and wild side wanted to cherish this full feeling, the imaginative scene in her mind that this enemy was facing a cruel, acidic fate. The other half, the side that knew how necessary it was to keep control, was disgusted by how foul her action was, sickened that she had succumb to such a demonic temptation.

Slowly, Melanie made her way back over to the discarded jacket, the one she had wrestled off of Candi just as the curse took effect. She nudged it with her foot, then leaned down and lifted the fabric off the floor. An unavoidable thought made her arm shiver, The person who wore this… is digesting in my stomach.

Her expressions always bouncing one way or the other, Melanie again exhibited some strange pleasure. She strolled past her chair, only glancing down at Kimberly and Scarlet, before she made it to her bed. The jacket was laid out, and her passenger bag was hoisted up and unzipped. Whatever books and miscellaneous items were in there were removed, lazily tossed onto the mattress before being replaced with the jacket bundled up. She kept the keys with her, pocketed; she knew she’d have to do something with the car, and she had a crazy idea for that.

A few other things, she figured, would have to be packed. Before she could do that, her attention went back to Adrian, bothered by this long-lasting silence. “Adrian?” she muttered, her back turned to the desk while she shoved the jacket into the bag. “I think… I think we’ll have to go out of town for a little bit.”

Melanie turned only to see that Adrian was right there. Unmoved. Just as before, over a minute ago, Adrian remained with her foot stepped outward. Melanie figured some of the worst possibilities, and she gently brought a finger to touch Adrian. A little pat on the back was all she did, but Adrian didn’t budge unless the weight of the touch was simply too much. As tempting as it was to push Adrian and force her to move, Melanie wouldn’t disrespect her like that.

Still, this was worrisome for her. “Adrian…” Melanie moaned. She tried being positive, “I-It’s over now. W-We can talk now. Candi is gone, a-and Erin…”

That name, it quaked in Adrian’s core. The tiny woman finally flinched, hit across the head with that remark. She said nothing, and did nothing else, but just that little surge of motion shocked Melanie. This was deeper of an effect than she had intended it to have, and now Melanie felt ridiculous, having strangled this situation into happening.

In a hurry to avoid the growing guilt within her, Melanie rushed to get things done. She quickly grabbed Kimberly and Scarlet, ignoring their surprised squeaks and depositing them back into their cells. She opened a drawer in her desk to reveal a roll of tape, which was then used to crudely keep the cubby drawers closed. No risks could be afforded while she and Adrian were gone, not so shortly after her pets had narrowly escaped.

And still, Adrian stood there.

Melanie left the room a couple times, swiftly returning with items stolen from the kitchen to be packed with her. In a bit of a panic, and still formulating her idea, she had grabbed an inventory of seemingly random items. “There’s a lake,” she said, mostly to Adrian but just as much to herself, “it’s… a couple hours north of here. I think that will do.” A pause was left open for Adrian to inquire, but a ghostly silence occupied the space instead. Melanie continued, “We’ll drive Candi’s car there together. I can push it into the lake, and at the very least… that will…”

Melanie’s lips slowed. With Adrian being this silent, it felt as though she were only talking to herself. Again, she looked at Adrian, wishing she would move or say anything, even if it was something painful. She had endured Adrian’s resistance before, she had always been able to feel more powerful than this, but as she continued to pack her belongings like a runaway, she felt the texture of the illusion she had created, the paper-thin mirage of strength she had boasted.

I’m not a queen, Melanie thought. I’m not a goddess. I’m barely even human.

Having hovered over her luggage lost in thought, Melanie decided that it was time to leave. She turned away from the bed and over to her desk.

“Adrian… I-It’s best we go now…” Melanie’s fingers played with each other, pressing into one another nervously. She gave Adrian distance, like she was approaching an unnerved animal. Even now, Adrian’s stillness eerily persisted. Melanie offered a shivering hand, a platform for Adrian to board. “H-Here…” But Adrian still did not move.

Gritting her teeth, Melanie pushed forward. She gently scooped Adrian into her hand, the little body tumbling into the middle of her palm without any noise. She was lifted carefully into the air, coddled into two hands as Melanie worriedly looked down at her. Adrian moved, but it was in slow, guideless motions, meek attempts to find her balance and nothing else. Her expression deemed her tired and lost, not even a fraction of resistance against how Melanie held her.

Eventually, with everything ready, Melanie had left her apartment. She kept Adrian stashed into her hoodie pocket while she ventured into the apartment parking lot. Luckily, the keys Melanie had stolen had a beeper attached, allowing her to locate Candi’s vehicle right away. Double-confirming the sleek black car as having belonged to Candi were the formal parking badges hanging from the rear-view mirror, and a carton of chocolate malts sitting in the drink holder.

The car unlocked with just another press of a button. Lights immediately glowed to life, creating this welcoming aura, as though Melanie was successfully impersonating Candi. Yet, despite the comfort of the vehicle, she felt like an intruder, and anxiety had set in. She laid her bag into the passenger seat’s leg room while taking a seat for herself in front of the steering wheel.

Immediately, a cold entangled Melanie. Her breathing was crisp and short, her fingers slowly molding around the gear shift and the wheel. Fuck me, fuck me, she whined, I hate driving! Fuck me!

A wall of stress impeded Melanie’s progress. In times like this, she would find inspiration from Adrian, even if it came from just holding her. She did just that, her two hands cupped over Adrian after retrieving her from the pocket, but it had no effect. Adrian’s presence was there only as a weak visual. Lifeless; her body was limp, and her eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling of the car, piercing past Melanie’s face overhead as though a giantess wasn’t hanging right above her with a pleading expression.

“Please… A-Adrian…” Melanie’s voice cracked. She forced out a small smile, a glimmer of that deep passion she had for Adrian, but it tempted to fade. “Just… say something. Anything. You can tell me how mad you are… o-or you can tell me how much you hate me. You can talk about anything. I… I just need your voice. I n-need to know that you’re here…”

Adrian said nothing. Her body nearly rolled over, just due to Melanie’s idle tilt.

“Adrian…? Are you okay…?” Melanie closed her eyes. She bit her lip. She wanted to shake Adrian and squeeze her, to force a reply, but of course she couldn’t ever do that. “I… I’m sorry, Adrian, alright? I’m sorry for what I did… Please, I need to hear you.”

Adrian still said nothing. Her silence pushed daggers into Melanie’s chest which could not be pried out, and so, enduring this wound, Melanie found strength in the only source she had left, a spit of energy to force her body into moving again. To forfeit everything she had worked for up until now was not an option, not while she knew of her own devotion.

The hoodie was disrobed and bundled into a pile in the adjacent seat. Like managing a feather, Melanie slowly lowered Adrian into the center of this nest of fabric. She couldn’t force Adrian to be lively, she understood that much, and bearing through that pain, she eventually started the car into a gentle hum. A deep breath calmed her nerves before she took the vehicle out into the lot, and next onto the road.

The steady sound of tires coasting over a flat highway road had given way to the rustle and crunch of a bumpy dirt road. Street lights that once lead the way through the empty night had ceased to help Melanie, who now relied only on her headlights to navigate through the outskirts of a park area. She crossed a bridge over a creek, a sign that she was close to the target lake.

Along the sides of the path were signs. Listed on them were a variety of park activities and camping features, but Melanie only glossed through them in search for specific directions. She just wanted the lake, nothing else. These reminders that this was a quiet, wooded area meant for leisure and recreation only added to this grim sense of corruption, for soon, this peaceful land would be the spot where evidence of a murder was disposed.

How long until someone finds it? It was an important question that Melanie had been dreading to seriously ask herself, a thought that trailed her no matter how fast she drove. Candi will be labeled missing officially by tomorrow, if she hasn’t already. They wouldn’t come up this far in search of a car… would they? What if someone swims in the lake and--

Stop. A hard stop. The brakes were slammed; a gasp escaped Melanie, but a sharp squeak came from beside her. In an instant, her hand was there in the passenger seat, caged over Adrian’s tiny body. Melanie’s heart was racing, but Adrian’s was double that, having nearly been launched from an otherwise comfortable place. The halt, after all, was especially surprising for her, having no view of the outside.

“W-What?!” Adrian coughed, her voice still slow to return to her. She clung to a long finger for support, both arms and a leg wrapped around it.

“Um… R-Raccoon…” Melanie replied. “It was a raccoon…” She pointed with her other hand, though it meant nothing to Adrian. True enough, however, was that a raccoon was indeed impeding the car’s path, hopped up on two legs with blinded eyes before scurrying off back into the bushes.

Adrian was still catching her breath, fighting against the sheer lack of will that had plagued her for so long. The sudden stop had seemingly catapulted some of the bad vibes forward, as both her and Melanie seemed to be living in a completely new moment, free from the clouds of stress if only for a few seconds. To that effect, Adrian was somewhat grateful for the animal’s near-demise.

Melanie slowly pulled her hand away and out of Adrian’s grip. It was only then that Adrian realized that it was Melanie’s hand she had been hugging, that Melanie had instinctively brought it to her as a last-second seatbelt of sorts. That same hand shivered, hesitant to go back to the steering wheel after such a shock.

“O-Okay… Just a raccoon…” Melanie sighed. Angrily, she grumbled, “... at exactly 8:15 pm… there had to be a raccoon here, huh…”

Her concern then shot to Adrian, but an empty word was all she stuttered. She looked at Adrian, and then looked away, ashamed. “... I-I’m going now,” she quietly warned, releasing the brakes and gradually picking up speed again. No more distractions or interruptions.

For the rest of the trip, Adrian felt something at the tip of her tongue, and the mystery behind it only deepened the longer she looked up at Melanie while she drove. There was something she wanted to say, a mundane question that promised no satisfactory answer: What kind of person are you?

The lake came into view, but it was hardly a privilege to appreciate. The black of night was reflected back along the cool surface of the water. Melanie had been traveling along the ridge of the lake and had found a place to park while she scouted out a suitable angle. The drop into the lake wasn’t very far, even at the highest cliffs it was a fifteen foot drop at best, but due to the darkness, Melanie felt like she was gazing into an endless abyss. The more she tried to calculate the best drop-off point, the more it felt like any spot would do, as though the car would be drowned into nothingness regardless.

The vehicle was emptied, but only of the items Melanie had brought along -- she stole the malt chocolates, too, unabashedly. She lined the car up to a short plateau, exited, and then prepared a pushing stance at the trunk. Adrian was with her, pocketed again into the same hoodie now worn again by Melanie.

Melanie inhaled, and Adrian did the same empathetically, having felt the deep breath fill the gut that was behind her. Their anticipation for what was to come had them appreciating this fleeting, serene silence.

A stern shove inched the car forward at a pace much worse than Melanie expected. Despite her subpar strength, the vehicle was giving way, and once it tipped past the peak of the slope--

A splash, heavy and bassy. Fizzing and gurgling followed, with an eruption of bubbles acting as the car’s death throes. Gallons of water flooded the interior in seconds, drowning it, deeper and deeper into the water as though a beast beneath the tides was dragging it to the depths.

Melanie observed this destruction, mandating herself to do so to ensure that the evidence was finely done with. She perched herself atop that same slope, staring down into the bubbling pit. Her legs were crossed and her hands filled her lap, allowing a seat for Adrian to watch, too. And she did, chilled only by the cold night air, and warmed by the pain that came with being some type of accomplice in all this.

As though nothing had happened, the tranquil lake had returned in time. A painting of the moon’s reflection had been corrected now that the waves had ceased their restlessness. And still, for minutes more, Melanie rested there.

“Let’s go find that motel.”

Even late into that night, the apartment was dreary and still, as though entirely abandoned. Melanie and Adrian were still out, and Juniper had yet to return either. The only beating hearts to be found were those of the shrunken captives, the women locked into desk cubbies like household items, and even they had slumbered off. There was no breaking out of their cells, and no giantess to be tortured by. All was motionless in the apartment.

Except for a sock. A purple sock, with cute skulls dotting it up and down. It bumped in the middle of the night. It was lost and dusty, long forgotten behind Melanie’s computer tower where its cold fabric met the warm machine. The rustling came from within, and a second later, a tiny head peeked out to survey the alley she found herself hiding in.

Nicky had escaped. Rather, she had survived, and even she was hesitant to think that. Bunkered into a girl’s lost sock had no empowerment behind it, no thrill of success or progress. Perhaps even more than usual, she felt like an insect, pathetically cowering under just the possibility that a massive creature was waiting for her up above. The silence of the bedroom was not reassuring -- Nicky knew better than to trust only what she could perceive.

She had worried that this was all just another game. After Melanie had charged back into the bedroom, Nicky knew that their mission to escape had failed. But to come that far only to be plucked up by that cruel, unforgiving monster, was too much to bear. Even if it meant abandoning her friends.

Nicky winced. Could she call them friends? Was it healthy to do that now, knowing she was leaving them behind?

Those thoughts and many more pressing matters were what had paralyzed her for so long. She remembered running across the top of the tower, faster than she had ever ran before in her life. When she reached the wires in the back, she didn’t think twice. She bravely leaped to the first cable, hugged it, then following it down to the next. Instead of worrying of what lay beneath her, she only feared what could come from above, like a haunting face or a grabbing hand. She descended in long bounds, until she slipped and tumbled the rest of the way, into a dust bunny as big as she was. And beneath it, was a sock.

“Fuck me… There’s no way this will work,” she had said to herself, while already in the act of hiding inside the discarded article. It was her safest bet, knowing that Melanie had every advantage to perceive her anywhere else. She prayed, actively and genuinely praying to any god, that Melanie’s gaze would pass right over her.

And it did. Following such a suspenseful wait was no relief, however. Melanie had a speech, powerful words that carried a hopeless reality. Die like an insect without anyone ever noticing, those same words echoed in her head again. Without me, you’re just bloodstains waiting to make a mess on someone’s shoe. Your body will fade into dust and then you’ll really become nothing.

She was right, Nicky dreadfully agreed, and the world she awoke to was true to that. She had tried to sleep those thoughts away, too afraid to move and risk the chance that Melanie was there, having waited there the entire time. Even when hours passed, she dared not move and risk this one opportunity, she knew Melanie was crazy enough to do something so elaborate. It wasn’t until darkness had come in, and still not a sound had been made, that Nicky only now thought to leave Melanie’s sock.

Nicky crept out into the space under Melanie’s desk, where all the cold of the room seemed to gather. Above her, she knew Kimberly and Scarlet were still trapped. She knew Adrian had been taken with Melanie. She knew the detective had been eaten. She knew Erin had been crushed. She knew that between her and her phone was at least a mile of distance, and that said phone would easily be twice her own size. And she knew how weak she was, not only as a toy-sized human, but as someone who has never had to push themselves physically.

Unable to control herself, Nicky wept, and her feet stumbled forward with an agonizing gait. “I-It wasn’t supposed to be like this…!” she whined, hugging herself to resist the vacant chill. “It shouldn’t… have been me…! I-I can’t… I can’t do this alone… I d-don’t want to be alone...”

Nevertheless, each step carried Nicky further from the desk. Across the flat plains of the carpet. Past the monolithic chair. Before the immovable door. Behind it lay not her destination of freedom, but her journey of survival.