"Did you want some eggs," Sora asked Willow as she fixed her glasses on her young face.  Willow watched the 13 year old girl give her a warm smile as she offered a forkful of scrambled eggs up to her.  The short brown hair giving a slight tomboyish feature to the young teen as she carefully held the fork out for Willow.  Willow looked around at the simple bedroom, a pair of soccer cleats on the floor and a couple of sport trophies on a shelf over her bed, as the giantess continued to offer her eggs to WIllow.  "I thought you would be hungry."  Sora said carefully offering the chunk of eggs off her fork.  "I hope you don't mind me helping you," Sora added with the same smile.

"...Thanks," Willow muttered as she plucked off the egg from the fork.

"You don't need to be shy," Sora said giving Willow some more.  Plenty of food for the small one inch tall girl.  "There's plenty of food for you," Sora went on.  "I'm glad I found you... it looked like you were going to... well, not make it," Sora said sounding sadden at the thought.    

"I-thank you," Willow told Sora sounding a little shocked at her concern.  "But, why?  I"m a... shrinky," Willow muttered the last part.

Sora frowned at her words, "I don't understand, aren't you a person too?"

Willow paused with the handful of eggs in her hands.  "Person?  Y-yeah!  Of course I am!"

"So why wouldn't I help?"

"I...I," Willow stuttered wondering those exact words.  Why wouldn't she or anyone else try to help her?  She was just as normal as anyone else, JUST SMALLER!  "I don't know," Willow sniffed recalling her family's actions toward her.  Her sister and father... 

"Well, small one," Sora said offering her finger as she dabbed at her face.  Pushing some hair and eggs out of the way.  "I'll take care of you.  Don't worry.  I'll make sure-"

The sound of a door slamming shut could be heard, scaring Willow at the sudden noise.  The sound of a male voice was heard calling out, "Sora, were back. "  Willow listen to the stranger's voice as the sound of movement somewhere further inside the home.  Willow listen to the sounds of the footsteps grow louder as they approached the open door.  "Sora?"  The father like voice called out.  "Are you in your room?"  The thumping got louder till the sight of a large father figure showed up in the doorway.  "Honey," the voice asked as Willow watched the adult figure come into view.  The larger male body took up the doorway as Willow watched the figure come into view.  His mouth opened in pure disregard toward her, "Is that a shrinky?  I thought we went over this.  You know how much your mother and I don't want those things in our home."

Willow paused mid munch on the bit of eggs at the way Sora's father spoke about her.  Sora on the other hand didn't seem to understand her father's distaste toward Willow.  "But Dad, she needed some help-"

"Sora," The father said with a stern and unmoving tone.  "No Shrinkies.  It's not up for discussion.  Please get rid of it."  Willow didn't understand, why was the Dad so opposed to her staying?  He didn't even know her yet.  As the father left the room, Sora turned around looking upset and sadden at her father's words.  

"Sorry... I-" Sora started to say.

"NO WAIT," Willow shouted horrified at the news.  She didn’t want to leave,  "Please, don't kick me out," Willow begged tears forming in her eyes.  "I'll be good, I swear," She went on.

Sora looked sadden  by her words but could only simple apologized again as she reached out for Willow.  Willow wanted to run away and escape the looming palm, but she couldn't move.  She was too scared and upset at the news of her being kicked out of the home.  It was just like before…

Willow sat up quickly throwing the small cloth blanket off of herself.  Sitting up she looked around the dark area she was sleeping in.  The sense of urgency from before bleed over from her dreams into her current self.  Willow sat in the dark and slowly brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes as she tried to calm down.

"Fucking dreams...just fucking dreams," She muttered to herself as she went to lay back down.  She couldn't help it but dream of the past.  The things that happened to her, the things she had to do, the things done to her.  They all fed into her nightmares that wouldn't stop haunting her, even in sleep.  Willow closed her eyes and tried to get some more sleep as she recalled that memory in her dream.  Willow sighed as she recalled back those 15 or so years...

She was so naive and innocent back than.  Nothing like how she was now.  Years and years of living as a Shrinky did that to a person, or at least for her.  Her life was anything but easy.  All the heartache and pain since she started to shrink only made her a stronger and more fierce person.  Any trace of wishful thinking or inner child was long gone.  Which only left the Willow she was today.  A fighter.  A survivor. 

The sound of one of here fellow travelers making a deep snoring in their sleep, a noise that kept her from finding peace and quite.  Willow made a deep sound of annoyance as she found she couldn't go back to sleep.  "Now I'm up..."  Willow said irritated, she might as well start the day early.

Willow climbed out of her make shift sleeping bag made of a shred of clothing she found a while back.  She recalled finding the torn cloth, probably from a shirt or shorts or something thrown out for whatever reason.  It took her a while to rip this chunk off the unwanted rag away from the full set, but she was glad she spent the couple of hours to do so.  She got out of the cloth that she used to sleep in and started to fold and roll it up till it would fit in her large backpack bag.  

Her backpack was another item she found, and was really happy she picked it up.  She never knew who it belonged to before her, the previous owner of it was no where to be found and it seemed to have been left out.  Willow would have felt a sense of shame for stealing or taking something not hers but the thing came in hand so many times over the years, any regret or shame she had was gone.  Willow stuffed her sleeping gear into the bag and pulled out what was the last of her food that she gathered with the other, a block of slightly moldy cheese.  

Willow checked one more time over at her fellow ... companions?  

No that wouldn't be the right word, a companion is someone you can trust.  Willow hadn't trusted in anyone in a long time.  She would have stayed alone if it wasn't more useful to have a few people with you.  Especially if you need to out run an animal.  A lesson she learned a while back, always be faster than someone else.

Willow saw that the other three were still sleeping in their own make shift sleeping bags.  One was made of an old piece of newspaper, the owner was an older man somewhere in his 40's.  The other was looked to be a very ripped up piece of a plastic zip lock bag, a man early 20's.  The last person in the group was a young teen girl, about 15 or so.  She didn't have anything to sleep with.  She was the most recent person they picked up.  Willow didn't do names, so she never recalled what any of their names were.  She used a lot of pronouns.  "You" "old man" "him" "new girl".  It kept from getting too close to someone.  

Willow saw that none of them were up yet.  Which was fine for her, the sun was just barely starting to rise and brighten the sky.  Willow bite into her breakfast as she looked around a little more from under the heavy green bush outside a building complex.  She didn't see much happening out on the side walk or streets.  Some parked cars, but mostly it wasn't too busy this early.  Normally now would be the right time to travel, around when the sun just started to rise and set.  However their supplies were running low, so they needed to scavenge for more.  Normally Willow would advice against entering some of these complexes, especially if she didn't know the lay out.  But she knew someone here, and they would come in handy in knowing more about what they would be getting into.  

As soon as the others got up, they would wait till most of the residents left for work, school, or whatever.  Than they would use the small opening in the siding of the complex near the bushes they were sleeping under.  If Willow remember correctly the person should be somewhere on the third floor, between 305 and 306.

Ryan didn't know what he was doing.  The moment he left his apartment he felt kind of better, but now he had no idea where to go.  Did he just try and wonder around the complex?  Did he try to leave the building and risk walking around outside in the wild?  Ryan felt like maybe this was a dumb idea.  He hadn't thought past his anger toward his mom and Emily.  The feeling of betrayal stung a bit too hard for him to not act rash.  The insanity of what Emily did, swallow him, filled his mind.  The feeling of her stomach contents still felt like it was on his skin, right now.  The fear for his life ending still hung over his head.  He half expected to be dreaming this all up right now, all while still being digested by a drunk Emily.

"That's a morbid thought," Ryan said to himself as he decided to head to the only spot he could think of.  Steven said he had a place he was hiding out at.  As messed up as it sounded, he at least knew there was a safe spot for him.  Heading over to the small hole that Steven mentioned, Ryan carried his small bag of food and clothes over toward his destination.  As Ryan made his way through the long hallway that connected the apartments to each other, he read the numbers on the large doors.  Every time he had to walk past a doorway, Ryan feared that it would swing open randomly and he would see a giant person looking right at him, as if waiting for him to cross past their door.  His heart rate speed up as he jogged a little faster when crossing the front door to an apartment.  

Ryan made the long walk, crossing each of the apartments until he found the spot that Steven was talking about.  The small hole in the wall, between apartment 305 and 306.  As Ryan made his way past the door of 306, he could hear the sounds of heavy thumping.  It sounded like whoever was in 306 was still up and was watching or listening to something very loud.  Ryan carried his baggage over to the opening that was just tall enough that he would have to crawl through the small gap.  

Just the sight of the small hole made Ryan rethink all this.  The small space was frighteningly small, and Ryan was afraid that it might only get smaller if he crawled in there.  What if there were b-bugs?!  That reminded him of the time under the stove...

As Ryan was looking at the small gap in the wall, he heard the door to room 305 swing open.  Ryan felt his heart rate skyrocket at the sudden nose and a large slipper foot came stomping out.  Ryan dove forward with his stuff and tried to hide as the stomping feet walked by.  There was a sudden pounding on the apartment of 306.  The echos of the loud knocking could be heard and felt through the wall that Ryan was in.

"It's fucking 3 am!  I have work in the morning!  Turn that damn noise down," An angry voice shouted at the door.  Ryan let out a deep sigh as it seemed the person was more interested in shouting at their neighbor than spotting him.   Now that Ryan was inside the hiding hole, he figured he might as well keep going.  As Ryan crawled through the small opening, he found the ground dipped out and opened just a bit more giving him more room.  He was able to stand up in the dark room.  However the standing part only solved his fear of being stuck in a small place, next was what might be in here.  It was insanely dark in this hole, no light was able to reach inside, so Ryan was left stumbling around in the darkness.  Ryan couldn't see anything in the dark.  He carefully pushed his hands up against the nearest wall.  Following it, he bumped into one end of the room, and than another one.  It only took a few frightening moments in the dark, till Ryan realized how big the room was.  It was barely a handful of steps deep, and even smaller across.  Ryan also bumped into something, a small patch of fluff about the size of a small bed.  It felt like stuffing from a toy or pillow.  

Ryan sighed as he set his bag down next to the cotton cushion pile.  This was clearly a bed of some sort, just long enough for him to lay down in the room.  His feet easily bumped into the end of the room, and his head he had a sense was just a few inches away from the other wall.  He was sure if he had light in here, he would see how cramped the room really was.  However in the dark, Ryan couldn't tell how close or far the walls were from him as he laid on the material beneath him.  It wasn't till he was laying down did the whole day finally hit him.  He was so tired and sore from the whole night.  Not to mention it had to be like 3 or 4 am in the morning.  Ryan's eyes were so heavy that he didn't even know when the darkness of the room and the darkness of his sleep molded together into one, and sleep took over.

The dream or dreams he had weren't something he wanted to recall.  An evil laughing and taunting Emily haunted Ryan.  Giggling at his size, Emily easily picked him up, carrying him in her hands.  Emily was saying something that he couldn't understand but he got the feeling the words were demeaning and hurtful toward him.  Although Ryan couldn't hear the actual words he still felt hurt by the way Emily was talking to him.  She slowly brought him up to her mouth, kind of like before.  Without much effort, Emily tossed Ryan into her mouth, easily swallowing Ryan down.  He couldn't see or move as he fell down her throat.  The warm feeling of being smothered hit Ryan as the familiar smell of acid and alcohol hit him as his skin felt like it was being cooked alive!

Suddenly Ryan was back in Emily's hands all over again.  She seemed pleased with his horrified expression as she went to start to eat him yet again.  Mocking wordless words were spoken this time, cutting into Ryan's heart.  He didn't know what she was saying but it felt like she was saying goodbye or time to move on.  Words that a significant other would use when they wanted to break up.  Knowing that Emily was about to eat him yet again, Ryan found unable to move or even call out to Emily.  She was yet again going to swallow him, or so he thought.  As Ryan was being brought toward Emily's mouth, he watched that giant maw of hers open wide and slam shut with a loud chomp.  Emily smirked with a wide toothy grin as she opened her mouth and chomped again as she lowered Ryan closer to her mouth.  Ryan struggled as he was lowered closer and closer.  Each clamping of her jaw that much closer and closer.  Until finally he felt Emily's teeth.  The first incisors bitting into-

Ryan gasp and jumped awake as something slammed into him and the bed he was sleeping on.  He quickly jumped awake to find that the dark room he was in had a dim glow of light coming from what looked to be a light on the ceiling.  He turned to his side and found someone kicking the bed.

"Where's Steven," She questioned in a demanding tone.  

"Wh-what the-" Ryan stuttered as he looked around slowly recalling where he was.  The nasty dream he had of Emily.  And the strange woman standing over the bed he was in.  She had a look on her face that told Ryan not to mess around.  "He's uh, well... he's dead." Ryan told the woman.  Her reaction didn't seem to be one of grief, just a grim sorrow.

"Oh."  She said in a low tone.

That was all she said.  Just a simple "Oh".  

Ryan started to get up from the bed and figured it was a good idea to try and introduce himself.  "I'm Rya-"

"Don't care," The woman said abruptly, as she already started to head out of the room.

Ryan watched her start to crawl out of the space.  "What?"  He called out as he went to reach for her, "Hey!  Wait! I was just-"  Ryan started to say as he put his hand on the Woman’s shoulder to slow her down.  The moment he touched her she stopped and went stiff.

In a cold and stern voice, without turning around she spoke.  "Remove your hand."  Ryan did as she commanded.  She didn't turn around as she continued to speak, "If you ever touch me again, I'll rip off your arms and beat you with them."

Ryan felt a shiver run up his spine at those words.  It sounded like she meant it, and Ryan didn't want to figure out if she could back up that threat.  "S-sorry.  I just... I just- Look I knew Steven and it sounds like so did you."

"No," The woman said turning around.  "You knew him.  He was just an acquaintance.  I showed him a few things and set up the light," She said pointing upward to the small light bulb that Ryan didn't even know existed.  He somehow missed the little cord dangling from the ceiling earlier.

Ryan took a moment.  It seemed like he messed up somehow in someway so he decided to restart.  "Look, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.  My name is Ryan," He said holding out his hand toward the woman.

She gave Ryan a glare.  "I said, I don't care who you are.  What part of that didn't you get?"

Ryan just gaped at her, "Did I do something wrong?"

The woman just rolled her eyes, "Look I don't have time for this, I have to go get supplies before-"

Ryan quickly said, "I got like a weeks worth of food."  He quickly pointed to his sack.  "I don't mind sharing."

It was now he saw a reaction from the woman rather than contempt.  She showed him a shocked and confused look, "You- why did you tell me that?'

Ryan looked confused at her reaction, "What?"

"Why would you tell me about your food supplies?  How do you know i wouldn't take them for myself?"

Ryan froze at those words.... "Uh, wh-why would you do that?"

The woman looked just even more confused at Ryan.  "You're either really trusting or just plain stupid, and I don't know which you are..."

"Um thank you?  I think... So, does that mean were good?"  Ryan asked trying to gauge the mysterious woman's mood.  He couldn't tell but somewhere in her eyes she seemed to be lost in thought.  Ryan was hesitant about remarking about it and figured he should give her some time.  After a few moments Ryan finally said, "I can come along, right?"

These words seemed to bring the woman back to the world as she looked at Ryan with an accusing look.  After a few long moments she finally decided to speak.  "...Yeah.  But we have rules."

"Oh," Ryan said nodding in agreement.  "Yeah rules are good... like what kind?"

"I’ll explain them later, come on," she said not elaborating on the rules she mentioned.

Ryan frowned once again at the vague and confusing ways that the woman was reacting.  She wouldn't give her name, she didn't explain anything, and she was acting very hostile toward Ryan.  If not aggressive, she seemed to be acting defensive and guarded toward him.  Ryan didn't know who this woman was but kind of felt attacked or at least upset at how she was acting toward him.  He hadn't done anything to warrant this kind of behavior toward him, yet she was treating him like an enemy.  Ryan felt baffled and hurt, he wanted to address her behavior toward him, but he didn't want to piss this woman off.  If she wanted to keep him at a distance, that would be fine. 

He followed after the woman as she started to crawl out of the hole.  She worked her way out with ease as Ryan followed after her.  Once they were outside of Steven's home, Ryan saw a couple of more Shrinkies.  One seemed to be younger than anyone here.  She was in her teens, the next was an older person compared to girl, someone around Ryan's age, maybe younger.  The last was an older man who seemed calmer than the rest.  Someone who seemed to be used to the situation more than the others.  Based on his age Ryan would figure he would be the leader or at least the most experience of all the others.

The younger girl of the group called out "You're," she turned toward Ryan and said, "Steven?  It's so nice to meet you," The girl said smiling a friendly smile.

"Oh... uh, no.  Um, It's Ryan.  Steven... well he's not..." Ryan said leaving the rest of the explanation hanging in the air.  The look on the young girl's face faded.

"oh...well it's nice to meet you Ryan," She said offering another smile.

"Oh, yeah thanks.  Nice to meet you too," Ryan said.  

The younger of the males, the man a few year younger than Ryan started to complain, "So this was a waste?!"

The woman who kicked Ryan awake gave the man a look, "No.  He's got food.  Calm down.  If you want to freak out you can leave... no? Than calm down." She said with enough authority that even Ryan felt like he would need to follow her words.

"...fine.  But is it enough?"  The younger man asked.

"For now," The woman told him, not explaining how much food and supplies Ryan had.

Ryan wanted to speak up but the way the woman said those word it left him with a feeling he might want to keep the amount a secret to the others.

"Fine." The man huffed.

"Um, sorry, but ... my name is Ryan.  What's everyone's name?"

Ryan waited and just as he thought everyone was going to stay silence the younger girl spoke up, "My name is Katty."  She pointed toward the older man, "This is Brand." Next was the other man, who was being difficult, "Thomas or Tom."  Ryan nodded and looked to the woman who woke him up.  Just when he thought he wouldn't get her name, Katty said, "And she's Willow."

Willow cut Katty a glare like she wanted to give her a piece of her mind for giving out people’s names.  The look was long enough that Ryan thought she was going to do something to Katty, but Willow turned away.

"Willow." Ryan repeated the new name of the mysterious woman who kicked him awake and just seemed she didn't know how to be nice to people in general.

Katty nodded before leaning closer to Ryan so Willow couldn't hear and whispered, "She's, like a really rude bitch... pardon my French."

Ryan looked at Katty who just gave him a soft sweet smile before he looked back at Willow who was already leading the small group of people forward.  Ryan watched as Willow was the first in the small squad to head off.  Ryan and the rest of the group started to follow Willow as she made her way away from the hole they just came from.  Ryan wanted to ask where they were going, but there was a chance that Willow might snap at him for a simple question.  So he stayed silent and followed after her and the others.  Katty was the closest to Ryan as they followed Willow's lead.

"How long have you been a shrinky," She asked Ryan out of the blue, most likely trying to make conversation, however it came as a shock to him.

Ryan didn't know how to respond.  Did he tell the truth, that he's only been a shrinky for about a month, even though its impossible?  Would that change anything?  Would they all treat him differently?  Ryan wasn't sure, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was possible.  Fearing for the worse, Ryan figured he would just lie. "For a while now," Ryan said, which to him it felt like years.

"Really," Katty asked.  "I can't imagine what you and everyone else has gone through."  Ryan was curious at what she meant, as Katty went on.  "I've only been a shrinky for about a month or so.  I mean, I didn't start shrinking till a few months ago.  I hadn’t even had my birthday yet!  I turned 16 while tiny..."  Katty complained.

Luckily, she hadn't asked for Ryan's birthday as he walked with Katty.  "Where were you when you first found out?"  Ryan asked trying to keep the conversation focused on her.  Katty just seemed happy to be talking to someone as she went on to explain her Shrinkism to him.

"You would be surprised.  I was at a friends house when I realized I wasn't as tall as i should have been.  My friends thought it would be funny and ‘amusing’ to watch me slowly shrink over the next couple of days.”  Katty shook her head,  “I ran before they could see the final results.  I was just so scared of what would happen when they saw me small.  That's when I ran into Willow," Katty said sounding a little disappointing in the memory.  "She offered me a spot in this little shrinky group, but that was all.  So here I am," Katty stated, "following after a mean woman who I'd rather not," Katty gestured toward Willow.  "At a size I never dreamed of being, doing God knows what... life is so unfair," Katty grumbled.

"I know what you mean," Ryan told her as he felt pretty much the same as her.  Life is unfair.  "So, where exactly are we going?"

Katty gave a half shrug, "To be honest I'm not really sure.  I figured anywhere was better than where I was."

Ryan nodded again in agreement, he wasn't sure how long he would have been able to stay in that hole.  He didn't really have a plan other than to get out of his apartment.  To get away from Emily and his mom.  Away from Alison and anyone else in his life that might viewed him as something less than a person.  It was a sad feeling, but he was starting to accept his size and role in the world now.  "Yeah I know what you mean," Ryan told Katty.

Katty offered him a sincere look, "Hey, at least we meet right?  Now I at least have someone to talk to other than them," Katty tilted her head to the other three and gave a lighthearted laugh at her own comment.

Katty’s smile and laugh put a smile on Ryan's face.  It felt nice just talking with someone again.  Steven was the last one he talked to like this.  How much he missed those mornings...

All the talking that Ryan was doing with Katty, he hardly noticed how far they went before they were at what looked to be a drainage point for the floor that went down to the ground level.  The opening was just large enough for one or two of them to go down at a time.  Ryan looked at the small opening and how everyone seemed ready to jump in.

"Uh, we're going down that?"  Ryan asked.  Willow gave him a look that told him that he asked a rather dumb question.  "I just meant like, is it safe?"

Willow let out a tired sigh, "If you don't want to, than don't.  But I'm taking the food with us."  Ryan looked between the others and found even Katty was on Willow's side of this.  Ryan wasn't sure if he could out run or even stop Willow herself from taking his supplies.  If the others helped her, he was certain they would take his bag with little effort.

"Whose first," Ryan said trying to change his tune about the drainage pipe.

"You," Willow told him in a tone that let him know it wasn't a debate.

"M-me-" 

Before Ryan could continue Willow grabbed him by the shirt and nearly chucked him into the hole.  Ryan let out a cry as he tumbled down the opening and hit the side of the tube.  It was too dark to see in the tunnel, but he could feel the siding of the tube.  Going down the drainage pipe kind of reminded him of a water slide.  Just without the water.  Ryan continued to slide and bonce off the sides of the tunnel until he came tumbling out of an opening and landed on soft yet hard ground.  Ryan rubbed the aching parts of his body as he looked around and saw he was now outside the complex.  It looked like he was right under a bush or some kind of-

A sudden impact from behind slammed into him and pushed him back into the ground face first.  He could feel something heavy on his back as it pinned him down.

"HEY!"  The sharp cry of Willow shouted out from above.  "Get out of the way!"  Ryan groaned as he felt Willow's weight on top of him.  It wasn't crushing, but just surprising.  She got up off him in a flash before yanking Ryan to his feet.  "What moron blocks the opening like that?"

Ryan wasn't sure if she was seriously asking or just being sarcastic.   Unsure he replied with a weak answer, "Me?"

Willow rolled her eyes as she pulled Ryan clear form the drain opening as Katty came out next, than Tom, and finally Brand.  Everyone was standing under a familiarly large bush that Ryan recalled passing by so many times before when he was larger.  Never once in his life did he ever think that there could be shrinkies under the small little shrub, so close to his home.

Ryan looked around the underbrush and than back to Willow.  "So, where to now?"  Willow, didn’t answer or even made a sound that she heard him.  She simple started to walk off in a direction and the others followed.  Ryan gave the group a puzzled look as they didn’t even ask, they just did.  Ryan followed up the rear as he muttered “Okay than…”

Emily’s head felt like it exploded and than imploded only to blow up again.  Her head was so fuzzy and messed up she didn’t even recall her name.

“Oooooo,” Emily moaned as she tried to get out of bed… wait this wasn’t her bed.  Emily was sitting slouched over something.  The faint smell of… puke?  Was that puke?  Did she throw up?!  Emily felt her eyes slowly flutter open and found herself leaning into the toilet.  It took all her strength to pull herself up from the toilet and look down.  “oooo,” Emily moaned again at the sight of the nasty looking toilet water.  Yup, she threw up.  Not really bothering to look at the toilet, she flushed it and watched clean water flow back into the toilet bowl washing away her mess.  Emily let out a sigh, and the sight of water brought her to the massive splitting headache. 

Not really able to walk, she went to the closest source of water, the faucet.  Turning it on, she practically dove under the water slurping and gulping whatever she could as she felt the cold water drench her throat and relieving any pain of her sore throat.  After a few long minutes of drinking water like her life was in danger, she looked into the mirror in front of herself.

“Oh god,” Emily muttered to herself.  She looked worse than that girl from the Exorcist movie.  Any make up she had on was smeared and dried in a running pattern.  She had vomit in some of her hair, which looked to have been hit by an F5 tornado.  It was all tangled, messy, and in a heap.  Emily could see that her eyes were slightly red and bloodshot from throwing up some time last night, and her face looked exhausted.  “At least it’s the weekend…” Emily continued to mutter to herself.  Emily yanked off whatever remaining clothing she had on and turned on the shower.  Emily jumped into the ice cold water shocking herself awake, HELLO!

Emily felt her heart pick up pace as she quickly waking up from one of the worse hangovers she had in a long time.  Emily took her time cleaning up in the shower.  Enjoying the freezing frigid water turn into a nice warm and hot relaxing temperature.  Emily sighed as she let the warm water wash over her sore and aching body.  Emily stood there letting the water help erase last nights conclusion.  As Emily soaked, she tried to recall the night.  It was so blurry.  She recalled Rick, drinking, shots, drinking, and some nachos?  

After that things got blurry.  Emily recalled doing a shrinky shot… or maybe it was two?  She couldn’t recall which drinks had the small people in them.  Emily felt her stomach turn as she tried to remember the rest of the night.  She only recalled flashes and vague memories of coming home.  Emily rubbed her head, heck she didn’t even recall throwing up in the toilet.  If she hadn’t found her self at the toilet looking the way she did (and if Ryan was his normal size) she would have assumed it was Ryan that threw up last night. 

At the thought of Ryan, Emily groaned.  Oh how he was going to tease her about throwing up last night.  She could already hear him, “Looks like someone had too much fun last night.”

Maybe he didn’t hear her?

Emily scoffed, and winced in the shower at the throbbing headache.  The messy way it looked in the toilet there was no way he didn’t hear her.  She just hoped that he didn’t learn about what kind of drinks she had last night.  The guilt of taking those shots with Allison hit her hard.  She really shouldn’t have.  As much as Emily liked Allison, she always had a special way of breaking down Emily’s resolve.  Allison was like the only person who could peer pressure Emily into doing something like that.

A sour churn in her gut made Emily whimper, “no more shrinking shots…” She swore holding her stomach as it felt like she will regret last night for a while longer.

Emily turned off the shower and slowly got out.  Drying herself off, she left the bathroom and into the bedroom.  She paused as she noticed the bedroom door was open.  Had she not closed it last night?  Feeling a little embarrassed standing in the open with only a towel  on, Ryan’s mom could walk by anytime.  Emily went to shut the door for just till she was fully dressed.

“Did I leave the door open last night,” Emily asked closing the door.

There was no answer.  Emily rolled her eyes, right… the silly earpiece.  “Sorry honey, give me a minute,” Emily started to look for her earpiece.  It wasn’t on the dresser.  She checked the bathroom.  A spike of fear hit her, did she flush it down the toilet?!  A memory of her putting it on the counter in the kitchen kicked in and she sighed.  That’s right.  Emily quickly got dressed, “Sorry, one more minute…” Emily spoke as she pulled on some underwear and shorts.  A simple long sleve shirt was next before Emily opened the door.  

She seemed to have timed her morning just right, as Mary was also waking up.

“Morning dear,” Mary greeted as she headed from her room into the kitchen.

“Morning.” Emily responded blinking away a grimace at the sound of someone’s voice hitting her heard.  She was still pretty banged up.  She need her caffeine, something salty, something sweet, and a bottle of Motrin.  Heading into the kitchen with Mary behind her, Emily spotted her ear piece next to an empty cup.  Emily paused and looked at the cup and the bottle of liquor next to it, did she do that?  No…

Mary sighed, “Had a little night cap last night?”

“I…” Emily said feeling embarrassed.  “I don’t recall.”

Mary laughed, “Well it wasn’t me or Ryan, that’s for sure.  It’s alright dear, just clean up after yourself.  Don’t want to attract more bugs and pest.”

Emily wanted to comment on the fact that bugs don’t drink alcohol but her head told her to just be quite till she felt better.  Emily put the remnants of her late night drink away and put the ear piece in.  She head back into her bedroom as Mary started to put a cup of coffee on.  “Ryan… sorry about that.”

Emily headed over to Ryan’s bed.  He wasn’t there.  In fact his blanket was missing.  Emily frowned, “Ryan?  Honey, uh where are you,” Emily called out looking down at her feet.  She was WAY too hung over for this.  The fear of stepping on Ryan was the only thing keeping her mind focused.  Emily didn’t spot Ryan anywhere.  Maybe he was already up and getting breakfast?  She looked at the clock on the other night stand by the her bed and saw that it was possible.  Being as careful as she could, Emily looked down at the ground and did her best to look for a tiny Ryan as she made her way back to the kitchen.

“Want some eggs on toast with some bacon,” Mary called out to Emily from the kitchen.

“Sure,” Emily responded as she kept her eyes on the ground.  “Is Ryan out there with you?”

“mmm, I don’t think so.  Oh, silly me, where did I put my hearing aid,” Mary said out in the kitchen.

Emily continued to look around for Ryan as she called out for him.  Still she didn’t hear a response, and when she reached the kitchen and didn’t spot Ryan on the counter she started to feel a little uneasy.  There normally isn’t many places that Ryan would go other than the bed room and kitchen.  She checked the kitchen table and finally the family room.  Now her nervousness was increasing along with a very painful throbbing headache.  It seemed the more she worried the worse her head hurt.  Why couldn’t she find Ryan.  “Mary, when did you last see Ryan,” Emily asked as she headed into the kitchen to get her coffee.  She needed to think straight.  Grabbing her breakfast sandwich and finally fixing her hunger and headache with food and drink, she waited for Mary to respond.

Chewing she frowned, “Hmmm, not sure.”

Emily frowned, “Not sure?  You didn’t say goodnight to your son?”

The look on Mary’s face made Emily regret how she said that, “Like he said before, he’s a big boy.  So, no, I didn’t tuck him in if that’s what your asking.”

“Sorry,” Emily responded as she continued to look around for Ryan.  Maybe he was outside??  Even as crazy as that sounded, she should at least look, “I just,” Emily sighed, “It was a rough night and even rougher morning, sorry.”

Mary nodded before apologizing for sounding snappy.  As Emily started to head to the door, Mary went on, “It’s just some times I feel like I’m cleaning up after 2 children.”

Emily paused and looked at the older woman.  It wasn’t like she meant any harm in what she said, but it kind of dug into Emily.  Still riding out her hangover, Emily couldn’t help but probe in a miffed tone, “And what do you mean by that?”

Mary paused and looked around the kitchen, “Well, I mean, picking up after yourself a little more might be nice,” Mary said as nicely as she could.

“Uh, okay… now you’re making it sound like I’m a slob,” Emily pointed out as nicely as she could.  Her anger was starting to boil with her headache that seemed to be reaching a new level of pain.  Emily never thought living with Mary would drive her up the walls as much as it had, but now it seemed to be all coming together now.

Mary seemed to catch on to how she said it and backpedaled a little, “Oh dear, no!  Not a slob, I’m sorry.  I’m meant more like, the crumbs and dishes.  I mean, just like a while ago… I woke up one morning and found a bug like this big,” Mary said recalling the morning.  She held her fingers up showing the kind of large sized bug.  It seemed to about the size of Ryan…

“B-bug?” Emily stuttered as she vaguely recalled something a while back.  “Are you sure it was a bug?”

Mary seemed confused, “Well, what else could it have been?”

Emily closed her eyes and tried to keep from blowing up the situation, “I’m saying are you sure you saw a bug and not someONE...I mean you’re 100% sure about that?”

Mary opened her mouth to say something and stopped for a moment, “Well… I was pretty sure.”

“Oh god,” Emily muttered closing her eyes.  “Please… what did you do?”

Mary sipped her drink before saying, “I took care of it.”

“Mary…” Emily said slowly, “Ryan had a friend over here a while ago.  He would come by to visit… Ryan told me he wouldn’t be coming back anymore.  Soooo… again,” Emily told Mary with a harsher tone, “What, happened?”

It was now that Mary seemed to slowly realized what Emily was saying.  “I-I… it …”

“Oh god,” Emily gasped, “Oh fu- did Ryan see it happen?!  Please for the love of God, tell me you didn’t while he was around.”

Mary grew more pale as something about that night was recalled, “I thought, well I thought I might have saw two that night…”

Emily blinked back tears at the news.  Why didn’t Ryan say anything to her about it?!  

“How could you?!  Jesus… Why would you go around killing bugs when your son could be-”

“Don’t act like I’m the only one that’s hurt Ryan,” Mary spat out in her defense.

Emily frowned, “What are you talking about?”

“You had my son go to school, and than he comes back bullied and smelling like someone’s dirty feet!  You let your students pick on my son, did the one who do it at least get in trouble,” Mary asked with some venom in her voice.

“Well, no,” Emily said recalling the day.  “She was just playing a-a joke on Ryan...”

It was Mary’s turn to attack Emily.  She scoffed, “Oh?  And how many jokes do you know that end up with someone smelling like a nasty foot?  If you thought that was just some silly joke, I hate to see what your student’s do to each other behind your back…”

Emily gasped, “My student’s are not monsters!”

“Anyone who would pick on my little son, I would call a monster,” Mary explained to Emily.

Emily shook her head at the way Ryan’s mom was behaving.  “You know… Ryan was right, we shouldn’t have invited you here.”

Emily immediately regretted what she said as Emily felt a stab at her heart when she saw the look on Mary’s face, “M-my… my Ryan didn’t want me here??”  It wasn’t till now that Emily realized that maybe she shouldn’t have said that.  No mater how mean she wanted to be, she might have crossed the line.  Mary looked crushed, “Why… why wouldn’t he…” Mary asked looking devastated at those words.  

“Mary… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.  Look, Ryan didn’t-” Emily went on to talk as she walked from the door to the kitchen table, where Mary had taken a seat at.  Emily felt her left bare foot step on something.  Emily let out a natural gasp and nearly jumped off the ground as she removed her foot from the object.  Fearing that maybe she stepped on someone rather than something, she stood on one foot and held her left foot in her hand.

“What is it,” Mary asked alarmed at her sudden noise she made and her actions.  

“I stepped on something,” Emily breathed a sigh of relief, glad it wasn’t Ryan.  Emily pulled the small object off her foot and held it up.  She squinted at it and slowly recognized the hard tiny little speck of an object.  “A communicator?    What’s it doing on the floor?”

“Ryan’s communicator,” Mary repeated just as confused.  “Wait… so he isn’t wearing his communicator, than we can’t hear him,” Mary asked the very obvious question.

Emily didn’t say anything as she tried to see if Ryan was nearby.  There was no sign of him.  Emily didn’t like this, why would his communicator be on the ground like this.  Near the door too…

Emily opened the front door and looked around.  There wasn’t a trace of Ryan outside the apartment, “Ryan?”  Emily called.  There was obviously no answer.  Emily tried again as see tried looking down the long hallway toward the other apartments and toward the stairs.  Did Ryan climb down the stairs?  Could he?  Emily didn’t know what to do or where to look.  “Mary,” Emily said turning around toward the older woman.  “I, I think Ryan left.”

“Left,” Mary asked sounding just as confused and worried.  She got up and headed to the door,  “Where?”

Emily shook her head feeling troubled and worried, “I don’t know, I don’t know where he would go.  He could be anywhere…”

Ryan didn't know how long they had walked but he felt like it had to have been at least a couple of hours or so.  They had made it past his apartment complex a little while ago.  However they weren’t anywhere near leaving the neighborhood that Ryan lived in.  It was weird for Ryan to walk on the concert pathing at this size.  The smooth surface he used to walk on, felt more like lumpy asphalt to him.  The rough texture was slightly uneven on his feet.  Ryan found that Willow seemed like a very cautious person.  She was always looking for something, as if the whole world was out to get her.  Ryan felt like maybe she was being a little too paranoid or scared.  Normally Ryan probably wouldn’t mind if they took their time, however they only made it a block or two since they left Ryan’s place.  Just when Ryan thought they would keep going, Willow decided it was enough.  She quickly lead the group back under some plant life lining the sidewalk.

“Wait what,” Ryan asked as he followed them.  “We… we barely went anywhere,” Ryan told them as if they didn’t know how far they just went.

“We’re done for the day,” Willow said already pulling her pack off.  Ryan watched the others, including Katty, follow her lead.

“Whoa, wait… I don’t know where were going, but… at this pace?  Our food wont last,” Ryan told them.

“Than we’ll get more,” Willow told him like it was that simple.

Hearing those words brought up the shrinky in his home, the one his mom sucked up with a vacuum.  The roar of the vacuum was a sound he wouldn’t forget, nor the sounds of the shrinky lost inside of it.  If they were going to look for food, there was a chance that could be his fate, or worse.  “Scavenge for food?!  Isn’t that super dangerous?”  Ryan realized how stupid of a question that was when all four of them looked at Ryan.  “I-I just mean like shouldn’t we try to stretch out our reserves by going as far as possible?”

“Look at the sky,” Willow grumbled as she pointed upward.  Ryan looked up and saw that the sky was covered with clouds, a lot of light and dark gray clouds.  “It’s going to rain soon. So were staying put till it’s over, which might be all day.  Now… take a seat,” Willow said a little more forcefully.

“Rain?”  Ryan wanted to scoff, “We’re stopping because of some rain?  What, you don’t want to get wet?  Come on, that’s crazy, we can easily get another block or two in before it might start getting really dark.”

Willow squinted her eyes at Ryan, “Look here, you-”

“Ryan,” Ryan told her feeling a little pissed at how she refused to use his name.

“YOU,”  She growled again as she stood up, “don’t know what you’re talking about.  I told you there are rules!”

“What rules?!  You haven’t explained anything to me yet?  Where are we going?  Why are you so scared of rain?  You act like I would know this stuff.”

The look on Willow’s face was one between “I’m going to punch you” and “Are you being serious right now?”  She looked baffled at Ryan’s words.

Katty finally said something, “M-maybe we can go a little further?”

Willow cut a look to Katty who shrinked back a little.  “A little further?”

“… at least till the first drop,” Tom offered.

Ryan felt like he just won a battle with more support.  Willow gave Tom her signature look and than directed it back at Ryan.  Ryan would definitely need to watch himself around her.  However she grumbled and hefted up her supplies.  Brand followed after Willow as they started to continue their journey again.  Ryan looked over to Katty and leaned over and quietly said, “Thanks for backing me up there.”

Katty nodded and gave him a smile.  “Got to look out for each other.”  Ryan nodded returning the smile.  

They continued to follow Willow, who never dropped her guard as she continued to be like a paranoid person peering into every shadow they were walking past.  They went on for another 20 minutes or so, they pasted a few more homes during this time.  Ryan figured since Willow wasn’t going to answer any of his questions he would ask someone who might, “So, what are these rules?  Why are you all so scared of the rain?”

Katty looked confused just like Willow was earlier, “Are you being serious?  Like, I thought you were-”

Ryan heard it, a splash or pop off to his left.  Ryan turned to the sound and saw a drenched spot on the concert.  “Is that rain,” Ryan asked looking up.  He didn’t notice the others already ducking for cover under the same looking type of planted bush that was surprisingly common in the area.

As Ryan confirmed that it was indeed raining, he looked back to see the three were already out from the opening.  Ryan was stunned at their actions, “It’s just a little sprinkle-”

Something hard and fast slammed into Ryan’s chest knocking him flat on his back.  Any air he had in his lungs was kicked out as he felt cold and wet.  Something like a dodge ball thrown at him had hit him.  Coughing and getting air back in his lungs, he realized he was almost drenched.  He got up on his feet and saw the splatter marks of a raindrop that landed right on him.  Did he just get hit by a raindrop?!  Holy shit!

Another splash and another as the sprinkling of water from the sky rained down randomly.  Ryan got to his feet flicking off any collection of water still on him.  Ryan watched as no one left the cover to come help him.  What were they doing-

Another splash near him cliped him and forces him to take a step to the side where a water droplet smacked him in the back of the head and into the ground again.  The little dribble of water started to pick up out of nowhere as the increase in rainfall meant it was like a minefield for Ryan as all around him splashes and explosions of water filled his world.  The droplets hit and pushed him around, it was like he was in a whirlwind full of thick dodge balls being chucked at him.  Ryan was making a little progress toward safety, when he felt something underneath him.  Looking down he saw a layer of water covering the surface of the sidewalk.  The layer grew faster and faster as the rain continued.  Before he knew it, he was caught in a downpour of water that was forming a stream that rose up and picked him up easily with the flood of rain.

“oh no! NO NO NO!”  Ryan shouted trying to grab something as the mass of water was now a stream as the down pour only continued.  The water wasn’t deeper than probably knee high or so, but the force of it was strong as it was already pulling him somewhere.  Ryan found that he was getting pulled away from the group as the water washed him away.  “Help,” Ryan shouted and tried to get their attention.

He couldn’t see if anyone was coming to save him, but it might be too late.  The torrent of water was just picking up speed as he was carried away with the debris of old leafs, dead insects, dirt, and whatever small things that was left out to be collected.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ryan shouted over the splashing of water.  He would occasional get hit with a raindrop every so often, but it was the current that was freaking him out.  It was like those movies where someone fell out of a boat and was trapped in the rapids of a river.  Only this wasn’t a movie, this was really happening.  Ryan found himself racing down the slight decline in the side walk as he saw where he was heading.

“Oh no…” Ryan felt his heart started to race when he saw the little trail of water he was stuck in take a nasty turn off the side walk and down into the storm drain off the side of the walkway.  The flow of water from all around the area was clearly heading for the dark bottomless pit.  If Ryan went down there…

That thought was enough to send Ryan into a panic as he tried to redirect himself out of the flow of water.  However the rainfall kept increasing and the strong stream soon became a raging river.  Ryan found nothing to grab or catch as he was starting to realize how close he was to his doom.  Why did he leave the safety of his apartment?  Ryan’s last thoughts were that of Emily, as horrible the last few weeks were with her, he still could recall the good times.

Giving up, Ryan said to himself, “Maybe I should have left her a note or something…”

As Ryan came closer toward the storm drain, Ryan didn’t notice the rain was letting up.  It most have been a brief downpour, but it didn’t matter there was enough water already on the ground to pull him down the storm drain.  Ryan was closer than before, already a foot or two from the storm drain.  He watched as the water rushed over the side of the sidewalk and down into the abyss.  The sound of the water crashing down onto the street and draining into the opening could be heard and chilled Ryan to his core.  “Fuck,” Ryan whimpered as he found it would just be a few more seconds till-

Just as Ryan went off the side walk and in through the air, something snapped at him and yanked him out of the torrent of water.  The crescendo of water falling into the pitch black darkness below him could be heard.  The echo of crashing water filled the air below Ryan as he dangled in the air.  Ryan looked behind him and saw Willow grabbing at him while holding onto a piece of string, rope, or something long.  Shocked and stunned as Willow struggled to hold onto Ryan by the bag on his back, Ryan felt pure happiness in his heart.  Slowly, Willow yanked him upward, it didn’t take too long before Ryan was safe on the damp sidewalk looking at the others helping Willow save his life.  Ryan smiled and flopped backwards breathing a sigh of relief, “You saved me… thank you.”

Ryan opened his eyes and watched Willow walk into view of his eyesight.  The same scow and look covered her face.  Willow stood over Ryan, looking down at him.  “I didn’t save you,” She told him with no emotional concern for him, “I saved the supplies.”

The honesty in her tone chilled Ryan to the core, worse than the chilling water that drenched him.  She couldn’t give a damn about him, he was just a food supply for her.  So what happened when he ran out of food and usefulness?  Almost as if to answer his dire question, the sound of the water being discarded off the sidewalk a little ways away answered it.  Once she was done with Ryan, he wouldn’t be shocked if she left him behind or worse got ride of him herself.  

What did Ryan get himself into...