Chapter 10:

Upon walking into Jackie’s room at Volleyball House, I saw just how much she had planned for my move. She had a mattress for me that sat at the foot of her bed. It was all made with fresh sheets and pillows. There was a lamp on the floor next to my bed, presumably so I could read and do homework. She even fashioned a little night table for me. 

There was only one problem. The mattress was clearly made for a toddler. I’ve seen enough cribs in my life to know what a toddler’s mattress looks like, and the mattress Jackie had for me definitely belonged inside a crib. I mentioned it, even though I shouldn’t have.

“So, you didn’t buy the crib that goes along with this, did you?”

She was surprised at my response judging by wrinkles that formed on her nose. She was expecting a thank you, or at least something resembling gratitude.

“Desmond, I know this isn’t ideal. Nobody past 6 years old wants to be sleeping in that, but come on, it’s comfortable! And you’ll be right next to me.”

I sneered. “Why can’t I just sleep in your bed? With you.”

“I want nothing more than to sleep with you every night. And if you were normal sized, I would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I pounced on her.

“It means,” she rolled her eyes at me, “I don’t want to flatten you in the middle of the night if I roll over. That’s what it means.”

I suddenly felt incredibly stupid. When she said that she would sleep with me if I were normal sized, I thought she meant that since I was so small, I wasn’t worthy of sleeping in her bed. Once again, I woefully misinterpreted someone’s words.

“Jackie, I’m sorry. I thought you meant—”

“You seem to be apologizing a lot lately.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t mean to throw out excuses, but this whole shrinking thing is making me really defensive. I’m still a man, you know.”

She sat down on her bed and motioned for me to come over. I hopped up next to her and she pulled me close. Sitting down, my head no longer even cleared her shoulder.

“I know you’re a man, Dessy. But you know what would be more manly than getting super defensive about your height? Accepting it. Accepting that you’ve gotten smaller and accepting help. You said you were the manliest man I would ever meet when were in the dining hall that first day. Prove it to me.”

I turned my head and rubbed my face on her naked arm. “I was, uh, joking in the dining hall.”

Her quiet, reserved giggles shook the bed ever so slightly. “I don’t think you were.”

Not knowing what to say to that, I just moved on. “It’s hard. I can’t do normal things anymore. I feel like I’m dependent on everyone.”

“You are dependent. And until you grow back, you’re gonna have to deal with that.”

“Do you really think I’m going to grow back?” I asked, my words tinged with a desperate need for validation.

She scrunched my cheeks with her hands. Her eyes pierced through me with a burning intensity. Her answer to this question was crucial, because if she didn’t have hope that I was going to return to normal height, I would lose all hope too.

“I believe with all my heart that you will grow back,” she said, “But until then, you need to hand the reigns over to me and trust that I know what’s best for you.”

“I trust you. It’s just that—”

“What?” she interjected.

“I came to college to be an independent person for the first time in my life. To get away from my domineering sister. To make a life for myself that wasn’t a puppet show for someone else.”

She scooped me up from the backs of my legs and lifted me into her lap. Her natural aroma danced around in my nostrils.

“I know you want to be independent. And in many ways, you still are. You keep up with your schoolwork. You have a now, full-time girlfriend. Think of it this way. You’re an independent guy who just needs help reaching stuff. Who needs help getting to class. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, the more you need help, the more you need me, which then means, the more time you get to spend with me! You should be rooting to get smaller!”

My usual knee-jerk reaction would be to get offended at that and attack her, but I decided to not take the bait. I let out a genuine laugh from the gut.

“I wouldn’t go that far, but your twisted logic is beginning to make some sense.”

“Oh, is it now? My words are finally piercing through to that shrunken brain of yours?”

I looked up at her, “I think so, my queen.”

“Back to the queen thing, eh? You really like that, don’t you?”

I panted with growing arousal. I wanted her to edge me again just like she did in the car. I wanted her to toy with my dick. I wanted her to drive me fucking crazy with lust for her.

“Yes.” I begged with my eyes. “I love it.”

“You love me being your queen?” she reiterated her question.

“Yes. So much.”

“You know what I think you’d like even better?”

I was taken by her commitment to the sexy banter. Barely able to contain myself, I asked, “What?”

Her mouth came down to envelope my ear. With hot breath, she slowly whispered, “Goddess.”

“Goddess?”

“Yes. Instead of me being your queen, I should be your goddess. Don’t you think?”

I couldn’t think of a single reason to say no, so I just nodded stupidly.

She suddenly pulled away and said, “Good, then your goddess orders you to go to bed.”

I was hoping for a lot more from that exchange, but it was for the best. I knew I was tired, and I needed rest. So, per her orders, I hopped off her bed and crawled into mine. Not quite ready to lay down just yet, I sat up with my pillows propped on the foot of Jackie’s bed. Once I was situated, she turned off the lights.

I heard her pull the covers over her and shortly after, she said, “Sweet dreams, foot boy.”

Foot boy?

Suddenly, something lightly tapped the top of my head. I turned every which way to find the culprit, but before I could locate the source, I was tapped again.

“What the?”

Finally, I looked up and saw Jackie’s gigantic feet hanging over the bed. They were twice as long as my head. And her big toe was probably big enough to plug my mouth shut entirely.

“Lay down, little guy,” she cooed, “Or I’m gonna keep boppin’ ya on the head.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Goddess,” she corrected me.

“Right. Yes, goddess.”

I threw my extra pillows to the side and laid down. I found that after several minutes of lying there, my eyelids weren’t getting heavier. I rolled over to my other side, seeing if a new position would help. Several more minutes went by, and I still wasn’t drifting off to sleep. I popped my head up over Jackie’s bed to see if she was sleeping; she was completely out. So, instead of lying back down, I tiptoed out of the bedroom.

Halfway down the stairs, I heard someone else coming up. For some reason, I charged back up the stairs, not wanting to be discovered. What if it was Sadie, the freshman bitch? Or worse yet, Vicky, the cold, calculating captain. Peering from behind the end of the banister, I saw Faith, the nicest girl of the volleyball trio I’d met outside my dorm. She was holding a red solo cup and was giggling to herself. I could’ve guessed what was in her cup.

“Faith,” I whispered to her.

“Who’s there? Is it a ghost? I hope you’re the friendly kind,” she said, still not seeing me.

I rolled my eyes. I stepped out from behind the banister and stood at the top of the stairs, straight in front of her. The crazy thing was that she was just as tall as me standing five steps below me. She was perhaps even a little taller. I was getting really small.

“It’s me. Desmond. Jackie’s boyfriend.”

“Desmond!? Hey!” She took a wobbly step up, making her approximately a head taller than me. She leaned on the banister, still grasping her drink, whatever it was.

“People are sleeping. You gotta be quiet. You ok?” I asked her.

Still yelling, she said, “My head is spinning, little guy!”

“I think you drank a little too much. Why don’t I help you back to your room?”

She took another shaky step up the stairs. I was now boob height. I felt like I was shrinking all over again.

“You’re so nice and cute! I just want to eat you up!”

I nervously laughed as she took another step up the stairs, this time putting my eyes level with her belly button. But it wasn’t over, she still had one more step to go. I was dreading her next step.

“Hey, come on, let’s get you to bed. You must be tired.” I wrapped my arm around her butt, trying to get her to come with me to her bedroom.

“Ok, if you say so. I was just having so much fun at the party down the street. Well, until a guy touched my boob. I was outta there after that.”

She took her final two steps up the staircase, putting her feet level with mine. I was now just a little taller than the top of her butt.

“Why did you come home alone?” I asked.

“I told my friends to, um, stay. Because, you know, they were having fun. I knew I could get home, it’s just down the road.”

Right after she finished her sentence, she let out a legendary burp that would put most men to shame. Any time I burped anything like that after drinking, I was definitely going to throw up. So, I decided to take her to the bathroom. She was delirious to the point that I could lead her anywhere, and she would be none the wiser.

Once we got into the bathroom, I lifted the toilet lid and told her to splash cold water on her face. It always helped me calm down when I was beyond wasted. I would’ve helped her, but I wouldn’t have been able to reach her face even if I had a decent stool. I couldn’t even see myself in the vanity mirror. I would have to ask Jackie to get a legendarily tall stool for me.

“Oh god!” she said, cold stone sober. She rushed around me and lurched over the toilet. She immediately vomited, sending everything she ate that day up and out of her. I got on my tippy toes and grabbed as much of her hair as I could with my tiny hands, pulling the handfuls back, away from her mouth.

That was when my disgusting mind took control, and I had another waking wet dream. I was two inches tall again. This time, I was hanging on to Faith’s bottom lip as she was throwing up into the toilet. In seconds, I was covered, and I almost threw up myself. When she was finally done, she wiped her mouth and I fell into the toilet. I tried over and over to scream up to Faith not to flush. My cries were not heard in her drunken stupor, and I was flushed down the toilet.

I snapped out of it still holding Faith’s hair, while she continued to gag. I was terrified of being transported into another disgusting reverie, so I looked away from her 

“Get it all out, Faith. I’m here.”

She was breathing heavy, clearly still shaken by her violent retching. “You can…go back…to bed. If you want.”

“Just finish what you gotta do. I can’t sleep anyway.”

The dam broke once more, and she filled up the toilet with more bile. I kept looking away with my eyes closed, hoping I wouldn’t have an involuntary vision again.

When I no longer heard any more dry-heaving, I felt safe enough to open my eyes and turn back to look at her.

She stood up and hunched herself over the bathroom vanity, splashing cold water on her face again. Then she reached into the medicine cabinet for her toothbrush. She squirted out a liberal amount of toothpaste onto it and stuck it into her mouth. Watching her do this simple hygienic task was a mistake because I once again was transformed into a tiny man. This time, I was tangled in the bristles of her toothbrush. I made myself as small as possible, crouching down to avoid getting smooshed against her teeth. She brushed fast and hard, so I clutched the bristles with all the strength I had. One unpredicted move, I could’ve been thrown into her mouth, never to emerge again.

I finally got a respite from her gigantic teeth when she was ready to rinse out her mouth. Like last time, I called out for Faith and waved both my arms at her. Only when she picked up her toothbrush again to run it under the sink did she see me waving at her.

Her face lit up with surprise and she said, “Hey! I can use you as floss!”

I woke back up from my trance as a fully shrunken man, and she was done brushing her teeth.

“Did you say something?” I asked her.

“Yeah. I said you’re getting so small that at this rate, I’ll be able to use you as floss soon.”

I looked at her with horror. My frighteningly real daydreams apparently drew from real-life stimuli. The frequency with which these dreams were occurring were making me believe the they were harbingers of what was to come. I never thought I would get that small when I began shrinking. I didn’t even think it was possible for a human to get that small. But with each dream I had, it seemed more possible. More real. More on the horizon.

Realizing Faith was looking for a reaction, I just laughed. Unenthusiastically at that.

“Ok, Desmond. Thanks for all your help. I’m gonna go to bed now, just like Doctor Desmond ordered.”

I smirked at her silliness and followed her out of the bathroom. I watched her go into her bedroom, so if this happened again, I knew where to herd her.

Dealing with a drunken Faith tired me out. I stumbled into my room and fell down onto my toddler mattress and passed out.

…

I woke up the next morning to Jackie planting gentle kisses on my forehead. She continued pecking me long after I was awake.

“You taste good,” she said in between kisses, “Too good to stop.”

“You never cease to amaze me,” I said.

“Flattered.” She returned to kissing me, now she had reached down to my chest.

“What time is it?”

“Morning.”

“I know, but what time?”

“Your mom stopped by."

“What?!”

“Yeah, she came to the house today.”

“Are you serious? Did you talk to her? What did you talk to her about? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I thought we talked about this, Dessy. Remember? We both agreed that I would handle this. We agreed that I would handle everything.”

I sighed, knowing she was right. I still felt like she wasn’t leaving me out of the loop only to protect me. She had other reasons.

“What did she talk to you about?” I restated my question.

“It doesn’t matter. I handled it. You’re safe with me,” she said, barely looking at me.

“Why are you intentionally leaving me out of the loop? This is my mother we’re talking about. If you’re making the decisions, which I already agreed to, I should still at least know what you two talked about.”

“If you’re not making any decisions, why do you need to know anything about this?”

She had a decent point. What would I even do with any information she gave me? We already established that she was going to be the decision-maker and not me.

“Ok, fine. Just tell me one thing. Was she mad at me?” I asked.

She looked back at me, knowing she had to give me at least this. I deserved to know whether or not my mother was livid with me.

“No, I don’t think so. She was madder at me for harboring you and keeping her from you. I was scared that she would just march up the stairs and take you from me.”

My mother, although she had a high temper, had tact. She wasn’t simply going to sling me over her shoulder and walk out of Volleyball House. She would remain in D.C. and would track me down eventually.

It was gratifying to hear that she wasn’t mad at me. I don’t know if I could live myself if she was holding a grudge against me for what I did. My eyes welled up a bit.

“Are you crying?” she asked, “Desmond, don’t worry. I’ll protect you from her.”

“That’s not why I’m, uh—I’m just happy she’s not mad at me. Really happy.”

She hugged me, my face going straight into her tits. My mind wasn’t on Jackie though. I knew I would be talking to my mom soon. I was nervous, but I was looking forward to hopefully reconciling with her. I needed her just like I needed Jackie.