Ela's petite body was doused with radioactivity. She felt a tingle as the chemical and her altered genes reacted to it. Then pain. Her joints were softening up, the tissues turning into cartilage again, allowing her bones to grow and lengthen anew. She felt everything sting, a pain she hadn't felt since she had hit puberty. But it ceased quickly, and her body began to stretch. Slowly her limbs grew longer and thicker, her ribcage expanded, since her cells multiplied like mad, fuelled by the radiation. 

To Ela, it seemed as if the bed was slowly shrinking under her. The feet of the vacant girl pushed against its far side before sliding over it. Yes, in a snail's pace, but still, they slid. Her head touched the wall, so she had to adjust her position. Ela noticed that her shoulders widened and her muscle mass increased. And her body seemed to rejuvenate, since her sickly skin looked more and more healthy the more she grew. Ela even felt fitter, like she was sixteen or seventeen again. Her heart raced. From excitement. Not only was she growing, but she also got a drink from the fountain of youth it seemed. This was fantastic!

Her body drank the radiation. Ela smiled. She wondered if she could work at a nuclear plant now, if radioactivity was unable to hurt her. Maybe it even was some kind of nutrition for her now. She pictured herself in the reactor's core, walking among employees, each one wearing a radsuit, but she doing her job in her normal clothes. Yes, a job. That would be nice. No more begging. 

No. the dose was too low to say that for sure, and Ela didn't want to take any chances. 

She also felt strangely emotional. As if her mind was rejuvenating too. Or was it just the excitement from getting taller?

Those were her thoughts wandering in her head while she grew. 

The growth stopped as the radiation was turned off. Dr. Tylicki came in the room, smiling. She asked how Ela felt and the young woman replied that she had never felt better, sitting up first and then standing up to get out of the bed. As she did so, Dr. Tylicki's smile evaporated. Ela, standing upright, only saw the chamber's wall instead of her first , then she looked down and startled. 

Dr. Tylicki barely reached her chest!

With the top of her head!

"Oh my God!" both women exclaimed simultaneously.

"What happened? This... this was not supposed to happen..." Dr. Tylicki croaked.
Ela was too dumbfounded to say anything. She gazed down at her now long, long body.

"Oh... oh my...". Dr. Tylickiy took Ela's huge wrist and guided her towards a measuring rod, but standing next to it (and the doctor on a chair) she still towered about half a head over it. So a ruler had to be used to measure the remaining part.
Dr. Tylicki gazed at Ela with her dark eyes wide open.

"You... you are 6'10!" she said, totally baffled.

"WHAT?" Ela exclaimed. How tall? 6'10?

"Was this supposed to happen?" she asked.

"No... half a foot taller at most, yes, but you... it seems your genetic makeup is a bit too susceptible to the chemical. Now you are..." she swallowed dryly. "Eerrr... tall," she sheepishly concluded.

"You don't say!"

Ela, sad, went to the bed in her room, laid down and sulked. Dr. Tylicki, who had accompanied her left, murmuring something about doing research on this.
"Great," Ela thought. "First a dwarf, now a giant. Me and my wishes." 

What could she do now? Sure, she sat on the ground while begging, so no one would notice her height then, but what if she walked the streets? People would look at her as if she was a monster. And Henry, what would he say? No more short jokes, that's for sure. Tall jokes now, yes. She saw him standing there, poking fun at her new height.

While she was looking down on him.

This made her suddenly feel different.

Yes, she was taller that him now. So why take insults from him any more? And wasn't she fitter now than before? Ela flexed an arm, and although she didn't look like a bodybuilder at all, a nice bulge appeared. Strong. She could take Henry down. Yes.

Her mood changed. She pictured herself begging while standing in front of people. Intimidated, they would give money. Begging? She could start a sports career, like volleyball or basketball. Yes. With her new stamina and height, she could become an WNBA star, getting lots of money and fans. Ela smiled and got excited. And when Dr. Tylicki reentered the room, she asked with more enthusiasm that the doctor had expected why she was so fit now.

"Well, fat isn't composed of body cells, so no DNA in there, but muscle cells are," the doctor said. "Hence those cells multiplied too. You are indeed stronger and have a better constitution now. We have seen slight increases in the other test subjects."
"Good! How strong am I?" 

"Well, we talked about you and these unexpected results, and want to run some tests...".

Ela had already left the bed, eagerly.

"Where do we start?"