City Nymph (Complete)

[Eelskin]

Hello people! I finished this story a while ago, but I realised I hadn't posted it here. I'm including the complete .doc file at the bottom of this post, which you can download if you feel like skipping ahead to some of the later chapters, but I'll still be updating this story with a new chapter every few days.

This story contains SW, SM, and GTS, as well as graphic sex. There is some intimidation and some non-consensual transformation but it is (almost entirely) gentle.

Enjoy!


City Nymph


Part 1

I had known that Kristen was strange. Not through anything she'd said, or anything anyone had told me. Just a feeling. She’d be in the bar most every night, but she never seemed to come with anyone. She didn’t seem ever to bring friends. It wasn’t a singles bar or anything, but she seemed determined to meet everyone who had a drink there. She’d float from conversation to conversation, and insert herself wherever she felt like it.

It couldn’t have been hard; she was cute. I mean, really cute. Not in a drop-dead-gorgeous way- she didn’t look like a supermodel or anything, she was just really nice to look at. She was short, to start with. Probably just a little more than five feet tall. Her hair was dark brown and it hung over the left side of her face, down to her chin, and it didn’t seem to ever get longer. She wasn’t thin. I mean, she wasn’t fat, but she had some meat on her. Maybe a little chunky. Honestly, she was even a little thinner than I usually like women, but her tits didn’t suffer for it. Man, were they spectacular. She didn’t dress in any kind of fancy way, usually just jeans and casual clothes. You know. Cute.

And I got to watch her every night, and every time she ordered a drink, she’d tip me and flash me the most brilliant smile… make me forget where I was for a second. Make me forget my shitty job and my debt and my ex-girlfriend.

Wait- I take that back. It wasn’t an entirely shitty job. Because I got to hang out with her all night. Until 3:00, anyway. But if she ever stopped coming… well, then the job would lose its only perk. Kristen.

And then the rumours started. The police came by one afternoon and started asking about a few people. I didn’t know any of them- maybe one of the photos looked a little familiar- but it seemed that a few people had disappeared recently, men and women, and there was no connection whatsoever between them. No friends in common, different neighbourhoods, different jobs… the only thing they had in common was this bar. So the cops asked us to keep our eyes open and left. No big deal.

But it was a few hours after they left that Chris suddenly had a brainstorm. It was only 7:30 and the bar had barely begun to fill up. The two of us were watching the hockey game on the big-screen and he looked over at me.

“Holy shit.”

“I know. Can’t believe we’re losing to Boston- again.”

“No… I just thought of something.”

“Yeah?”

“Kristen.”

He had my attention. “What about her?”

“I knew I had seen that guy before.”

“What guys?”

“You know. The dudes the police are looking for.”

“Huh?”

“I saw one of them go home with Kristen last week.”

I gave him a long, hard look. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.”

I looked back at the TV. “So… what are you gonna do?”

“I dunno. Tell you what. See if she picks anyone up tonight. If she does, remember him.”

“I’ll bet you it’s nothing.”

“I bet you $15.”

“Done.”

And we shook on it.

--

Kristen came that night at 10:45 and sauntered up to the bar. “Hey Richard!”

I moved over to meet her. “Hey pretty girl. What can I get you?”

“The usual. A pint.”

“One pint of Boreale.”

“Thanks hon.” She tipped me and smiled at me, brushing her hair away from her face. She left.

“Be careful, there.”

“Huh?” I turned around. There was Chris, who had just watched the exchange. “15 bucks,” he reminded me.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“And don’t disappear yourself.”

“Man, if I get the chance, I’m gone.”

He laughed and went to serve someone who had been trying to get his attention.

--

Four hours later, and we were no closer to resolving our bet. Kristen had been chatting up people all over the bar, but there seemed to be no lucky guy. Usually we’d be able to predict who she was planning on taking home, but tonight she didn’t seem to spend any more time with one guy than with the next. Slim pickings, I guess.

No big deal. The bet could wait.

So, come 3:30, after I had finished counting the cash and mopping the floor, I stepped outside to head home. I had had a few drinks myself, and was kind of tipsy, and moving a bit more slowly than usual. As I was locking the door, I heard a soft moan from not far away. I turned, and there, sitting on the bench right next to the door, she was. Kristen was asleep on the bench right outside the bar. Holy shit, I thought. I guess I should have cut her off about four drinks ago. I finished locking the door and walked up to her.

“Hey, Kristen.” No response.

“Kristen.” I shook her shoulder gently, and she slowly, with a great effort, opened her eyes. It took a few seconds for her to recognize me, but when she did, a drunken, lazy grin spread itself across her face.

“Rich-ard. Uh, hey Rich-ard.”

“What you doing out here, pretty girl?”

“Uh, jus’ takin’ a li’l nap.”

“Well this is no place for a nap. How about I call you a cab?”

“O-kay, yer a cab.” And she started laughing hysterically.

Alright, then. I stepped to the side of the street and hailed a passing taxi. “Where do you live?”

“Uh, on Outremont. Wanna see?”

Do I… “I’d love to, but I’ve got an early morning tomorrow.”

“Rich-ard…”

“Yeah?”

“D’you really think I’m pretty?”

“Sure do.”

“Rich-ard…”

“Yeah?”

“I think… I think I’m gonna be sick.”

And she smiled at me again, like she just said something hilarious, before her eyes glazed over and she ducked her head between her knees and vomited on the ground.

--

“Thanks fer comin’, Rich-ard” We had gone back into the bar and gotten her a glass of water, but she hadn’t sobered up very much, it seemed.

“Well I worry. Wanted to make sure you got home okay.” I stepped back to

“Are you- you sure you can’t come up?”

“Well, the thing is, I—” But that was as much as I was able to get out before she pulled me in to her body with surprising strength, and kissed me on the lips. Clumsily, a little messily, but I did not care. I kissed her back, and we pulled away from each other. She looked into my eyes with such a lustful expression that I couldn’t turn her down any more. I paid the cabbie and we went up, her leaning on me and trying to make out with me and unlock the door at the same time.

--

The sex was amazing. First-time sex had never been that good. The night passed like a blur- I have no idea how long we spent fucking, but when I woke up in the morning, the sunlight was coming in through the window, and the bed next to me was empty. I felt wonderfully refreshed, as though I had slept for ten hours. I felt the side of the bed, and it was cool. How long ago did she get up? I lay there for a few more minutes, then I heard my stomach growling and got up. I put some pants on and walked outside. I heard someone preparing something in the kitchen, so I walked in.

“Hey there pretty girl,” I said as I walked through the door.

Standing there was someone I had never seen before. She turned around and looked at me, smiling. “Well, thanks for that. I promise not to tell Kristen that you hit on me as soon as you got up. I assume you’re Richard.” She was tall, thin with long blonde hair past her shoulders. She was also gorgeous. Not quite as gorgeous as Kristen, but beautiful nonetheless.

“I… uh…”

“Good to meet you. I’m Amanda. Kristen’s my roommate. She had to go to work, though, so she says sorry.”

“Oh. Uh, no problem. Good morning.”

“Afternoon.”

“Uh, yeah. Afternoon.”

“She asked me to get you to write your number for her, though.”

“Sure.” I saw a whiteboard on the fridge with a note that said Stop eating my oranges written on it. I took the marker and write 555 8566 Richard in a corner. I let myself out to avoid awkward roommate-socializing, and headed back home to take a shower.

--

That very night I got a call.

“Hey pretty boy.”

“Kristen?”

“Sorry I had to leave so early this morning.”

“Hey, no problem.”

“How about I make it up to you tonight?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Can you come over in about an hour?”

Um, let me think. “Yeah, sure! I don’t remember your address, though.”

“It’s 6587 Outremont, apartment 301.”

“Hang on, hang on…” I fumbled for a paper and pen, and managed to get it. “Okay. 6587 Outremont. Got it.”

“Good.” I could hear her smiling into the phone. “I have a surprise for you.”

[Eelskin]

Part 2

So I went. Of course I went. I still had that bet on my mind, but the previous night had eased my fears. And, oh man? the girl I had been crushing on for the previous six months had invited me over to her place- a second time. Damn right I was going. I hopped into a taxi almost right away to make sure I wouldn?t be late. I got there half an hour early and wandered around the block to kill time. I tried to remember the layout of the building, and which side of the building her window was on. I was pretty sure I knew which window hers should have been, but it was dark. I kept glancing up at it, but even 5 minutes before I was due to arrive, there was still no life within. Is she late? I thought.

So I buzzed. Sure enough, her voice came on the intercom. ?Richard??

?That?s me.?

?Come up!?

So I guess I had the wrong one. Up I went. My heart was pounding in my chest as I knocked on her door. Neither of us was drunk tonight, so this was almost like a first date. I didn?t have much time to worry about it right at the moment, however, as she opened the door right then.

She looked fantastic. She was wearing a sleek blue dress that really showed off her curves, but I didn?t have time to stare. She pulled me in through the doorway and met my mouth with hers, pushing her tongue into my mouth aggressively. My dick leaped up immediately, and I could feel the blood pulsing through it. We clumsily made our way through her hallway, towards her bedroom. Once in, I was disoriented with lust, and barely registered anything right away; all that seemed to exist was Kristen. For someone so small, she was surprisingly strong- I found that when she wanted me to be closer to her, I was suddenly there. If she wanted me to kiss her neck or her ear, she didn?t tell me; she would push my head gently and suddenly that?s where my mouth would be. She broke off the kiss suddenly, and fell back on the bed. I stood in the middle of the room, and, for the first time, noticed my surroundings.

The room was completely different from the room we had been in 24 hours prior. The room I had slept in the night before was painted pale blue, with a few photographs on the wall of random people I hadn?t met- though a few of them had looked familiar. Her furniture was compact and functional, and there was a small pile pf dirty clothes in the corner. The room itself wasn?t very large, either; no more than 80 square feet or so.

This room, however, was something completely different. To begin, it was at least three times- probably more like four times bigger. Instead of pale blue, it was painted red and gold in an intricate pattern, and the walls were covered with what looked like writing in Arabic- I don?t know, I don?t read Arabic, but it looked like some writing in a language I?d never seen. Her furniture was gone, and replaced with lavish, luxurious, antique-looking furniture. Instead of a dresser, she now had a wardrobe. Instead of a computer desk, she had an old-fashioned writing desk, with an inkpot and quill. I don?t think she even had a bookcase before, but she certainly did now, and it covered one entire wall. The bed itself was bigger, and it had a canopy over it, with silk curtains draped down around all four sides, held up by four poles that looked like they were made from gold. She grabbed one of these curtains now and pulled herself up slowly, licking her lips.

?Surprised??

?Uh?? What could I say? I had no idea what was going on. This obviously wasn?t the same room we had been in before. My memory must have been wrong. We must have gone through a different door. Maybe a different apartment! ?Where are we??

?My room.?

?How many rooms do you have? This isn?t the same one.?

?Mmm.? She grunted her discontent. ?Come on, Richard. No time for boring questions like that one. Is that really the only thing on your mind right now?? She pulled herself up fully and began walking towards me slowly and deliberately. I didn?t move, my mouth dry and not comprehending what was going on. She leaned up and kissed me on my chin, and pulled my face down towards her. She kissed me again, and I responded this time, kissing her back. What else was there to do?

It was then, though, that things began to get really strange. I put my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me, and I thought I could feel my hands slowly losing their grip, as though her waist were trying to get away from them, though I held her from both the left and the right. At the same time, I had to lean down just a little bit more than a moment before to kiss her. It felt as though she were bending her knees, just slightly, so I brought my left hand up behind her shoulder and shifted my weight and gently pushed her back into a dive. She gasped in surprise and smiled, and as she bent her knees to accommodate the new position, I realised that she hadn?t been bending them at all before! I straightened up and took another look at Kristen, and then looked again. And then a double take. She was clearly smaller than she had been a moment ago. Not by much, just by a couple of centimetres, but? well, maybe several centimetres. She looked up at me with a knowing, playful smile.

?What?s the matter, Richard??

?Uh?? Now I definitely didn?t know how to respond. The top of her head now came up to my mouth, about, which was clearly lower than before. She was clearly standing straight up, though? ?Are you feeling okay??

?Me? I?m feeling just fine.? She took a step forward and kissed me on my chest, then another one, slightly lower down, then another? I looked down at her and I could see that she wasn?t angling her head at all. I stepped away from her, out of her embrace. ?Come on, Rich-ard? loosen up a little,? she said as she took a step to follow me. The top of her head was now just below my chin.

?Kristen? are you shrinking?? I couldn?t believe the words were coming out of my mouth, but there they were.

She only laughed. ?Of course.? As though it were a stupid question. She stood still and I watched as she slowly dwindled, getting just a little bit smaller with each passing second. ?Now come on,? she said, biting her lower lip, ?we have work to do.?

I backed away and made a beeline for the door. I heard her call my name as I ran, but didn?t stop. I opened the door and there was a closet behind it. Clothes hanging- an ordinary closet. I looked at the inside of the door and saw a large mirror hanging from it. I must have picked the wrong door. I wheeled around and scanned the room, and saw another door on the opposite wall. I ran for it, flung it open, and stepped through.

The room on the other side was not a room I had ever seen before. It certainly wasn?t the room I had come from to get here, and I doubted it would even have fit in this apartment building. To begin with, the ceilings were at least 30 metres high, and the far wall must have been hundreds of metres away. The whole room was dark- not so dark that I couldn?t see anything, but the whole room seemed to have a deep blue tone to it- though, as I later noticed, it shifted between grey and purple and blue, the longer you stay there. I turned back around and saw that the door was still there, though it looked tiny compared to the enormous size of the wall. I looked up and could see, several stories above me, a balcony ? though, being directly below it, I could only see the underside. Looking around the room, several balconies were visible at different heights, of different sizes. I could see windows on the walls, at strange intervals and in different sizes, but as near as I could tell, none of them allowed a view of outside; they all seemed to lead to different rooms. Hanging from the ceiling was an enormous chandelier, lit by hundreds of candles, casting a soft, flickering light over the entire room. And directly below it was? a piano. A beautiful, shining, smooth black piano. Larger than any? hell, it was larger than most houses I?d seen. I wouldn?t have been able to climb up onto the bench.

To my right I could see a staircase. I was certain that the apartment had not had more than one level- but as I thought that, I chided myself. You aren?t in the apartment anymore. I began running toward it, but as I ran, it seemed to get no closer to it. I ran for about 30 seconds before I realized that I was getting closer- very, very slowly. They were enormous. Even if I made it to the steps, I wouldn?t have been able to climb them. They were probably taller than I was. I stopped running, in the middle of this enormous room, tried to catch my breath, and turned around to find a way out. There were several doors, of various sizes, throughout the room- the one I had just come through was still there, and I saw that there were doors many times bigger- and, as I looked, I found doors many times smaller as well, that I wouldn?t have been able to for my head through. What the hell is this place? I thought.

As that thought ran through my head, however, I heard the creaking of a door? but very far away, and very, very loud, so that it echoed throughout the huge almost empty room. I turned to the top of the stairs, and a pair of French doors opened to reveal the biggest human being I have ever seen. I recognized her immediately as Amanda.

That is, she looked a lot like Amanda had, except for being about 25 metres tall. She was wearing a light blue nightgown, which could have been a circus tent, and no underwear- which was very clear to me from my angle. My eyes traveled all around her body, and stopped when they met hers. She was looking directly at me and frowning.

Without a word she began to walk down the steps, right towards me. I turned and ran as fast as I could towards the door- any door. I picked the closest one, thinking that anywhere would be better than here. Behind me, I could hear the slow, rhythmic footfalls of the giantess chasing me. When I was almost at the door, I stopped in horror; this was not the door I had used to enter the room. This door only reached my thighs. I hesitated only for a moment, then grabbed the handle and pulled. The door swung open, and I bent down to squeeze myself through. Once my head was in, I saw on the other side of the door was a tiny swimming pool! It couldn?t have been more than a couple of metres long, but there were dozens- maybe a hundred- people swimming in it. The lights above shone brightly, and it seemed to be the middle of the afternoon. The people, though, were all of different sizes? the tallest one was maybe 15 centimetres, and the smallest? well, I couldn?t be sure I saw everyone. I was sure there were some who were too small for me to see. I didn?t have time to think about it, though, as my legs were grabbed from behind and I was suddenly upside-down, hanging far above the ground, with the blood rushing to my head, suspended with my left foot between the thumb and middle finger of a giant Amanda. My ears popped.

?Running away, eh?? I tried to answer, but nothing came out. All I could think about was the size of her mouth, which could have taken in my shoulders. Her teeth were a brilliant white, but I bet they wouldn?t have been comfortable at all. ?That?s rude. Come on, now.? And with that, I was carried, still dangling upside-down, to one of the several dozen balconies that overlooked the room. I couldn?t tell you which one it was; I was so disoriented, I had almost no idea of what was going on. I wasn?t held for very long; a giantess moves quickly. So after only a few moments, I was dropped unceremoniously onto one of the balconies. It was shaped as a semicircle about 10 metres wide. I stood up, shakily, and looked up at Amanda. The balcony only came up to her stomach, which still meant that had I fallen, it would have been my death. She put her hands on her hips and stood there, glaring at me. I sat, unmoving, until she said, ?What are you waiting for? Go on.? I was grateful her mouth wasn?t directly in front of my ears anymore, because it was loud enough to be painful. She pointed behind me at the wall, and there was a door which was right about my size. I gulped, and looked back at her. She sighed, and extended one enormous finger to push me towards it. Her index, almost as long as my leg, connected with my chest and knocked me down. I fell backward, and she continued pushing my prone form until I was lying right next to the door. ?Go on.?

I didn?t know what would be on the other side of the door, but I couldn?t imagine anything worse than the angry giant woman in front of me. I stood up, brushed myself off, and turned the knob.

[Eelskin]

Part 3

There was Kristen, sitting on the bed, in the same room I had run out of. I turned around to go back through the door, but behind me was smooth, empty wall. I faced the wall, searching desperately for the door. It has to be here. Doors don?t just disappear. It must blend in with the wall or something.

?Richard.?

I pretended not to hear her. I started moving sideways to my left like a crab.

?Richard, I can still see you even when you?re pressed against the wall like that.?

?I, uh??

?Come sit down.?

I turned, very slowly, bracing myself for what I would see. I saw her sitting on the bed, as she had been before. She was just as tall as I?d always known her, her usual height of about five feet. She patted the bed next to her. ?Come on. I promise I won?t do anything unexpected.?

?Your, uh, your roommate?s outside.?

?Yeah, I know.?

?She?s taller than I remember.?

?Yeah, I know.?

?How, uh? how did she do that??

?She didn?t. I did it.?

?Okay? how did you do that??

?In here, I can actually do anything.?

I didn?t answer right away. I tried to process that information, but I couldn?t. It made no sense.

?How??

?Well? you?ve heard of nymphs??

?Um? you mean like nature spirits??

?Well, kind of. Nymphs are spirits associated with a particular place or element. Dryads are nymphs of the forest, linked to oak trees. Naiads are fresh water nymphs. But there are nymphs everywhere? most of us just don?t step out of our way to draw attention to ourselves.?

?Wait? you?re a nature spirit??

?No. We aren?t associated with nature? I mean, most of the stories that you humans pass down from generation to generation concern nymphs who live in forests or clouds or other ?natural? themes. But we live in any area. And what you think of as ?natural? isn?t really important to us. You think of any area unaltered by humans as ?natural,? but that distinction really doesn?t matter that much to those of us who aren?t human. But to answer your question? I am a city nymph.?

?A city nymph.?

?Yes. And I have here my ?grove,?? she held her hands in the air to simulate quotation marks, ?which I never say, by the way. I call it my apartment. But yes, within this place, I can do whatever I want. I can change anything, create anything, be anything.?

?How come I saw you outside the place??

?Richard, the whole city is my home. This particular apartment is where I come to rest and where my power is greatest, but I would be terribly unhappy and lonely if I couldn?t leave. I?m often outside.?

?Well? how come it looked like a normal apartment yesterday??

?Because I wanted it to. Everything here bends to my will.?

?I don?t? I don?t know.?

?What don?t you know??

?I don?t know what to think of any of this. It makes no sense. I can?t just believe this.?

?Well, maybe I can help convince you.? She stood up and slowly walked toward me. She took my hands in hers and pulled me gently toward her. I took a step forward and she kissed me.

Ah, why the hell not, I thought to myself.

Kristen kissed me gently at first, and, as I responded, more and more forcefully. She broke the kiss, and laughed. ?Let?s try this again, shall we? Don?t be scared. I promise I won?t hurt you.? She put her arms around the back of my neck and jumped up, and I instinctively brought my arms down to catch her. I couldn?t believe how light she was, but I didn?t have time to comment about it, as she giggled and kissed me again, pulling my face down towards her own. As I kissed her lips, I could feel her body slowly dwindling in size, there in my arms, and she quickly became even lighter. She leaned towards my left, and whispered in my ear, ?Carry me to the bed.? I walked forward, and she kicked her legs with delight as I gave her a gentle squeeze.

I laid her down and straightened back up, looking down at her tiny frame. She spread her legs, just a little, invitingly, then closed them again and stood up. As she stood, she shook her body and her dress, which had been getting looser, fell off and landed in a pile at her feet. She stepped out of it and walked right up to me, completely naked.

The top of Kristen?s head was level with mine- but she was standing on the big, thick bed, while I was standing on the floor. She paused there, and I took in the sight of this tiny nymph staring at me with lust in her eyes. She leaned forward and sucked on my earlobe lightly, and when she pulled away, she only came up to my forehead. She looked down at my crotch, and I realized for the first time that my dick was pressing almost painfully against my zipper. She reached and pulled it down, grunting with the effort of it, and as she undid the button, my dick sprang out. It was bright red and throbbing with pleasure, and she began to stroke it eagerly. In comparison to her, it looked enormous- I have an average-sized penis, just a little under six inches, but watching those tiny hands massage me, I felt like it measured ten. She stroked it with both hands, moving them up and down my shaft, and licked the head. When she straightened up again, she had shrunk yet again, just a little bit.

She looked into my eyes, grinning ear-to-ear. ?Richard, you look terrified. Loosen up a little!? She fell backwards onto the bed and bounced a few centimetres into the air. ?Come here!? Still very dazed, but very turned on, I obeyed. I crawled onto the bed and followed her. Now, with me on my hands and knees, she stood up and I was staring directly at her breasts. She couldn?t have been more than a metre tall. She reached around to the back of my head and pulled me forward, pressing my face against her torso. I began licking her undersized pussy, trying to fit my tongue into her tiny pussy. I never felt so clumsy, but she didn?t seem to have any problems. She moaned and thrust her hips forward, pressing herself against me face even more. I propped myself up on my elbows and, closing my eyes, reached around to place my hands behind her back. She squealed and held on to my ears with her hands. I licked and sucked her entire crotch, and she loved every moment of it, rhythmically bucking her hips and moaning. I noticed that as her moans came slightly faster and faster, they also became slightly quieter and quieter. Well, until she came, that is. She grabbed my hair and, yelling at the top of her lungs, yanked on it, hard. I flinched, but she relaxed her grip and let go, exhaling audibly. I gently pulled her away from my face, licking my lips, and saw that she had shrunk drastically- she had halved in size!

I stared at her in disbelief while she caught her breath. I sat up, and she stood, and she still only barely came up to my chest. ?Take off your pants and lie back,? she said, and though her voice was quiet, I had no trouble hearing her whatsoever. I obeyed, and my cock stood straight up, pointing at the bed?s canopy. Kristen walked towards it, taking tiny steps with her long strides, and began to rub her body against it.

She was only about three times as tall as my dick at this point; when she stood on the bed, its base was level with her knees and its head came almost up to her breasts. She took advantage of that position; leaning forward, she rubbed her breasts against the head of my dick and ground her crotch against my balls. Wrapping her arms around it and gently twisting, she moaned in pleasure loud enough that I figured she must have been enjoying it just as much as I was! I soon felt a familiar pressure building in my groin, and I had just enough time to warn her, ?I?m coming!? before my jism erupted from the head of my dick, covering her chest and slowly dripping down her body. She cried out with pleasure from the heat of the fluid, and slowly crawled up my chest on her hands and knees. I barely felt her weight as she made her way towards my face, and when she reached me, she placed a kiss on my lips and lay down on my chest. She had stopped shrinking, it seemed, and I estimated her height at no more than 35 cm. I was suddenly exhausted, and could barely keep my eyes open. Kristen, too, seemed like she was about to fall asleep. I tried to move her, gently, but as I reached toward her, a wave of dizziness passed over me and I passed out with my tiny, shrunken lover curled up in a ball on my chest.

[JBird]

This is really awesome, and well written. MOAR! :P

[Eelskin]

Part 4

I woke up trying to get back into my dream. It had been the most wonderful, most bizarre dream I had ever had? well, until I woke up fully, of course, and realised that it hadn?t been a dream at all. Actually, I still hadn?t ruled it out at this point. It might have been a dream, but if it was, it was a damned persistent one.

I woke up alone- again. I looked around, and I was in the same room I had been before- that is, the room I had fallen asleep in. I lay in her bed for a while longer, and I realised after I few minutes that I could hear music. I got up and looked around, and noticed that, once again, there were two doors in the room. The door I had entered by, which had disappeared last night, was back in the wall, plain as day. I walked toward it, and sure enough, the music was coming from the other side. I found my pants and put them on, and slowly, cautiously, I opened the door. What is it with doors in this place? I thought to myself. I never know what?s going to be on the other side.

On the other side of this door was a giantess playing piano. I stepped out onto one of the semicircular balconies- I didn?t know if it was the same one I had been placed on the previous day, but I suppose it doesn?t really matter. I walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned against the rail to get a better look. Sure enough, Amanda was seated at the enormous piano I had seen in the centre of the room, still dressed in her blue nightgown, and was playing a beautiful piece I didn?t recognize. I considered myself a decent piano player, but this woman was a virtuoso.

When she finished the movement, she looked up at me and I started. ?Good morning,? she said, grinning at me. I could hear something that sounded vaguely like the ocean, but not quite.

?Uh, good morning,? I responded.

?Are you hungry??

?Me??

?Yes. Yes, you.?

?Uh?? I suddenly realised that I was famished. ?Yeah, kinda.?

?I can hear your stomach growling from over here. Wait two minutes.? And she stood up, pushing the bench back from behind her. I could feel the vibrations from the bench scraping against the floor. She went up the stairs and disappeared through the doors. The ocean-like noise had ceased, and I looked around the room. There were windows now; they were enormous, at least 100 metres wide, and they let wonderful sunshine in to illuminate the room. It was a beautiful room. I looked back down at the piano, and I could see movement. Looking close, I saw tiny people walking across the surface of the lid. I couldn?t guess how big they were- but they weren?t all the same size. Some of them about as tall as they keys were long, some were less than a quarter of that. I realised with a shock that the sound like the ocean that I had heard was the sound of dozens of clapping hands, applauding this giant concert.

After a moment, Amanda returned through the doors and laid a huge tray down on the piano, being careful that no one was underneath, with two tables on it. She then walked over to me. As she approached, I flashed back to the memory of dangling upside-down from her fingers, and my heart jumped into my throat. But she lowered her hand palm-up onto the balcony, and indicated that I should climb on. I did so, hesitantly, and stood in her palm while she waited.

?You might want to sit down,? she advised me. I sat, and understood why. When she raised her hand, even though she was being gentle, the force of the wind almost knocked me over. I grabbed onto one of her fingers, as thick as a dinner plate was wide, and she carried me over. It was only a few steps for her, but it would have taken me ten minutes to walk from the balcony to the piano- even assuming I could have gotten down and up. She placed her hand down atop the piano, and I climbed off, my legs shaking. But there in front of me were two dinner tables, with a feast on top of them. Pancakes, eggs, tempeh, sausages, toast, coffee, tea, juice, and whatever else I could have wanted. Not only that, but each kind of food was in all sorts of sizes- that is, there were normal-sized pancakes, and then there were tiny, tiny pancakes the size of quarters, and every size in between. Sitting at the table was Amanda?s audience. Most were about the same size as I was, but those who were smaller would sit right on the table, holding tiny plates and walking from dish to dish to collect their breakfast. I was shocked enough that I had to remind myself to move and get food, or else there wouldn?t be any left.

Amanda sat on the bench and ate with us, placing her plate on the lid of the piano right next to where we all were sitting. One of the fellows looked up at her and yelled ?These pancakes are delicious, Amanda!?

She beamed. ?Thanks! I tried making them with vanilla extract today. D?you like it??

A chorus of positive responses were returned back at her from all around me. I gaped up at her face. ?You made these??

?Yep! They aren?t hard.?

?So? who exactly are you??

?I told you. I?m Kristen?s roommate.?

The breakfast crowd laughed. One woman started choking on her tempeh.

?Just a roommate??

She smiled. ?Well? I?m also her chef, housekeeper, resident musician, bouncer, and friend.?

?Bouncer??

?Well, it doesn?t come up that often, but every once in a while I have to get rid of religious proselytizers.?

Now I almost choked on my tempeh as that mental image appeared in my head. Talk about knocking on the wrong door? ?Okay, but I mean? are you a nymph??

?Not me. Just human. A human lucky enough to make friends with a nymph, that is.?

?Well, she puts you to work.?

?Yeah, but it?s a great job. It?s loads of fun, and I get to stay with great people, and? well, I get to be a giantess.?

?Yeah, it? Yeah. There is that.?

A voice popped up from next to my left ear. ?Amanda gets special privileges.? I turned my head and there was Kristen, sitting on my shoulder with her legs crossed. I hadn?t heard, seen or felt her arrive. She was about 25 cm tall, and munching on a tiny piece of toast, holding a plate the size of a poker chip. ?Good morning.?

I managed to respond this time, without my mouth hanging open for too long. ?Good morning to you. How come you keep getting up so early??

?I don?t actually sleep. Unlike you ? I don?t think I?ve ever seen anyone sleep as much as you do.?

?Yeah, well, I work late. I need to sleep late.?

?Well, you?re my guest here. Feel free to sleep as long as you like.?

?I will.?

?For now, though?? and she leaned in and nibbled the inside of my ear. ?Want to be shown around??

?Uh, sure.?

?Amanda, do you mind??

?Not at all, boss.?

And with that, Amanda placed her gigantic hand down on the lid of the piano. I stared at it, still amazed at the size of it, until Kristen kicked my shoulder gently. I cautiously stepped on, and sat down, and Amanda carried us gently over towards one of the many doors lining the room. Kristen, still sitting on my shoulder, swung her legs back and forth while I tried not to get motion sickness. She set us down and I climbed off, still not at all used to this mode of transportation. I found myself standing in front of a closed door. I didn?t move at all until Kristen kicked me again. I reached out, turned the knob, and pulled.

[Eelskin]

Part 5

The room in front of me was colourful. That is to say, every flat surface I saw was a splash of blues, greens, oranges and pinks. I took a few more steps in and looked around. There were people painting- everywhere. Some were covering the walls, some had canvases set up, and some were painting people- anyone who would stand still long enough to be painted.

?Because we aren?t constrained by space here, we have as much room as we need to do- whatever,? Kristen explained, still riding my shoulder. ?Not everyone is into art, but those who are can spend a lot of time here.?

I walked by a woman who came up only to my knee painting beautiful life-sized flowers on the wall next to the door where I had entered. I approached a man about the same size as me who had laid his canvas down on the floor, and dipped? I had to look twice to make sure I was understanding it correctly. He was dipping tiny men and women in different colours of paint and then having them walk across the canvas, directing them to create paths of footprints and curved intersecting lines. I looked down at his feet and saw a tiny woman, no more than 10 cm high, sitting on the top of his bare foot and paining what looked like Japanese characters in black on this man?s ankle.

I couldn?t believe what I was seeing. I wandered from person to person, admiring the various works I saw. There was realism and abstract painting, and there were some people who clearly had no talent whatsoever, but were enjoying themselves immensely anyway, just painting for the fun of it. I approached one woman, of roughly my size, who was painting something abstract on a canvas tilted to a 45 degree angle. She picked something up and placed it at the top of the canvas and watched as it slid down slowly, leaving a streak of dark green paint along the length of the picture. I took a closer look and saw that it couldn?t have been any regular shape that she used, as the trail of paint twisted and splashed on its way down. Looking down at the base of the canvas, there I saw a tiny man, who couldn?t have been more than 3 or 4 centimetres tall. He was standing up and seemed to be wiping himself off, but being covered in the paint, he wasn?t doing a very good job.

The woman turned to me and saw who was resting comfortably on my shoulder. She was so light that I could almost forget that she was there, especially since everyone seemed to regard all of the giants and shrunken people with such complete casualness.

?Hi Kristen!?

?Hi Joanne. I like what you?re doing.?

?Thanks! Although I can?t seem to find what I?m looking for.?

?What?s that??

?Well, I really think over here,? and she gestured toward a mostly bare area of the canvas, ?I?d really like to have just a little bit of cyan. But none of my brushes are the right size.?

I spoke up. ?Your brushes??

She looked at me and smiled. ?Yeah. My brushes.? And she pointed down at a group of people washing themselves off on the ground not far from her feet, about a dozen of them, the smallest being the poor fellow who had just been covered in green, and the largest being almost 30 centimetres tall.

?Why?? popped in Kristen. ?How big are you looking for??

?Um? maybe 8 or 9 centimetres. Jason is 6 and Marie-Eve is 11, and that?s as close as I have.?

?I can help you out with that. Pick me up.? Joanna?s eyes lit up as she reached out her hand to my shoulder and Kristen stepped on. As she was carried toward the canvas, she dwindled quickly until she was almost as small as my middle finger. ?How?s this??

?Um?? she gently held Kristen up to the blank spot. ?Maybe a little smaller? Just a bit.? And, suddenly, she was. ?Perfect. Alright, you ready??

?Hang on, let me get undressed.? And she quickly removed all her clothes, there in Joanna?s cupped hands. ?Richard, can you hold these??

?Uh, sure.? I stepped forward to take the tiny garments that she gave to me.

?Okay. Go ahead.?

Joanna placed Kristen on her own right shoulder, then took an empty bowl and a tube of paint and squeezed a generous amount of blue paint into the bottom of the bowl, mixing it vigorously with her fingers. She held it up to herself and I watched as Kristen let herself slide down her shoulder and into the bowl. Joanna held the bowl a small distance away from her face and watched as Kristen, laughing, churned the viscous paint with her arms until small bubbled formed in it. She stood up and looked herself over, and noticed her left breast was still showing. She leaned back down and picked up some paint in her cupped hands, and splashed it all over herself, letting it drip down slowly back into the bowl. She turned so that she was facing away from me. ?How?s my back??

I answered, ?You missed a spot.?

?Can you get it for me??

I extended two fingers and dipped the tips in the paint, marveling at how she was no bigger than they were. I pulled them out and touched them to her back, gingerly, covering up every bit of skin I could see. I dipped my thumb and held her as gently as I could between my thumb and index and middle fingers, making sure that I covered her with paint, but also taking care not to squeeze her. She laughed as I touched under her arms. ?That tickles!? I touched her all over her body, thinking back to the night before, when we had had sex? though even then, she hadn?t been nearly as small as she was now.

When I got up to her neck, I pulled my hand away. ?All done.?

?Not quite,? said Joanna, and brought the tube up over Kristen?s head. She squeezed and the fluid poured out over her head, getting into her hair and covering her face. Kristen crouched down into a ball and began to rub her hair with the colour, until she was completely covered. She wiped away the paint from her eyes with her hands and shook them to get rid of any excess, wiped her mouth, and said, ?Okay. Ready.?

Joanna picked her up very gently between three fingers and placed her on the top of the slanted canvas. ?Can I let go??

?Sure. Anytime.?

And with that, Joanna let Kristen go. She fell no more than 2 centimetres, but when she hit the uneven ground, she was completely unable to gain any kind of footing, and tumbled down the canvas, rolling and sliding and flipping head over heels, leaving a trail of light blue colour all the way down the canvas, until she landed in the small basin of water at the bottom. She went underwater for a moment and then her head rose above the surface, laughing and spitting dirty paint-tainted water. ?Okay, pull me out!? Joanna reached in a hand and lifted her out, and she lay on her back, stretched across the artist?s fingers, until Joanna stopped moving, presenting her back to me.

?Thanks for your help, dear.?

?Hey, my pleasure! Anytime. Richard??

I reached out my hand and she stepped from hers to mine, flapping her hands to shake off drops of water.

?You want your clothes back??

?Not yet. I want to clean myself off properly. You want to see the pool??

?The pool? You have a pool here??

?Of course. Who doesn?t like to swim??

?Well, where is it??

?Over that way.? And she pointed to a door on the opposite wall from the one we had used to enter the room. I walked toward it, opened it, and went through.

[Eelskin]

6

It wasn?t until I stepped through the door that I realised I had already seen the pool. Last night, when nothing made any sense, when I was running blindly and opened up that random door? except this time, the room was huge. That is to say, it was about as big as a normal Olympic-sized pool, whereas before, it had been many times smaller. I turned to my left to find that Kristen was no longer on my shoulder. I looked around on the floor, hoping that I hadn?t stepped on her without noticing, somehow, because at her new size, she was even harder to keep track of than before. I turned in a circle before I saw her over to my right, by the wall, rinsing herself off underneath a cascade of water coming from a ledge in the wall. It was too high for me to see above it, but I could hear voices talking and laughing. I headed over to where she was, and she turned around, smiled, and looked up- way, way up, as she barely came up to my ankle at this point.

?You coming in??

?I don?t have my bathing suit.?

?Do I look like I?m wearing a bathing suit??

?Uh, no.?

?So come in.?

I didn?t want to tell her that I don?t like the water. It?s something I?d always been somewhat embarrassed about. I could swim, that wasn?t the problem- I just always felt uncomfortable if I wasn?t on solid ground. ?I don?t? I?m not??

?Rich-ard?? Rolling her eyes, she slowly and deliberately snapped her fingers. As she did so, I suddenly got very light-headed and took a step backwards to balance myself. I stepped into a puddle of warm water I hadn?t noticed, slipped, and began to fall backwards, when I felt two enormous hands on my back, propping me up.

?Careful, there.? The unfamiliar voice of a woman came from above me, and when I looked up, I saw a gorgeous dark-skinned girl smiling down from above me. I turned around to look at her properly, and realize that I barely reached her hips. She must be over ten feet tall! I thought.

?Uh, thanks.?

?No problem.? She walked towards the pool and dove in. How did I not notice her before? I thought to myself. I looked back down at Kristen, who was still standing with her arms folded, smirking.

?I didn?t realize you had anyone bigger than normal size here. I mean, aside from Amanda.?

?I don?t.?

Huh? I took a moment to try to figure that out. But? and it was then that I noticed that Kristen now reached halfway up my shin. My mouth went dry. I looked around again and saw that the room was now far, far bigger than it had seemed a moment ago. The pool itself was more like a small lake than a pool. And I also saw that there were now lots of people taller than me. None of them seemed to care, or even notice, my size- I must have blended right in, because even though I now must have been only have of my previous height, I was far from being the shortest person in the room. For starters, there was Kristen right next to me, but even not counting her, there were plenty of folks running around who came up only to my hips or to my knees, even. There may even have been a few people smaller than Kristen. I turned back to her.

?Now, Richard, are you going to come in the pool, or so I have to bring you down to size even further?? She grinned mischievously. I had no doubt that she would carry out her threat, and I had no desire to know how much she was willing to carry it out. With a snap of her fingers, she had dropped me by? I would guess maybe half my height. Resigned to her orders, I nodded. ?Good.? She grinned again. ?And just because it means that much to you?? she snapped her fingers again and suddenly my clothes had disappeared. I looked down to see that I wasn?t completely naked- instead, I was now wearing the tiniest speedo I had ever seen. It was bright blue, with a large red spot right on my junk. I looked back up at her as she began to laugh.

?Oh, I knew it would be funny, but I didn?t realize how much? oh that?s wonderful!?

?You?ve made your point. I?ll go naked.?

?Are you sure? I think I really like this look for you.?

?I?m sure,? I said as I lifted it off myself. Looking around, I realised I had nowhere to put it. ?What should I??

?I?ve got it.? And she snapped her fingers again, and it disappeared from my hand. ?Shall we?? She jogged over to the edge of the pool, and I walked slowly so as not to outpace her.

In the pool were not only people doing laps, but also? boats? Tiny, model-sized boats were floating in the water, and looking out onto them, I could see that there were doll-sized people piloting them. I slipped into the water slowly, noting that even though the marker at the edge of the water read ?4 ft,? I couldn?t touch my feet to the bottom. As I tread water, a tiny motorboat sped past me with an engine that sounded like an electric razor, leaving a tiny wake behind it. I turned, looking for Kristen, and found her in a tiny dinghy, floating several metres away. I swam toward her, but when I approached, she just pointed behind me. I turned around just in time to see an enormous man- well, he seemed enormous, but he might not have been more then five feet tall- already in the air with his knees tucked into his chest and his hands clasped around his shins. I watched with horror as he laughed and struck the water with enormous force, sending a small tidal wave towards us. I began to turn, but not quickly enough, as the wall of water hit me and I was soon under water.

The force of the water twisted me around, and I couldn?t tell which way was up. I began to swim before realizing that I was actually pointed towards the bottom, and tried to right myself. By the time I got to the surface, I was almost out of breath and was having trouble exerting much force. My head broke the water, and I gasped in a huge lungful of air, but the water above me was still choppy, which, at my size, was not at all pleasant. I inhaled a bit of water with my air and started to choke. My head went underwater again.

Suddenly I felt someone?s hand grasp my own. I squeezed that hand as hard as I could (which was probably not very hard at all), and I felt myself being pulled up towards what I hoped was the surface.

My eyes were still closed and I was still trying to make sense of what was going on, but I knew that I had been pulled onto a boat, because I was resting on something that was bobbing and weaving with the waves. Around me, I could hear people laughing and applauding, though a few complaints could be heard as well. When I opened my eyes, I saw Kristen crouched over me, grinning, as she usually was. It occurred to me that if I saw her with a frown on her face, I might not recognize her.

?You okay??

I spat out a bit more water. ?Yeah.?

?Good. You want to stay in the boat??

It was then that I realised what she had done. For a moment, I was too disoriented to realize that we were, once again, the same size. Then it clicked in my head that I was in her dinghy. I'm no more than a few centimeters tall! I peered over the edge of the tiny boat and saw a world of giants. I was now not in a lake, I was in a sea. They were splashing tidal waves and spitting waterfalls at each other. This is too much for me to handle, I thought.

?HI, KRISTEN!?

Kristen turned and, completely nonchalantly, responded, ?Hi Mia! How are you enjoying the water??

I turned and saw, up-close, a woman treading water, whose head was three times taller than my entire body. She probably could have swallowed me. She didn?t seem to notice me, though. She and Kristen chatted away. She seemed to be new here as well, but she was adjusting just fine to this bizarre world. I wondered if I?d ever be able to. Then I realised that this woman looked familiar. Just as that thought crossed my mind, she turned to look at me, and the same thing showed across her face.

?Um, hey. I?m Mia. Have we met???

I wracked my brain trying to remember where I?d seen her. ?I think so? Uh, I?m Richard.?

It came to her first. ?Oh, I know you! You?re a bartender, right??

It struck me the very next moment. Her face was one of those which I had been asked about by the police officer. Mia has been to the bar. She disappeared last week. And this is where she disappeared to. Oh my God.

[Eelskin]

7

I sat in the dinghy in shock. Mia and Kristen were both staring at me. ?What?? Kristen asked.

?I, uh? I?ve seen your face before. Um, somebody came by the bar looking for you a few days ago. How long have you been here??

Mia looked surprised and a little embarrassed. ?I?m not sure. I guess maybe a day or two??

?No, that can?t be so. I saw your photo before I came here, and I?ve been here for? uh?? Wait a minute. How long have I been here? Only a few hours, right? Or? a day? A week? I can?t? seem? to keep track of time here.

Kristen interrupted me. You?ve only been here since last night, Richard. Mia, you came almost two weeks ago.?

Mia?s eyes opened wide. ?Two weeks? That?s? no, that?s impossible! I can?t have been here for two weeks! I have a job! I have friends! I was just going to be gone for the weekend??

Some of the other people in the pool were beginning to stare at Mia, who was being quite loud. Especially since most of the swimmers were quite a bit smaller, so she was very audible. Kristen noticed this as well, and looked around unhappily.

?Mia,? she said quietly, but loudly enough for us to hear, ?maybe we should discuss this more quietly. And elsewhere.?

?Discuss what? My life? How am I going to explain being nowhere for two weeks? I have to go! I have??

And suddenly we were in another room. It was an average-sized living room, with no doors or windows that I could see, but several lights hanging from the ceiling. I found myself sitting on a semi-circular couch with a towel wrapped around me. My hair was still dripping chlorine water. I turned to my right and sitting next to me was Mia, who was now the same size as me. Did I grow or did she shrink? Does it even matter? Is there a difference? Now that we were about the same size, I could get a good look at her, and saw that although she wasn?t tall (anymore), she was very strong. She was probably an athlete, which made her slightly imposing, despite the fact that I would have to look down slightly when speaking to her. She was also very beautiful, with black curly hair falling down just past her shoulders, almost blending in with her dark skin. Her eyes were wide and bright, and her body was toned even more than mine had been- when I was still playing basketball, years ago.

Mia was staring at the table in front of us, and I turned to see Kristen, approximately 15 cm tall, sitting in a tiny chair, fully dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and dried off, staring back at Mia.

?Now, Mia, when I ask you to lower your voice, I expect you to lower your voice.?

?Lower my voice?? Mia stood up. ?Lower my voice?? Kristen sat unfazed, looking up at Mia, who was many times her size. The table she was sitting on was at Mia?s mid-thigh, and Mia was bending down now, shouting at her. ?I?m going to be fired by now! I?m sure my boyfriend had started fucking someone else. Hell, what if my rent is late? I might have been evicted! How come you kept me here for two goddamn weeks??

?You could have left anytime. You know that.?

?Yeah, if someone told me how much time had passed! You ruined my life!? And Mia hit the table with her fist as she said it.

The table shook, but Kristen didn?t need to take a step to keep her balance, she just shook with the table. She barely noticed. Kristen didn?t flinch, didn?t even look at the hand that was much bigger than she was at it struck the table. She just continued staring impassively at Mia as she yelled. ?You think you can just kidnap people and keep there here without? with? out?? and Mia?s thought trailed off as she began looking at her fist on the table. I could see her arm muscles flexing, but her hand wasn?t moving at all. She bit her lip, and I could tell that she was exerting all of her arm strength, but nothing happened. I understood that she was trying to pick her hand up off the table, but it had been stuck there. She turned back to Kristen. ?Let me go.?

Kristen, still sitting in a perfectly relaxed position, said calmly, ?You are in no position to be giving orders. Now I want you to calm down, Mia. Once you?re calm, we can discuss things rationally. But I am not going to sit here and listen to you vent your anger. Do you understand me??

Mia?s eyes flashed back and forth. I could tell that she was debating something internally, and I hoped to high Heaven that she wasn?t contemplating doing anything stupid out of anger. Looking at Kristen, I could see that she had come to the same realisation as I had, but she continued to sit there, perfectly at ease.

Kristen saw that, and, unused to being unable to intimidate someone, got angry. She brought her left hand around quickly and snatched up Kristen, bringing her up to her face. She smiled, as the tiny woman only centimetres away from her nose.

?Listen here. I know you can change size and shit, but I can crush you in a second. Now I want you to unstuck my hand, give me some goddamn clothes, and send me back home NOW. I?m going to count to five, and if I?m still here, you?re getting squished! One!?

I took a step forward. ?Mia??

?Shut up, you! I mean it! Two!?

I held my breath. Kristen seemed upset, but not scared or even nervous. The look on her face was one of surprise and anger, but not concern of any kind.

?Three!?

Kristen lifted her arms out of Mia?s grip, with no effort whatsoever. Mia was surprised enough that she actually stopped counting. ?What are you?? She then watched in horror as Kristen pulled away her fingers, one by one, and stepped out onto Mia?s hand. I could see Mia?s muscled bulging once again, but her hand was fixed in place.

Kristen stood nonchalantly on her hand and explained calmly, ?Mia, I can do a lot more than just change size. I can do anything whatsoever. Now? you know that threatening any of my guests with violence is completely unacceptable, don?t you?? Mia said nothing, she just glared at this tiny woman standing on her hand. ?Well, no matter if you answer. I know that you know this. Did you imagine that threatening me would be accepted any better??

Mia began to look concerned. ?I? I didn?t??

Kristen waved her hand and Mia stopped talking. ?You think because you?re physically strong, that you can convince others to do whatever you want. If you?re upset, you?d rather take out your anger on others than listen to what they have to say. I think you need an adjustment.?

Mia looked on her with confusion, and then she shivered. ?What was that??? She looked down at her arms and gave a cry. I followed her gaze and saw that her arms were thinner than they had been a moment before. She recoiled her arms suddenly, leaving Kristen in mid-air. She didn?t fall; instead, she simply floated there, and even rose slightly until she was in front of Mia?s face. Mia looked on her in shock, not knowing whether to scream or run away. But where would she run to? I thought, looking around at the doorless room. Mia, meanwhile, continued to dwindle, losing her muscle mass as I watched. Her arms began to look more like a model?s arms- she was still beautiful, but she didn?t look like she could lift anything heavier than a few kilos now. And her arms weren?t the only part of her body to get smaller- as she stood there, the towel that had been wrapped around her chest became looser and fell off her frame, and I could see that her breasts had shrunk dramatically, not sagging, just retreating inward to her chest. Her stomach lost the definition that I had seen before, and as I continued to stare, it began to take on a new definition- but rather than showing her abdominal muscles, her stomach now showed her ribs. It was slight, but it was certain. Her legs received the worst of it; she had had thick, powerful thigh muscles, which I did not doubt she used often, but as they thinned I was sure that I could have touched my thumbs and index fingers together around them.

I looked back to Kristen, and saw that she had risen slightly higher, so that Mia had to look up to see her. Then I realised that Kirsten was actually keeping perfectly still- Mia was getting smaller, as well. She hadn?t been tall to begin with, but she began to dwindle even shorter, a few centimeters per second, until she was no higher than my chest. I looked at this terrified, skinny, weak, tiny person in front of me and scarcely recognised her as the athlete who had been threatening Kristen just a moment ago.

Kristen began to speak again. ?Now then. Think about this. Remember what this feels like, because I?m going to send you home now.?

Mia looked up in horror. ?No. Not like this. Please! I?m sorry!?

?I don?t actually care whether you?re sorry. But no, I?m not going to send you back like this. I can?t have questions as to what happened to you, especially if the police are already noticing my guests? absences. But this will happen to you again if you ever try to tell anyone where you were. Or if you try to use your size to intimidate anyone else again. I brought you here because I liked you, Mia. You?re intelligent and you?re interesting. But you?re just too violent to stay here. Now go.?

And with that, before Mia had a chance to respond, she simply disappeared. I blinked and missed it; there was no flash of light, no pop sound, no smell of oxygen. She simply wasn?t there anymore. I turned slowly to see Kristen, still only as long as my middle finger, floating in mid-air, looking at me.

I turned around and vomited.

[merritstone]

Really enjoyed this. A lot of fun, controlled changes with a variety of characters and situations. I particularly enjoyed the pool scene.

[dsojourn]

I have to say, while I'm enjoying the story and the premise is both interesting and can go a whole lot of directions, I don't personally like Kristen very much at all. Maybe it's just me, and this early I can't honestly tell the border between your intentions and what I'm reading from the character. She just seems more than a bit spoiled and self-centered, not to mention she seems to think of the other people we've seen more like pseudo-posessions/pets than people.

Once again, maybe this is your intention, to portray her as a "powerful" fairy/nymph above Humans, but it doesn't really make her very attractive on an interpersonal level. Also, at least from what I'm reading once again, she's a MASSIVE hypocrite. Not only does she seem to have a thing for subtly flaunting, or at least showing off her power and toying with her Human plaything of the moment, but she totally has this "I'M powerful and magic and can do whatever I WANT" attitude going on, which flies directly in the face of the attitude she espoused to Mia, when she does the same thing herself. I have the feeling you were trying to portray Mia as the one "in the wrong", but to me at least it came out the other way.

Likewise, she's not very understanding or caring of other people's feelings or emotions. She scares the bejeebus out of Richard after seducing him, and then (between herself and Amanda) forces him back into the room/labyrinth because she's horny with no attempt to ameliorate the situation at all. Same with Mia's distress. Right now it just seems like she trawls the streets for fun pets/people to bring back home where she can create her little world to entertain herself to me, with no care for their circumstances, since I'm sure most of the other missing people are the same.

[Eelskin]

Merritstone - Thank you! I know there isn't a whole lot of conflict in the story; I intended for it mostly to be a series of isolated scenes that could exist within this little size-change-friendly pocket dimension, and I'm glad it's appealing to people besides me.

Dsojourn - Wow. That is a really wonderful character analysis of Kristen, and something I wasn't expecting at all. Thank you so much for that! I hope her personality doesn't actually keep you from enjoying the story.

As for my intentions when writing it... yes, I wanted her to have a pretty enormous sense of entitlement that she justifies through her power, but I think I ended up making her far more immature/spoiled/sociopathic than I had intended. If I were to rewrite the story, I don't think I would change her character, but I would include many more people who are trapped or unhappy in Kristen's world, since, as you say, she considers them like pets. As it is now, no one really seems to mind, and as I re-read it, that sticks out like a sore thumb. Richard is a pretty unhappy person, but that doesn't explain everyone else.

Anyway, thank you so much for your comments! I really appreciate your thoughts.


Part 8

When I stood up again, Kristen sat on the table cross-legged, suddenly much bigger- she was now, I guessed, about a half a metre tall. I looked at her warily, not knowing how to respond to this. I was very scared and very uncomfortable.

?I?m sorry you had to see that.?

?Does that happen often??

?No. That was my fault. I made a mistake in bringing her here; I should never have done that. I thought she would fit in, but? well, as you could see, she just couldn?t control her temper. And if everyone were the same size, that wouldn?t be so much of an issue, but you might understand how it?s simply not acceptable here.?

?Has she ever hurt anyone??

?No. She?s never been physically violent, but I?ve seen her act out of anger. And she just threatened me. I?m quite sure that if I allowed her to stay, she would eventually end up doing hurting someone else. She simply doesn?t belong here.?

?So where is she now??

?Back home. I?m sure she?ll be fine. She looks like she did ten minutes ago. She?ll land on her feet. Two weeks isn?t a long time to be away.?

?How long did you say I?ve been here??

?Only a day. You?ll be fine.?

?Yeah, but?? I thought back to the reason I had recognized Mia in the first place. ?you heard what I said before. The police were looking for Mia. They came to the bar asking me if I had seen her, and they showed me pictures of a few other people as well. You picked up a few people from the bar and the police have realised that the bar is the only thing some of these folk have in common. If I go missing, there?s definitely going to be an investigation.?

Kristen shrugged. ?I don?t really care about the police.?

?Yeah, but?? I hesitated.

?But what??

?I made a bet with one of the other bartenders that you were the person kidnapping everyone. And then I told him that I might be going home with you.?

She frowned and looked off into space. ?And you think he?d go to the police with this??

?For sure. I mean? you don?t want to show up on America?s Most Wanted.?

?No.?

?I don?t, uh? I don?t want to go, though.?

She looked up at me again.

?I mean? I don?t really have a lot going for me out there. I hate my job. I?m in debt and can?t afford to go back to school right now. My ex-girlfriend is a big fan of making my life miserable just for the hell of it. I would really like to be able to stay here. If- if I can.?

Kristen sat still on the table, thinking. For a minute, neither of us spoke. Soon she looked up. ?I need to think about this alone for a while. Ask Amanda if you need anything.?

?Yeah, but how will I??

Before I could get out my question, Kristen was gone. I spun around, looking for her, but I soon realised that I was actually in another room. I had left, not she. This new room was very small, maybe the size of a small bedroom. It was completely bare except for a ceiling lamp and a single, closed door. I looked down at myself and saw that I was now wearing the clothes I had arrived in, the day before, instead of the towel I had been wearing just a moment ago. Looking around the room, I saw nothing to keep me there, so I went through the door.

The door opened into the main room with the enormous piano. Amanda wasn?t there, but I could hear voices from on top of it and I could see an enormous escalator, which I somehow hadn?t seen before, leading from the floor to the top. It looked as though it would take several minutes to get there. I chose not to stay here and instead turned to the left. Along the walls, there were doors every so often. I picked one at random and went in.

Throughout the next few hours I explored the various rooms. Kristen had a nightclub, a concert hall, a food court, a movie theatre, a video games room, private residences, a greenhouse, a pool hall, a casino, and more. I don?t think I had time to explore half of her home before she came back. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the space here; a door might lead to one room one moment, another the next. Two doors next to each other might lead to completely different areas. It was extremely disorienting. Not only that, but my size was by no means static. At least twice I entered a room I had been in before without realising that I had been there, because suddenly everything seemed six times smaller that it had last time, or else high above my head. No one else seemed to be bother by any of this; presumably there was some way to predict where the doors would go or what size you would be when you went through, but it was way beyond my own understanding. With Kristen guiding me earlier, I hadn?t noticed, but wandering blindly was very strange.

It happened while I was in the music room. I had been fingering some of the guitars that she had hanging on the walls and had taken one down to play it a little. I was strumming some song I hadn?t thought of for years when I noticed that she was actually sitting on the head of the guitar. She was perfectly balanced, and she wasn?t upsetting my playing at all. It was as though she were totally weightless yet fixed to the wood. Until she didn?t want to be, of course. I stopped playing and she stood up.

?Can we speak in private??

?Yeah, sure.?

And suddenly we were back in her bedroom- or rather, a bedroom. The one where we had had sex the night before. She sat on her bed, actually full-sized, and I took a seat, next to her.

?You really want to stay here??

?Yeah. I really do.?

?Because in your case, if you decide to stay here, you?re never going to be able to go back.?

?What? Why? Why in my case specifically??

?Well, because you are probably going to be searched for by the police.?

?Yeah, but wouldn?t most people??

?The problem is that I can?t have you raising suspicion towards me. So if you want to stay here you can?t simply disappear from your old life. You need to make it look like you?ve gone somewhere.?

?I don?t get it.?

?Well you told me that your life is kind of shitty right now. Did you mean it??

?You want a list of the shitty parts of my life??

?No. I really don?t. Have you complained about your life to anyone else??

I thought back to the many times I had bitched to Chris about what was wrong with my life. He was getting sick of me, I think. ?Uh, yeah.?

?Well, then, you?ll just need to leave a note explaining that you?ve gone and that you aren?t coming back. Make it look like you?ve been thinking about it for a while. Sign it. Leave it in your home. And after you do this, you won?t be able to come and go as you please, as most of my guests can. Once you come back here, if you ever choose to leave, you will never see me again and you?ll never be allowed back in. Are you okay with that??

?Absolutely.?

?Good.? She smiled and kissed me. ?I?ll be pleased to have you.? She reached into a pocket and gave me a key. ?Put this on your key ring.? It looked totally ordinary- once it was on the ring, it looked exactly like all of the other rings that were already there. ?Go on. Take care of your loose ends. Once you?ve finished, this key will let you back in.? She kissed me again. ?I?ll see you soon.?

[Eelskin]

9

So I left. When I left her apartment it was dark outside- I found a clock that read 3:19 AM. I didn?t go home right away- since this was possibly my last night- or day, for that matter- I decided to take a walk for a while. I wandered around the city, thinking about the choice I had to make. I weighed the pros and cons, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I really had nothing keeping me here. It was more a formality than anything else.
So, my first stop was my home. I had been trying to compose the note during the walk, but couldn?t think of anything good to write. I wanted to write something really dramatic, really mysterious, something that would really make people wonder.
I cannot tell you where I have gone, or why? No.
Please do not try to look for me. You?ll never find me. Way too emo.
Farewell, suckers! What the hell is wrong with me?
I thought to myself, Who am I trying to impress? I frankly didn?t really care what anyone who would read the note would think. All I was trying to do was make it not look like I had been killed. So I wrote something very simple and short. About how I was unhappy here and wanted to make a new start elsewhere. I signed it and left it on the kitchen table. I wondered how long it would be before someone found it. I wondered who it would be. I took a few things that I thought I might want to hang onto- a couple of books, a photo of my brother, my harmonica. I looked around my apartment, expecting to feel some anxiety or last-minute panic, but I felt none. The only thing I could think of was Kristen. Every minute I spent in the apartment only made me more eager to leave it. So I did.
Next, the bar. I unlocked the door and went in quietly. I found Chris? locker, and slipped $15 in through the side of the door. I left.

I stepped outside at nearly 4:30 AM and opened my cell phone to dial a cab. While it was ringing, I figured, This might be the last time for a long time I?m here. I might as well walk it. I?m in no hurry. I walked along the main streets, the side streets, taking detours and long ways, making my slowly back to Kristen?s place. I thought about all of the things I wouldn?t be able to see or do again? and found myself not saddened at all by the idea. There wasn?t a whole lot I was attached to.
?Hey man, got a light?? I jumped at the voice. I hadn?t been paying attention and didn?t nice this guy until he was right beside me.
?Uh, yeah. Sure.? I didn?t even smoke, but I usually had a lighter on me. The boss required it at work and I got into the habit of having one at all times. I fumbled into my pockets and pulled it out. He leaned in with the cigarette in his mouth and I reached forward to light it. As I did, I noticed the shadow of someone behind me moving quickly across the lamplight. I didn?t have time even to turn around before I felt something strike me hard across the back of my head. I collapsed in a heap on the ground.

So I wasn?t actually awake for any of what happened next. Sometimes I think I would?ve liked to have been, but, you know, I?m really not sure. In any case, this is what I was told by Kristen and Amanda. I didn?t see any of it, but hey, if something isn?t true, I?m not about to go prying. Best to let things as they are. I?ll try to tell it as well as I can, though.

So the four guys that jumped me stood over me pulled me into the alley where the first one had been waiting for someone to walk by. Once I was hidden, they emptied the contents of my pockets and rifled through. One pulled open my wallet.
?Fuck. The guy?s got almost nothing. There?s like five bucks in here.?
?Less than a dollar in change.?
?Nothing else. Just receipts.?
?Bitch doesn?t even have any goddamn ID. No credit card, nothing.?
?God dammit.?
?Hey, wait a sec.? One of them noticed some paper in my wallet that wasn?t money. He reached and pulled out the note I had written two days ago and put into my wallet so as not to lose it. ??6587 Outremont, apartment 301. Kristen.? It?s a girlfriend?s address. Think we can make something outta this??
?What good is her fucking address? How does it help us? So we know where someone lives. Great. People live all over the city.?
One held up the key ring. ?Yeah, but he might have her key.? They all looked down at it. There were only three keys on the ring- one for the bar, one for my apartment, and, of course, the one Kristen had given me. ?Hey, it?s worth a shot. We can go right now. She?s probably sleeping. In, out.?
They all looked at each other. ?Fuck. No one else is coming along here tonight. Let?s go before it gets light out.?

Half an hour later, with the sky just beginning to lighten, they arrived at the address.
?Which one d?you think it is??
?Dunno. Doesn?t matter. Look, none of the windows have lights on. Let?s hurry up.?
They approached the front door and tried the first key, which didn?t fit. The second key, however, slid in the lock cleanly and quietly. One of them started laughing to himself and whispered excitedly. ?Oh man, this is great. I told you guys. I told you this was a good idea.?
?Shut the fuck up! We aren?t in yet.?
They walked up the stairs as quickly and quietly as they could and found 301. They paused outside the door, listening.
?D?you hear anything??
?No. You??
?No. Let?s go.? He tried the knob, found it locked, and tried slipping the key in. Again, it slid in effortlessly. He turned it, holding his breath, and listened to hear the bolt retract. He pulled the keys out of the door, looked back at his partners, turned the knob and opened the door.