By Prender

TF (shrinking)

“Okay,” said the technician cheerfully as she entered the room, “who am I shrinking today?”

Tiffany practically levitated from her chair. “Me, me!” she shouted, so enthusiastically even the tech woman giggled.

“Okay!” the technician said. “Glad to hear you’re so enthusiastic about it. First time?”

“Uh-huh! But not the last time, I hope,” Tiff beamed. “It’s something I’ve wanted to try for such a long time.”

“Okies.” The technician glanced at me. “And you are then …?”

“Um, Nessa,” I mumbled. “I’m the one who’ll be taking care of Tiff.” Not for the first time, I wondered how and why I’d agreed to this thing.

The technician gazed at me for a long second. “Hmmm,” she said. “Okay, well, you should probably get to work on these forms.” She handed me a stack of papers an inch thick. “And you, Miss,” she added to Tiff, “you sign here.” Tiff took a pen and signed the single sheet of paper with a flourish.

“Hey, wait!” I blurted. “She only has to sign once and I’ve got to go through these?”

“Insurance purposes,” the technician said. “I’m sure you understand.”

I wasn’t so sure I did but I nodded anyway. “So, I’ve got the carry cage,” I said, indicating the little mouse cage I’d brought with me. “And I’ve stocked up on muffins and cheese.”

“Hmmm,” the technician said in a tone of voice that, without quite saying it, implied she didn’t think much of my preparedness.

“So can I shrink now? Can I? Can I?” Tiff begged. “I can’t wait to be small!”

“Just a minute and we’ll get started. I just need to go through a few things with you.” The technician picked up a card and read off it. “You agree to be shrunk by us and waive all rights. Due to the vagaries of the process, while the shrinking period is stated to be 24 hours, it may be slightly more or slightly less. The estimated height of you after being shrunk is roughly a sixth of your usual height. If you wish to be smaller, please ask us about our extreme shrinking and micro shrinking programs.”

At the mention of “micro shrinking”, Tiff got a wild look in her eyes.

The technician went on. “If there’s a problem with your shrinking, please call our 24-hour emergency helpline. The long-term health effects of being shrunk are unknown. Please arrange to have a friend appointed as your carer during this time.”

Guess who that was.

“And … that’s it!” The technician smiled. “Okay! Ready to go! Now, please come with me next door, where we’ll be doing the miniaturisation process. Remember, remove all clothing and jewellery before stepping into the shrinking chamber.”

“So … I’ll just wait here, then?” I said tentatively.

“Oh no, you’ve got to come with us, Nessa!” Tiff said immediately. “I want someone to watch me shrink. It’ll be incredible!”

“Is it safe?” I said, and immediately regretted it when I saw the look the technician shot me.

“Okies, then,” I said. I picked up the cage and followed them into another room.

The miniaturisation chamber was … a tube. It looked kind of like a shower stall, with a bunch of wires on its top, and a weird ball for the shower head.

The technician got behind a clear screen, and started fiddling with a laptop before slipping on a pair of protective goggles.

“Do I get a pair of those?” I said hopefully.

“No,” she replied curtly.

I turned to Tiff to find she was already naked and was removing her earrings. Wow, I didn’t know she could strip that fast.

“Here I am!” she announced gleefully. “Ready to go!”

“Great!” the technician said. “I’m ready too. Just take your place in the chamber.”

She stabbed at the laptop and the chamber swung open, revealing a target painted on the floor. Tiff  practically ran into it.

“Next time you see me, I’ll be a lot shorter, Nessa!” she said gleefully. “Okay, I’m ready! Shrink me!”

“More than ready, I think,” the technician said. “All right, I’m sealing you in …”

The door swung shut.

“And beginning the sequence in one … two … three …”

A steady hum began and the chamber began to fill with a kind of blue light, which rapidly enveloped Tiffany’s naked body.

And then …

Then she began to shrink.

At first I couldn’t really see how small she was getting — I didn’t really have anything to compare her with. It wasn’t until she’d dropped by about a foot that I realised she was definitely shorter.

She wasn’t just getting shorter, of course, she was getting smaller in all ways. Her feet slipped around on the floor a bit as she shrank, but she managed to keep standing.

The blue light grew thicker as she got smaller, but I kept my eyes on her as she went down, down, three feet, two feet, a foot …

And what I’ll remember is the look of sheer ecstasy on her face.

Finally the light faded and the hum grew silent, and there in the chamber stood Tiffany. A living Barbie doll.

“All through,” the technician said cheerfully. “How do you feel? Any nausea? Dizziness?”

The door swung open and Tiffany stood slightly dazed. Then: “How do I feel? I feel INCREDIBLE! Oh my God! How tiny am I now?”

“You’re about eight inches tall.” The technician glanced at me. “Might want to get that cage ready.”

“Oh. Right.” I walked over to the chamber and opened the cage I’d brought. “Hey Tiff, you wanna get in now? Keep you safe?”

Tiff looked up at me. And up and up.

“God Nessa, you’re a fucking mountain now!” Tiff collapsed into laughter. “So, what do you think about my new look? Ain’t I the cutest?”

“Yep, you are,” I said. And damn it, she was.

“How come her voice isn’t all squeaky?” I asked the technician.

“Trade secrets,” she said, thin-lipped, before turning to Tiff, who was clambering into the cage.

“All right, remember, you’ve got about 24 hours until you return to normal size. We would recommend steering clear of being caged or confined from about noon tomorrow. Thanks for being shrunk with us!”

She didn’t even so much as nod to me.

I picked up the cage, with its tiny naked woman inside it, collected Tiff’s clothes and bag, then strode out to the car. As I did I passed another couple, this one a man and woman, the man carrying a cage, the woman with a distant grin, as if she couldn’t quite believe what was about to happen. They gazed curiously at Tiff for as long as they could as I passed by.

Tiff didn’t stop talking all the way home.

“You wouldn’t believe how good this feels, Nessa, being so small. You would think it would make me feel fragile, but no, it’s totally empowering.” She leaned back in the pile of cotton wool I’d placed in the cage.

Strange how her features were crystal clear, even at her new size.

I’d never seen her so happy.

“I can’t want to explore the house at this size. Everything’s so different! So new!” Tiffany sighed happily. “Oh, I am definitely doing this again.”

“You think?” I said absent-mindedly as I made a turn in the car.

“Oh yeah. How could I not? But next time I want to go even smaller.”

I glanced at her. “Even … smaller?”

“Did you hear her mention micro-shrinking? You know what that is?” Tiff grinned. “They make you so small, you’re invisible! You’d need a microscope to see me.

“They keep you in the lab in a special environment, in a little vial, but in there, it’s like a whole world! And you’re so tiny, you can fly! Just push off and float around!”

“And we’re home,” I said. I pulled into the garage, and picked up the cage carefully, as Tiffany jumped up, eager to see what the house was like when you were eight inches high.

Tiffany. Tiny Tiffany. Cute little Tiffany.

My teensy girlfriend.

“Ohhhh! Nessa! You know what?” Tiff said, as if she’d just had the best idea ever.

“We should shrink together next time! Imagine, both of us, so small! And oh, when you start to shrink … I mean … it’s so sexy! Really! We should do it!”

I looked at Tiffany. And I smiled.

And I said, “why not?”