Edits - Ch 5.1.1.1.2.1

Chapter 5.1.1.1.2.1 - Tim shrinks Steven out of sight.

<<Previous (5.1.1.1.2) / Outline

Tim and Steven were stunned silent. What could they say to explain a 9-year-old boy’s presence in a high school cafeteria?

“Come with me,” the guard said, gesturing towards one exit from the cafeteria.

Steven looked to Tim with fear in his eyes. “Do something,” he pleaded.

Tim pulled up the app, thinking he might use it on the guard, but he realized that he would not be allowed enough time to take a picture and alter the caption for the guard. Steven’s caption was still open, though. If only he could make Steven disappear somehow…

Tim had an idea. Although he knew Steven would probably hate it, he did have a way to make his friend harder to see.

With no time left to think, he typed a new sentence into Steven’s caption:

Steven is 15 times smaller than a normal boy of his age.

Tim saved the caption and watched the progress bar begin to fill up.

“Let’s go,” the guard said, staring at them as he waited for them to move.

Tim and Steven stood up and stepped over to the guard.

As they began following the guard out of the cafeteria, Steven tripped and fell to the floor.

“You okay?” Tim asked, crouching down beside him.

“I think so,” Steven said, sitting up. “My shoes are really loose.”

Tim could see that all of Steven’s clothes appeared to be growing looser on him. He offered Steven his hand and stood the boy up again. However, it was clear that he was not standing as tall now as when he fell. In fact, he was barely half as tall as Tim now.

“Oh no!” Steven said, realizing that his viewpoint was descending again, “Am I getting younger again?”

“Not younger,” Tim said.

“I’m shrinking?” Steven asked, looking down at his body as he became the size of a toddler, while still proportioned as a 9-year-old boy. His shoulder slipped through the neck hole of his too-large shirt just before his shorts dropped to his ankles, which were hidden within his enormous shoes. “Help me!” he cried in a little voice as he went from wearing clothes to standing naked within them.

Tim crouched closer above Steven both to hide his shrinking friend from view and also to protect him from being accidentally stepped on.

Steven shrank to the size of a doll and became enveloped by the pile of clothes that had fallen off of him. Finally, after he became about three and a half inches tall, the shrinking stopped.

Acting fast, Tim reached into the clothes pile and gently wrapped his hand around Steven, leaving only the tiny boy’s head exposed. Then, he carefully placed Steven in the pocket of his hoodie, hiding his friend from view.

“What’s going on?” the guard asked, having just noticed that they were no longer following him. “Where’d the little kid go?”

Tim glanced up at the guard and back down again just in time to see Steven’s clothes and shoes vanish, leaving no trace of his friend to be found.

“He’s gone,” Tim said, standing up and waiting for the phone to whine and flash them into a new reality. “But, you won’t even remember him in a few seconds.”

“What?” the guard replied, but before he could ask any more questions, Tim’s phone whined and everyone was blinded by a flash of light.

When they could see and hear clearly again, the guard looked confused.

“What was I just saying?” he asked Tim.

“You were saying that… you were sorry for bothering me over nothing,” Tim replied.

“Oh,” the guard said. “Yeah, sorry. Just… you know… behave yourself.”

Tim nodded and the guard walked off.

Tim sighed and returned to his seat at the table. Noticing that Steven’s food and bag were gone now, apparently having disappeared along with his clothes, Tim worried for a moment that his friend really might have disappeared altogether. He pulled open his pocket and checked inside to see the tiny face of his young friend, peering out from within, looking utterly terrified.

“Don’t worry,” Tim said, trying to reassure Steven. “I’ll keep you safe.”

Steven nodded his little head, but he seemed only marginally less terrified as Tim let the pocket close on him again.

Tim wondered how things had ended up this way. How had he gone, over a single lunch period, from reconnecting with a childhood friend to stuffing that friend in his pocket like a contraband toy? It seemed absurd, but that was what his life had become thanks to the app, an absurd mess.

Now, Tim had to figure out what to do next. Steven was safe for the moment. Still, how long would Tim be able to keep a tiny boy hidden in his pocket? He would have to do something soon, but before he could think up any plans, the bell rang and everyone began to head off to their afternoon classes. Tim put on his backpack, being careful not to accidentally bump the pocket with Steven in it, and he followed the rest of the students into the halls on his way to his next class.

What will he do about Steven now?

Tim keeps Steven small until he gets home.

Tim goes to the bathroom to use the app on Steven again.

Steven falls out of Tim’s pocket.

Steven climbs out of Tim’s pocket during class.