Meek. Mousy. Miniature.
Mina had been outrunning these descriptors her whole life, through years of torment in school and now her first few months post-undergrad. She’d always been shy, a bit frail from a sickly childhood, and maxing out at a whopping 5’3” after puberty. Even her life had ended up smaller than she had hoped, the job market had left her settling for a crappy retail position while she waited out the protracted hiring processes of the corporate world. Tonight, she stared down the end of her shift from behind the counter, five minutes in a near-empty department store separated her from freedom. Fashion retail didn’t suit her, but it paid the bills for her cozy studio apartment and was helping her to build just enough confidence to survive on her own.
Her hopes of a quieter evening faded away as two young men, likely just a few years younger than her, weaved their way between the racks of women’s dresses. Great, looks like I’m getting sucked into some kind of hazing ritual… she thought to herself. They were bickering with each other as they came straight for her, she didn’t care enough to try and make out what they were saying over the bland pop music playing over her section. All hope of leaving on time left her as the taller of the two walked right up to the other side of the counter, smiling down at her in a way that made her stomach twist into knots.
“G-Good evening, sir. Is there something I can umm assist you with?” Her voice came out smaller than anticipated, her nerves were already getting to her.
As he leaned in closer, she breathed in the subtle scent of cologne coming off of him. Something cheap that tried to be mature, but it certainly confirmed that he was young.
“I need a gift for my girlfriend, she said there was a dress here a short sales associate helped her try on this past weekend. I think she said her name started with an M… Mika?” His tone betrayed him, as had his eyes. He was staring right at her name tag, he was definitely lying his ass off. And, judging by his demeanour, he was probably lying about the girlfriend part too. She decided to have a little bit of fun, since her shift was nearly over and her sales target was already met.
“Okay, and did she give you any details about the dress? And is this some kind of special occasion?” She could barely contain her own amusement, but held her tone steady and as genuine as she could stomach.
His cheeks flushed and, for a moment, she saw his eyes dart around at the wall of styles behind her. She followed his eyes and found the other man behind her, equally as flustered and hiding something behind his back. Before she could question what was going on, her “customer” piped back up.
“No! … I mean, no she just said it was short blue. And that you helped her on Saturday!”
If nothing else, his commitment to this strange lie was admirable. But, even if he was telling the truth about having a girlfriend who wanted a little blue dress, she only worked the Sunday this past weekend. This brief pause was enough to make his demeanour crumble, his confidence shifted within seconds to near desperation.
“I’m terribly sorry, sir, but I didn’t work this past Saturday. Maybe she was helped by Mandy in the next section over? Either way, I do hope that you can find what she was looking for,” she replied with a calm tone, careful to not fall back into her habit of being too quiet for customers to hear.
All hope appeared to leave his eyes. He slumped against the counter, a bit melodramatic by her standards, but not too out-of-character for a guy who would pretend to have a girlfriend for no apparent reason. Here, his friend returned to his side, lacking the same energy his friend had. He placed his hand on the other’s shoulder, then gave her a shy little glance before looking back to his friend.
“I told you to be honest with her, Aleks…” he said, squeezing his shoulder, “just be real with her, okay?”
Energy returned to this “Aleks,” his head popped back up and an elbow made contact with his friend’s side. Despite that, when he finally turned his attention back to her, he seemed softer. He couldn’t keep eye contact with her. “Look, it was never going to work, it was dumb. Let’s just go.”
As she opened her mouth to inquire about what that meant, the men made their way out of her section and then back into the rest of the mall. The whole interaction was innocent enough, but it hung in her mind. Even as she looked down at the clock and saw that it was past the end of her shift, it felt like something was off. She managed a brief farewell with her supervisor before clocking out, grabbing her bag, and making her way out the back doors.
—
The sun was low in the sky as Mina finally left the mall, there was always comfort in leaving the fluorescents and breathing in the fresh evening air. Her walk home was relatively short, but she enjoyed the peace of being alone with her thoughts for just a few moments without any music or customers to interrupt her.
Around the corner of the parking lot, towards a major street… and her peace was interrupted. Two men stood by a beat-up Toyota, bickering just the same as before. Mina was caught off guard, a spike of anxiety tugged at her mind as Aleks straightened up with a grin. She hated seeing customers outside of the store, and his gaze was no longer pathetic, he seemed determined. She couldn’t even make a peep…
“Mina? It was Mina, right? Just stay right there!” He was giddy and grabbing at his friend, “Jackson do it, come on we can’t waste this chance!”
She took a nervous step back, bumping right into a concrete pillar. That’s when it came out, some sort of ray gun attached to an iPhone… both being pointed right at her by the shyer of the two. He wouldn’t even look at her, he was trying to keep it steady as it whirred to life. The sound was so strange, like an old flash bulb charging, and then the sensation spread over her. TV static with pressure, gravity pulling down on her in a way that made her knees wobble, and it was nearly euphoric. It took her a moment to find words and put together what was happening to her.
At first, she felt her bag getting heavier, then her skirt began to slip loose. Her bag had to drop so she could catch her skirt, but even then that feeling was just so… so much. Her skirt slipped from her hands and down onto the ground, the rapidly approaching ground. Her blouse sagged as she bent down to catch her skirt, for a moment she went to reach to cover her chest as well, but she had already pieced together that it would not save her. Her little hazel eyes darted up to the men, they already seemed so huge. She must only be two feet by this point, the feeling of being tugged downwards was intensifying. Her ears roared so loud that she couldn’t make out what was being said by the giants. All she knew was that she was soaking wet and getting much too small. As she opened her mouth to beg, to scream, anything, only a whimper of strained pleasure came out. Without hearing what was being said, she could see a high-up smile come across Aleks’ face.
As quickly as the feeling started, it too faded. Reality seeped back into her mind, grounding her as she stared at the pile of fabric around her. Her bra lay open in front of her on the asphalt, she must have stepped aside at some point because she was planted firmly in her right ballet flat. Her panties were right there… she could smell herself strongly in the air beside them. Unreality then hit her as suddenly a huge sneaker got closer to her, the roar of a huge voice above her rang out.
“Jack, come here and look at her! Fuck man, she’s so puny!” Aleks laughed, his voice overwhelmingly loud in her ears. She had to clamp her hands over them to keep from going deaf.
A second set of shoes came into view and the device was set down right beside her clothes.
“Hey shut up, you’re scaring her,” Jackson’s voice was much softer, “Mina? Hey… how are you feeling?”
He was talking to her. She looked up at him, lowering her hands, and swallowing hard. If not for how terrified she was, she would be enjoying the feeling of how tenderly he was looking at her. Her voice wouldn’t work though, she tried so hard to make anything come out of her mouth.
“Great, you scared her silent. You’re such an ass, why did I bother partnering with you…”
She looked to Aleks, he was slack-jawed and grinning all at once. His hand came closer to her, he was shaking… did he know that his hand was shaking so badly? Fear. Oh gods she was scared of that hand. Without thinking, she turned and began to ran, only to trip over her own shoe and fall flat onto her stomach.
“M-Mina! Stop scaring her…”
A hand did wrap itself around her waist, she felt her stomach lurch as the ground was quickly left behind. Then, unceremoniously, she was flipped over to face Jack’s massive face. His eyes scanned over her, she watched as his cheeks darkened.
“I’m okay… I think I’m okay…” Her voice was small again.
Confusion swept over his face and suddenly she was being lifted up higher. “Pardon?” He whispered.
“I’m okay..!” She squeaked, tears stung at her eyes.
The air around her moved as he sighed, a little smile crossing his face.
“Come on, man! We’ve got a report to finish! Get her in the car!”
The car? A report to finish? Her head was beginning to spin, but the world was moving at an insane pace before she could think to find the words to ask what was happening. Within seconds she was placed into Jackson’s pocket, then the muffled sounds of her things being gathered and the car door closing. What just happened… what the hell is going on? The engine roared to life, louder than she could ever have imagined a car being. They were taking her somewhere, she wasn’t going home tonight.