Washing the Size Away rough draft 1

Washing the Size Away

I awoke as the buzzer drilled into my ears, causing me to fall from my uneasy perch on the couch. “Ouff.” It was week three of living at Cariens and I had yet to find a spot I find while sleeping on her couch without waking up with an aching back. I slowly rose and slammed the alarm, silencing it. “Ugh. Another great morning.”

I sighed. I knew I was alone. Carien was already gone at her job at the Jenny Downs Department store. I stood up and cracked my back. “Time to work on finding my own job.” I was staying with Carien while trying to get back on my feet and hide out from Fredricks Fancy. I had both lost my last job and become what they considered, “company property” in one day. Because I was changing size and shape without much cause or reason Fredricks Fancy thought they owned me until they found the reason because of the contract I signed. I don’t care what I signed I am not a lab rat.

I slowly walked towards the stairs. First things first I needed a nice warm relaxing shower. This week had been nothing but stress and I just wanted some time to myself, letting the water wash over me and my stress flow away.

I made my way into the bathroom and closed the door behind me and locked it. I didn’t want Carien to come home early and disturb me. We were close but not that close yet. I let my night shirt fall to the floor as I opened the glass door and turned on the shower.

I did have to say I wish I had Carien’s shower unit at home as then I could take a bath as well. My shower didn’t have a tub in it so I could soak in a relaxing pool if I chose to. “Hmm maybe I should. Ahh never mind. I need to get out and search for a job later. I can’t waste too much time in here.”

After about a minute I hoped into the shower. “Ohh, hot, hot.” I turned down the heat a tad. “Phew. Just right.”

As I proceeded to let the water wash over me I felt a tingling sensation flow though me. I reached up to the shower head to adjust it. “This thing must be set on the wrong setting. It is making my skin feel funny.”

Still despite messing with the settings the strange feeling didn’t go away. “Hmm, maybe its. . .” I crossed my arms as the feeling began to intensify, my skin feeling like it was constricting. “Oh sure hope it’s not what I think it is.”

Suddenly my surroundings started to grow larger, the shower head quickly becoming out of reach. I tried to jump and grab it but failed. When I landed I slipped and hit the lever to switch the flow of water from the shower head to the tub. “Opps.” Water poured out of a nozzle at the far end of the shower and began to pool in the bottom of the tub.

“I have to get out of here. I need to get the door open now.” The only problem was I was now half my original height and still shrinking.  I reached up and tried to open the door but it held firm. “Ugh I have a hard enough trying to open this darn thing even when I am not having a shrinking problem. Why can’t I just be growing instead?” I shook my head. “Wait never mind. Then I would have to deal with shattered glass and I don’t want that.”

Since I couldn’t get out I focused on my other issue, the rising water that would soon become a lake if I didn’t act soon to stop it. I waded through the water heading for the drain release. “I need to reach it before I am too tiny to pull it.” I was already two feet tall and shrinking fast. Soon I wouldn’t able to keep my footing in the rising water and have to swim for it.

I reached the other end of the shower and the drain just as my feet left the bottom of the tub. “Damnit.” I twisted around and swam down towards the drain, still shrinking and tried to grab onto the latch. But with my tiny hands I couldn’t pull hard enough to release the lever. After a few moments I had to swim back up to the surface.

I looked around at the winding lake. “This isn’t good.” I began to swim towards the edge of the tub but it became further and further from my reach. To make matters worse the ripples of the water started to become waves to my tiny body. “This is insane.” I was pushed back and forth in a twisting current. My body had stopped shrinking but it was far too late. I was far too tiny now to ever hope to escape and the water was still rising. Carien is going to kill me for this.

A rouge wave forced me underwater for a few moments.  I swam back up, taking in precious breaths of air. I looked up and saw the rim of the tub like a giant mountain looming above me. “I have to hold out until the water level rises and I can pull myself up there. Then I can squeeze under the glass and out of here. I will worry about shutting this mess off later. I just need to worry about not drowning in the ocean that is Carien’s shower first.”

I swam over to the side of the shower and tried to hold on to the edge in an attempt to rest my arms. But the moment I touched the porcelain wall’s I slipped under and into the current, twisting below the surface. Come on, not like this.

After a few moments I fought my way back to the surface, forcing air into my lungs. The water level was almost to the tubs rim. “I need to hurry before I miss my chance and have to swim in this chaos to fit under that door.” I made my way over to the edge of the tub just as the waves began to crash over the edge and carefully pulled myself over. I didn’t want to fall back into the depths below.

Once up on solid ground I walked up against the glass. “Now to get out of here.” I slid down on my chest and shimmied my way out underneath the gigantic door. As I inched my way through water began to wash over me, trying to suck me back into the depths. “Come on.”