Potion Maddnes

Potion Madness.

“This is unacceptable.” Karen opened her eyes as Fredrick slammed his fist down onto the table. “Someone else is trying to make money off of size-altering products. I won’t stand for it.” She stood up straight, worried that her boss would turn his rage on her. “I built this empire off of our snappy products. Fredricks Fancy sparkling water that could alter your size. Fredricks Fancy joint relief. We even have a Fredricks Fancy air scent in the work. All of these promise the chance that your size or other things will change if you take our products.”

Maxwell shrugged. “So what if another company is promising those things?”

Fredrick whirled on him. “Because they are saying it isn’t if they can guarantee such things!” He turned on the television behind him. “This was live from Milliman Park just yesterday.”

“Hello, my name is Amy, and I am here to promote.. .” She turned away from the camera. “What is it that you are trying to get me to push again?” She turned back as her green eyes stared vacantly into the screen. “Potions R’Us Lemon Lite. Apparently, it will help with making your life easier by lightening your load.” As she shrugged, her golden curls fell from her shoulders. “So I will try it. I have heard that strange things happen when you have something from this strange store that only appears once a week in random locations around the state. Today we will find out if those rumors are true.”

She took big gulps out of the vial; the excess yellow liquid traveled down Amy’s neck. “Wow, that is nice and lemony flavored.” She blinked. “I feel so light.”

“Amy?”

“Berry, what are you looking at? Is this drink all over my face or something? Why are you crouching? I said, get me in the frame at all times.”

“You are umm. . . umm.”

The camera panned upward as Amy’s body slowly expanded outward, and she began to float upward. “Spit it out already.”

Suddenly the camera fell to the ground, and all Karen could see was the pavement. It was here that Fredrick stopped the video. “This is just one of many incidents. People have grown in size, shrunk, inflated, and transformed.” He put his hand to his face. “So so many things that I can’t even believe it. This Potions R’Us is a threat to the business I have fought so hard to make.”

Karen tapped her fingers on the side of the wooden table. “What do you want us to do about it?” Her blue eyes went wide.  That was supposed to be in my head. Holy crap!”

Fredrick walked around the board table and right up to her. She could see the veins popping out of his forehead. “What do I want you to do about it?” He slammed his gloved hand down onto the table and caused Karen’s pale cheeks to turn red. “Since you were so kind to ask, I think I shall send you to find this mystery store and buy us some samples. I need to know exactly what is in their products so I can alter ours to beat them.”

“But sir, we don’t know when or where their stores pop up.”

He stood up. “Not my problem.” Fredrick turned around. “Just get the job done by the end of this week, or you are fired. You hear me fired.”

“I will get on that.”

He whirled around. “I want you to go now.” He pushed Karen out of the chair. “Move that lazy but of yours. Go, go go.”

She rushed for the door and pulled up her belt. “Ok, I am going. Sessh.”

“And bring multiple samples.” He slammed the door the moment she stepped out of the room.

Jerk. She ran her hands along her suit. I can’t believe I opened my big mouth like that. What is wrong with me? So now I am stuck looking for some store that doesn’t appear except once in a blue moon. I am boned.

Karen walked up to the elevator as she put her hands into her pockets. “Well, before I do anything else, I think I am going to go home.” The elevator door opened before her. “I will start searching tomorrow. For now, I just want to go home and try and relax.” She stepped into the elevator. “Find something to take my mind off of possibly being fired.”

She pressed the button for the first floor and tapped her foot as the elevator slowly descended. “I also need to call Terry when I get home. She won’t believe this absurdity.”

The elevator ground to a halt, and the golden doors opened. Karen shook her head as she walked out into the lobby of the Fredricks Fancy company lobby. “She thinks that her job being a pilot is so much more exciting than what I do. Well, now I have a chance to show her up.” Karen put her hand on her chin as she came to the door. “Hmm. Say I find this Potions R’Us. Maybe I buy some extra potions, so I can really show Terry how more interesting my job and life is and get Fredrick off my ass.” Karen smiled. “Sounds perfect.” She pushed the glass door open. “Now to find that store.”

She rushed out into the cool fall air and down the stone steps. “Burr.” Karen shivered. “I should have remembered to bring my jacket instead of just this suit to work.” She hugged herself, the hairs sticking up on her pale arms. “Now to get to that parking garage.” She hurried down the block as a cold blast of air hit her in the face. “Brrrr.”

As she came up to the intersection, her slacks began to vibrate. “Crap my phone.” Her shaky arm reached down for her phone. “Hello?”

“Karen. Hey, how are you?”

“Terry?” She stopped at the street corner and waited for the light. “I was going to call you when I got home.”

“I am on vacation starting this afternoon, and I wanted to spend my time with my best friend. What do you say? Some fun time on the town when you get out of work?”

“Ugh, I can’t.” She walked across the road. “I have some stuff I have to do for my pain in the ass, boss.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Look, it won’t take that long. And when it’s over, we can party.” She came up to the parking garage. “Look, I am almost to my car. I will call you later.”

“Ok. But you better. I am not going clubbing without you.”

Karen sighed and hung up. “I wish I could, but I am not going to be fired by my obnoxious boss just because I wanted to go and have a fun time with you, Terry.” As she stepped towards the parking garage, a shining blue and pink light caught her eye. “What in the world?”

Karen turned around to see a strange opening in the wall across the street. Strange glowing lights that seemed to be out of some peculiar hallucinogenic rainbow danced out of the doorway. “What in the world?” Karen slid her phone back into her pants pocket and walked across the street without even bothering to look for traffic, transfixed by the strange lights. A motorist honked his horn at her, but she didn’t care. Soon she was across the street and standing at the window of the strange phenomena.

“Potions R’Us. We are here to serve you're every need, from stomach relief to stomach tightening.” She blinked. “It can’t be that easy to have found this place.”

A tall and thin lady danced towards her in a green and purple outfit as she hummed. “Welcome to Potions R’Us. Come on in.”

“Oh, I umm.”

The lady put her hand on Karen’s back. “I insist. Step inside.” She pushed Karen inside the building. “You just must check out our latest collection of potions and elixirs before they fly off the shelves. And I do mean fly. A few of our merchandise just flew the coop earlier today.”

Karen looked up at the lady as she was ushered into the store.  This woman must be thirteen feet tall. And her skin, it is stripped blue and white along her neck. What craziness is this?”

Karen fell to the ground when the giant lady came to a halt. “We are here.” She walked around and pulled Karen up. “So shall I show you around?”

“Umm, after my head stops spinning.” She shook her head and looked up at the woman’s name tag just above her bosom. “Sandy, I can find my own way around the store.”

“Nonsense.” Sandy hit Karen on the back so hard that Karen almost fell over again. “It will be a pleasure to show you our collection of potions.” She grabbed Karen by the back of her suit and picked her up. “I know you will find something you will just love.”

Karen crossed her arms. “Well, I guess I don’t have a choice.”

“Silly, of course, you do.” Sandy dropped her in front of a glass case of swirling vials.

“Feel free to choose what potions you what, my dear.”

Karen sighed. “Ok.” She put her hands on the glass and narrowed her eyes. “Hmm. Heart Burn’s Ice Block. The Perfect Nail Solution. Pick Me if you Want a New Higher You.” Karen pushed herself off the glass. “What is with these labels?”

Sandy laughed. “Why they are perfectly descriptive of what our potions do. Why worry about heartburn when our elixir will freeze the problem solid.”

Karen put her hand over her chest. “Interesting.”

“I know, right.” Sandy pushed her bangs back. “Now tell me, what do you want to help improve your life?”

Karen put her hand to her chin.  What would Fredrick want me to bring back. He was going on and on about size-changing crap at that meeting. I think that couldn’t hurt to bring back to him.

“Do you have anything that can make me taller?”

“Why sure, honey. How tall are we thinking?”

Karen scratched at her short dark hair. “What do you mean?”

Sandy pulled on her arm. “Well, here you need to define just how much taller you want.” She lowered herself and whispered. “We had a customer come in a few months ago who forgot to ask. The poor dear outgrew her own home. What a shame.”

“Out gre. . . grew her home?” Karen shivered as Sandy pulled her to a stop. “I didn’t know that was even possible.”

“Why anything is possible here at Potions R’Us.” She turned around, bent down, and looked Karen in the eyes. “Now, how big do you want to get?”

“Umm.” Karen closed her eyes.  I don’t know what to say. This is too weird. Who sells stuff that turns you into some giant that that?  “I wasn’t expecting to buy potions that make me grow ten, twenty, thirty, and even fifty feet tall. Maybe I will even buy a few that make me grow a few hundred feet tall while I am at it.”

“Perfect.”

Karen blinked.  Oh no. I said what I was thinking again. I need to learn to stop doing that.  She shook her head and looked back up at Sandy. “How much will those elixirs be?”

“Meet me by the cash register.” Sandy pointed to a glowing blue and pink desk at the far end of the store. “I need to find those potions for you in the back. Some of the larger size-changing elixirs are not kept in the main store area.” She smiled and twirled around. “Be back in a flash.”

Karen sighed. “Right.” She turned her head. “I might as well check out what else they have. In case I find myself back here.” She shrugged. “Who knows, there might be something here that I actually want.”

She wandered the store and pursued all the strange and peculiar vials which lined the walls and glass stands. “Wow, this place has such a wide array of things. Elixirs to help you sleep. Elixirs to make your boss sleep so you can get a day off from work. Even an elixir so you can go without sleep for an entire month and not have any issues from it?” She let out a small laugh. “This place is insane.”

Karen turned around and hit her knee on a table and caused a potion to wobble. She reached out and grabbed before the bottle fell onto the ground. “Phew.” She looked at the label. “Instant treeification. For those who want to experience the joys of the plant world.” She carefully set the bottle down. “Ok, this place is really insane.” She hugged herself and made a beeline for the cash register.

Once there, Karen slumped down against the glowing glass and put her head in her lap. “I can’t wait to be out of here. I am worried I might knock over something that might make me the size of a mouse or make it so I can’t hear for a month.” She blinked. “Wait, that might actually be a blessing, so I don’t have to hear Fredrick complain so much at work.”

“Karen, honey, I am back with your potions.” She stood up and turned to face Sandy, who was putting the vails into a black and white striped bag. “So for nine growing potions, that will be thirty dollars.”

“Really? I thought this would be more expensive.”

Sandy laughed. “Our size-changing elixirs are not that expensive. Now if you wanted to get into some more enhancement. . .”

Karen reached for her purse. “Ok.” She pulled out thirty dollars. “Here.” I don’t want to hear where that was going.

Sandy took the money. “Thank you.” She handed Karen the bag. “Have a nice day. Hope you enjoy your many new sizes.”

“Thank you.” Karen turned around.  Now let me out of here.  She rushed out of the door with her goods and did not look back. She rushed across the street and into the parking garage. Only when she saw her car did she come to a stop. Karen took in deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. “I just want to go home and relax.”

Her whole body shook as her phone rang. “Ugh.” She set the bag down on top of her car as she reached into her pocket. “Hello?”

“Karen, it is Terry again. I want to ask if you would be ok if Ronald would come along with us tonight.”

“Terry, I have something to drop off at the office first. It is very important.”

“I am just a few minutes from there. I can come down and meet you there.”

“Terry I. . .”

“Don’t worry, I will be there in just a few minutes. You do your thing, and we can party.”  She hung up.

Karen sighed. “I love her, but sometimes I feel like I can’t get a word in edgewise with her.” She shook her head. “I was going home, but I think delivering these elixirs and securing my job would be better.” She looked inside the bag. “Besides, I don’t want a bunch of potions that could radically make me change in size in an instant just sit around in my house.” Karen grabbed the bag and walked back towards the Fredricks Fancy building.

A few minutes later, she stepped back into her workplace. She walked up to the recipients’ desk and said, “Hello. I would like you to tell Fredrick; it's Karen, and I already have the Potions R’Us items he requested.”

The young man looked at her like she was nuts. “Miss, this is a place of business.”

“Yes, I work here.” She showed him her id card out of her pocket. “Now, can you help me? I need to see Fredrick.”

“I guess.” He picked up the phone. “This is highly unusual.”

“Trust me, you don’t know the half of it.”

He turned away as he picked up the phone. “Hello? There is a crazy lady here named Karen, and she wants to see Fredrick. Uhuh.” He sighed and turned back towards Karen. “You can head up. Fredrick isn’t here right now, but you can show what you have found to the lab rats on the twenty-seventh floor.”

“Thank you.” She ran to the elevator. “Have a nice day.”

“Is it Friday yet?”

“Umm, no? It is Tuesday.”

“Then it isn’t a nice day.”

She raised an eyebrow as the elevator door closed. “Ok then.” Karen sighed and tapped her foot as she waited for the elevator to rise into the air. “All I have to do is drop these potions off. Then I can go and meet with Terry.” She put her hand on the gold railing. “Just a quick in and out.”

The ride came to a stop, and the doors opened.

Karen rolled her shoulders before stepping out on the sleek polished floor. “Brrr.” She shivered. “Why is it so much colder here than the rest of the building?”

She walked down the hallway. “Ok now too. . .” Karen blinked. “Wait, that idiot downstairs didn’t tell me which room to go to.” She walked down the hallway and hugged herself. “Foods Genetics. Size Alteration Properties.” She scratched at her head. “Just what are they working on here?”

“Hey. Who said you could be up here?” A blonde woman in a white lab coat walked towards Karen.

“I was told to come up here. My name is Karen.”

The lady's blue eyes softened. “Oh. Well, why are you just wandering about? Follow me.” She waved and turned around.

Karen shivered and followed.  Will the craziness today never end?

A few moments later, they stood at a doorway marked Macro Studies.  “Just in here.” She pushed the door open. “You can set the goods down the table in the center there.”

“Ok. Thank you, miss. . .”

She closed the door. “Please call me Wanda.”

Karen set the bag of bottles down. “Ok, Wanda. My name is Karen.” She looked around. The room was filled with items that seemed like they had been stretched in strange ways or grown beyond their limit. “Just what is this place?”

“Oh, this is where we test the Fredricks Fancy formal out on various things to make sure it’s safe. Don’t want the darn thing to have a fatal mistake if it makes someone grow.”

She laughed and walked over to the table. “That is why these potions are so important. They can take out so much of the guesswork.”

“Why do you even want to make people umm grow?”

“I don’t know. Ask Fredrick. I just work here.” Wanda smiled. “Now, can you help me stock these potions?”

Karen shook her head. “Hey, I found them and brought them here. I did my part.”

“Nonsense. Now help me put this stuff away unless you want me to tell Fredrick something different.” Wanda turned away as Karen picked up the potions. “Also, please be careful the floor is very slick.”

Karen’s right foot slipped out a few inches as she juggled the potions in her arms. “You are not kidding.” She took a deep breath as she tried to balance the precious vials in her hands.

“Where do you want them?”

“There is an open space by that window. That will be fine.”

Karen made her way towards the window as sweat dripped down the back of her neck.  Just put the potions away, and you can get out of here. God, it is freezing in here.  She shivered once more. “Ouff.” Karen’s feet fell out from under her, and the vails went flying out of her hands. Some went straight up into the air and landed on her chest as her back hit the icy ground. One elixir went sailing out the window and down into the streets below. A few of the other elixirs flew towards Wanda.

“What is going on? Oww.” Two vails hit Wanda in the chest and shattered, their contents splashing all over her body.

“Oh no. I am so sorry.” Karen pushed herself up as the vails on her chest popped open, and the liquid inside poured out onto her skin. “Eww.” She shoved the bottles off of the suit.

“This is just what I need.”

“Hey.” Wanda rushed over and picked up the two still intact bottles. “Don’t break what we still have.” She walked over to the window and set them on the shelf. “Now we have fewer samples to study.”

Karen stood up. “It isn’t my fault. Who makes their floors so slippery?”

Wanda turned around. “We need it to be this cold in here.” She crossed her arms. “Now, if you don’t mind, you can get out.” She pointed to the door. “I have work to do.”

Karen dusted off her suit. “Fine. I was just going anyways.” As she turned around, she felt a strange quivering sensation through her body. “Ugh.” She put her hand on the nearby table. “I feel kind of weird.” She closed her eyes. “My skin feels all tight and loose at the same time.”

“Ahhhhhh!”

Karen turned around to see Wanda, now three feet taller than she was before and growing. “What is happening to me?” She pulled at her lab coat. “My clothing is so tight.” She fell to her knees. “Karen, help me.”

Karen’s heart started to beat.  That is about to happen to me. I have to get out of here before I start growing. This room doesn’t need two giant ladies.

Karen turned around and ran for the door, but a giant hand wrapped around her waist before she could reach it. “You are not leaving me here, Karen.” She turned around to see Wanda, who was now beginning to push through the ceiling. “You have to find a way to stop this before I can’t fit in here anymore.”

“I think you passed that point a few moments ago.” Karen looked up at Wanda’s torn lab jacket. “Now, let me out of here before your growing body crushes me, I beg you.”

“Nooo!” Wanda’s legs pushed Karen into the wall. “You have to do something. I didn’t sign up to become this big so stop this.”

Karen felt her own body begin to throb. “I can’t do anything.” She slipped between Wanda’s massive thigh and the wall towards the door. “I am sorry that this is happening, but I have to go.” She slid over a crushed table and slid out the door. Wanda tried to grab Karen with her hand but couldn’t fit her palm through the door.

“Karen, come back. I am stuck in here. My body isn’t growing anymore. Please call someone on. Anyone.”

Karen wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Phew. That was close.” Her clothing began to feel tight. “A few more moments, and I thought I was going to really be stuck in there. I mean, I don’t want to end up like here.” She looked down at her feet. “Oh no. I almost forgot that some of the potions got on me as well.” She took a few steps back, her butt hitting the elevator door button for down. “What am I going to do now? I can’t end up like Wanda. Ugh, this suit is getting too tight.”

The elevator opened behind her. “Good.” She ducked and walked inside. “I need to get down to the bottom and outside before I get too big.” She turned around and hit the button for the ground floor. “Now hurry, you damn thing my shoes are killing me.”

She slumped down in the corner of the elevator, her body causing the steel cage to groan. “Just a minute, and I will be safe and sound on the ground.” She winced. “My body.”

She brought her knees up to her chest as her suit began to rip and tear. “I hope that I didn’t have the potions that will make me grow super tall as it feels like fireworks are going off in my veins. Gawh!” Karen extended her legs out, her feet hiding the other side of the elevator as her toes burst through her shoes. The elevator groaned in agony from her new weight. “I think I made a mistake. I should have taken the stairs augh.”

She curled up into a ball as her clothing closed on her like a vice. Massive rips appeared down both her suit and pants. “I knew I picked the wrong thing to wear to work today.” Finally, the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. “Finally.” On her hands and knees, Karen crawled for the exit. Her shoulders brushed against the sides of the doorway as she passed through. I am so big already. Ugh.  Keren's body swelled again, her outfit ripping apart.

“That is one problem taken care of.” She let out a sigh of relief. “Much better, ughhhh.”

The elevator doors closed on her butt. She slammed her massive hand down on the carpet while she kicked out and dented the side of the elevator. “Let go of me.” Karen pushed off the ground, her back hitting the ceiling. “I need to get out of here before I become too big to leave the building. It is bad enough I can feel myself growing into the elevator.” She turned around and grabbed the elevator doors with her hands. “Let go of me, you devil.”

Slowly she opened the jaws of the elevator and freed the lower half of her body. Quickly she dragged her massive legs to freedom and let the doors clamp shut before rubbing her rear end. “I wonder what my doctor will say about this. I had an elevator try and close on me.” She blinked. “If I can find a doctor to wait on me at whatever size, I stop at.”

She flipped back onto her hands and knees and crawled towards the exit of the building. “Have to get out of here.” As she came to the lobby, she heard the man at the desk yelling into a phone.

“I need someone up at the research labs at once. We have an incident on our hands.

What incident? Is a giant lady stuck inside a lab who grabs at anyone who comes near good enough of a reason for you, Mr. Fredrick?”

Karen gulped. “Opps.” She crawled past the receptionists hoping that he would be too busy with Fredrick to notice her as she made her way towards the door.

“Oh my god. There is another giant woman down here. It is an epidemic.”

Karen narrowed his eyes. “How dare you say that?” She slammed her fist down on his desk and caused the young man to get up and run. “Be nicer to people who are having growth spurt issues next time.” She winced as her bra became tight. “We have it ugh hard.”

She pulled herself towards the door and squeezed her torso through the tiny doorway. “This building is getting too small. Have to get out before it’s too late.” Karen popped out of the building and onto the street, her head hitting the next building over as her bra snapped off. “Oww.” She shook her head and stood up. “I am out at least.”

Karen looked down at the ground as it continued to shrink further and further away. “Now, if I can only stop growing.” She looked down at her now naked body. “Especially since I lost all my clothes.” She shielded her body. “I need to hide.” She turned around and saw herself in the reflection of the Fredricks Fancy building. “But where can I hide at my size?”

“Karen Lancent.” She turned around and looked down to see multiple vehicles and people in the street before her. “You are now property of the Fredricks Fancy cooperation. Please come with us.”

“Excuse me?”

“We need to study the growth potions' effects on you. Please, this is your last warning.”

She laughed. “Look at me.” She put her hand on the side of the skyscraper beside her. “I must be thirty-five stories tall. What do you expect to do to me?”

The vehicles shot steel cables that wrapped around her arms. “Hey.”

She was suddenly pulled to the ground. “What are you doing?”

“You will come with us so you can be studied or else.”

Karen yanked the vehicles up and sent them flying. “I am not your lab rat.” She narrowed her eyes at the others still standing in the street. “You can’t just do this to people.” She slammed her foot down on their trucks and watched as the tiny people ran around screaming.

She took deep breaths and stood up; she was now as tall as the buildings around her. “Please tell me I will stop growing.” She shook her head and leaned against the building across the street. “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

The building gave out under her weight and crumbled into a pile of debris. Karen looked down and took a few steps back. “Crap.” Her foot fell onto a small restaurant. “Oh god.”

She lifted her foot and scraped the building out from between her toes. “I am getting too big for my own good. I need to get out of here.”

She turned around and ran for the city’s outskirts just as a strange buzzing filled her ears. Small helicopters flew into her vision, and bull horns filled her ears.

“Karen, you have one last chance to turn around and head to our facility before we use force.”

She stopped and looked at the tiny copters. “You are so small I can barely see you.

What do you think you can even do to me besides making me grow out of control like this?” She narrowed her eyes and grabbed the nearest helicopter with her index finger and thumb. “Tell me why I shouldn’t crush you right now?”

“This is Mathew. Use the gas on her. Bring her down.”

Karen’s whole body shook. She crushed the small toy in her hand and swatted at the others around her.  There is no way they are going to do this to me. Strange mist traveled up her nostrils. “Ughhh, ugghhh.” Karen closed her eyes. “Ahhhchooo.”

Her sneeze sent the pesky helicopters flying into the distance. “That will teach them.” She rubbed her eyes. “I am tired all of a sudden.” She stretched her arms and yawned. “I think they might have gotten me with their gas after all. I can’t keep my eyes open.”

She looked around for a place to sleep. “Oh no. I don’t see anywhere to lie down. Ugh, small towns.” She rubbed her eyes. “But can’t stay awake.” She fell to her knees, crushing multiple buildings. “Sorry, people. Have to sleep on your homes.” She laid down on a mix of trees and buildings and let her mind drift off.  I just hope things return to normal when I wake up.