Compared to the wall of grey asphalt, the sprawling jungle of grass behind the park bench seemed less dangerous somehow. Foot traffic would be mostly avoided and your only competition would be other bugs which were much more manageable than a full sized human. Your heart set on duking it out against mother nature, you begin walking across the dirt beneath the bench. Light shined down between cracks in the wood illuminating the rich soil and the haunting forest you were quickly approaching. Strange noises left and right echoed from within and you begin to question if this was the right choice or not. No matter, there was no backing out now!
Years spent watching survival videos on YouTube and shows on TV has taught you that above all else your first priority should be to build a proper shelter. Even from beneath the towering blades of grass, you managed to spot the key to your survival. Nearby was a massive spout for filling water bottles, washing off shoes and rinsing picnic supplies. Nearby was a youngish maple tree, its trunk still smooth and better yet, unlikely to inhabit as much life as other trees might. As you trek over large roots, small puddles and boulder-sized pebbles, you make an effort to collect small weeds and grains of rock until you happen upon a small clearing equidistant from the tree and the water pump. With daylight fleeting, you get to work immediately, carefully laying out a foundation of pebbles for your house of modest size. Finding a particularly sharp rock, you fasten it to a root as a makeshift axe and begin to chop down nearby blades of grass for your floor and walls. By the time dusk had fallen, you had already laid the last bit of roof over your head and settled on the ground exhausted from a days work. You walk cautiously down to the water pump and greedily slurp down the lake of runoff surrounding its base. The water was ice cold and relatively clean compared to anything else. Your thirst quenched you return home and seal the entrance.
The night was long and without a proper bed to sleep in, your grass floor wasn't really cutting it. Instead you paid attention to the the noises outside. There was a near constant stream of scattering from insects nearby and occasionally the screech of an owl or bat would pierce through the paper thin walls of your home. Eventually, however, you were finally able to get some sleep. When you awoke, something was very clearly wrong. one of your walls had completely collapsed in the night and you were lucky to not have been eaten. But equally peculiar was you were slightly smaller than before. the rocks around you were ever so slightly bigger and heavier and if this kept up, you might need to reconsider hour housing arrangement. Rising to your feet you begin what is sure to be another long ang grueling day of work.
--- 2 Weeks Later ---
Life had become surprisingly "livable" in the weeks since you had shrunk. Using roots and small sticks you had seriously reinforced your walls and even built a smaller shed to store food and water. Mostly your diet consisted of ant meat and the occasional scrap of real food from a picnic area. Water was never a worry though you could only collect at night as to avoid any human confrontation. Your shrinking it seemed, had spurred briefly and you remained a comfortable centimeter tall for the time being. You had been out collecting sprigs to eat when, as you were approaching home, something disastrous happened. You keeled over clutching your stomach in anguish. The pain was unbearable, your vision blurred as you watched the world around you expand rapidly. Your body gradually recovers but you are horrified to find yourself one tenth of your original size! Barely a millimeter in height now you look up at your house as if it were a sprawling castle. Worse yet was the fact that you could no longer reach the latch on the door to let yourself in! As you stand there trying to come to terms with the fact that the last few weeks would have to be repeated from the beginning, something far worse looms ominously in the distance...
