Several days later, May and Leah were sitting in an Uber, ready for their adventure. May had her earbuds in; loud pop music could be heard despite the radio being on. In May's lap there was a Nikon-branded bag; they brought their own camera to get some footage over the next few days.

Leah was staring at the screen of her iPad. She had the rare ability to be able to look down on digital screens while in a moving care without experiencing motion sickness. She'd never felt nauseous while doing so.

Today, she did, and she did not like the feeling at all. On her screen, she had a PDF file open with a loose script for them - and this Ben guy - to follow. They talked briefly via Zoom and he seemed normal enough, if perhaps a bit... indifferent. But that was okay with Leah. In fact, she'd be much more vary of someone who was really excited at the prospect of having them shrink. Still, there was an uneasy feeling rising within her. She was planning to rewise the script on their way over but the letters were getting blurry and her head was starting to spin. With a sigh, she sent the device into sleep mode and leaned back.

It was all that damn picture. May showed it to her this morning. Apparently, her friend Scott sent it to her the night prior; there was a girl there, a tiny girl in a skimpy dress, leaning against a giant dress shoe, which was clearly being worn by Scott himself. May described the picture as "woah, classy", and while Lead could agree that the shoes were nice at least, something about the girl in the picture spooked her. Maybe it's how truly tiny she was. She felt like once she was reduced in size she'd try her best to avoid people's feet. Too scary.

May dismissed her concerns as silly.

"You're overthinking it", she said. "It's not even that dangerous. Tinies are harder than they look".

"I've heard about that".

Maybe there was something else, too. Maybe she felt like the expression on the girl's face wasn't right. She was smiling, but she looked so pale, and her eyes seemed glassy to Leah. May, strangely, didn't pick up on that at all. She just thought the tiny girl looked cute. "You'll get a chance to look as cute as her too", she told Leah, and Leah could only roll her eyes.

They would be arriving soon, and then they'd chat to this Ben guy, and then they'd be shrunken, and then they'd make their little reality episode... and that would be the end of it, she told herself. Part of the game. Gotta go where the wind blows. Everyone and their mom is on about shrunken women these days. She had to ride that. At the very least they got lucky they knew someone who could organize it all for them.

"I just hope he won't be entirely inept with the camera", she thought to herself.

***

Shrinktech was a device of many parts; a large 'hub' in the corner of the room, multiple lens-looking things, a humming chiller and all of it was wirelessly connected to a silvery pen-like device in Ben's hand. May and Leah were standing in the middle of the room. Their camera was positioned on a table by the wall, and their host was standing right next to it, deftly spinning the 'pen' in his fingers. He was a hunk - athletic, broad-shouldered, with a chiseled chin, could probably be a model for a surfer brand. He was taking this all in very casually. "I can give you a little tour, a little intro to the shrunken life", he'd told them, "we've done that already with some of my friends' girlfriends. Then we can do whatever you planned, sure". Now they just waited for him to pull the trigger. Leah noticed he was wearing shorts and a jersey; the dude looked like he was about to hit the gym. Maybe he had been. Maybe he'd forgotten about them since yesterday night. In Leah's opinion, guys this good looking were rarely smart.

Then May gave him a thumbs up, and Leah followed suit (though with much less enthusiasm) and he went ahead and pressed a button.

Vertigo hit Leah over the head as she lost her balance and fell to her knees; floor rushed past her as she dwindled away to the two-inch-height they'd chosen in advance. She was silent, but May next to her was squeaking like a schoolgirl. Panic rose in Leah - the kind that made her want to curl up crying; like along with size she was deprived of something incredibly dear to her heart. She already hated this.

Her first look at her surroundings was a shock; the room turned into an immense chamber, the everyday objects and furniture - into fantastic-looking relics, and Ben, of course, was now a giant, and he was already walking towards them, a titan moving with deadly speed and precision. She barely had enough time to blink as he stood in front of them, and she had to crane her neck to even be able to look him in the eyes, though she was sure he couldnt' really meet her gaze since he couldn't probably make out her face. She moved towards May, felt her shoulder next to her, suddenly reassured by her friend's presence.