Over seven months had passed since the news of the shrinking virus had taken the world by the neck, forcing everyone on the planet to adjust to the very real possibility that someone they knew would eventually end up as a "shrink", the epithet given to those unlucky enough to succumb to the virus. There was no real understanding of how the virus affected its victims, except that the shrinking process was quick, happening within days, sometimes even hours, and in some rare but devastating cases, in just a few minutes. For most people, the integration of shrinks into society was an afterthought that they could barely be bothered to consider since the chances of survival for shrinks were about as high as they were tall.
In fact, due to the varying sizes of shrinks when they were found, it was almost impossible for governments the world over to issue standard guidelines for the care and safety of shrinks, leaving such decisions to the close friends and family of the affected individual. In some countries, the initial policy had been to preserve the rights of shrinks as normal human beings, meaning that interfering with them in any way would attract the penalties of the law of the land, if a crime was committed against a shrink. A spate of high profile cases soon followed, showing society that it was impossible to prove or disprove that any act against a shrink had been done intentionally, since every defense made seemed to rely solely on the act being an accident.
Scenes and stories filled the press with mass maimings and crushings grabbing headlines on a daily basis. Occasionally, the newspapers would run a human interest piece featuring the tragic story of a shrink suspected of being eaten, sometimes accompanied by the teary account of the person accused of doing the deed, as they pleaded their innocence with the public before taking their case to court. Emotions collided with hard fact as lawyers and citizen's outrage groups locked horns to decide the fate of the shrinks, as all over the world, communities battled with stopping the spread of the virus, while ensuring the rights of their members, both "norms" and "shrinks", were protected.
With no way to logically protect shrinks from the fates that could befall them at the hands (and feet) of norm citizens, most governments pleaded with their people to take care of those shrinks they knew, and protect them from harm, as they simultaneously voted away legal protections that would see norms being punished for killing or otherwise hurting shrinks. For some, the relegation of shrinks rights was seen as a massive failure by society, and no one was at all surprised to find the rate of shrink disappearances and deaths skyrocket soon after.
Soon, norms everywhere were forced to begin thinking about what they would have to do and how they would keep living in a world where the risk of shrinking was ever pervading. Families and friends would either bond closer together, or fracture as their members made their own decisions about what would have to be done. Life went on as normal for many though, for even though the epidemic and its threat to human life remained ever present, many had never seen a shrink in real life, let alone had to figure out what to do about one.
For Charlie and Lillian, the conversation about what to do was becoming more and more pressing, especially since Lillian was now late in her second trimester, expecting their first child. They had been married for more than three years prior to the virus and had barely been aware of it at all, as the news came around the same time they had realised Lillian was pregnant. It had been a turbulent time for the couple as they began to understand the magnitude of the changes happening to the world as news of the shrinking virus came to dominate the news cycle.
Charlie, a computer systems analyst at a reputable financial research company was soon working from home, although Lillian, a nurse, was still very much fully occupied with work at the nearby community hospital.
In fact, due to the varying sizes of shrinks when they were found, it was almost impossible for governments the world over to issue standard guidelines for the care and safety of shrinks, leaving such decisions to the close friends and family of the affected individual. In some countries, the initial policy had been to preserve the rights of shrinks as normal human beings, meaning that interfering with them in any way would attract the penalties of the law of the land, if a crime was committed against a shrink. A spate of high profile cases soon followed, showing society that it was impossible to prove or disprove that any act against a shrink had been done intentionally, since every defense made seemed to rely solely on the act being an accident.
Scenes and stories filled the press with mass maimings and crushings grabbing headlines on a daily basis. Occasionally, the newspapers would run a human interest piece featuring the tragic story of a shrink suspected of being eaten, sometimes accompanied by the teary account of the person accused of doing the deed, as they pleaded their innocence with the public before taking their case to court. Emotions collided with hard fact as lawyers and citizen's outrage groups locked horns to decide the fate of the shrinks, as all over the world, communities battled with stopping the spread of the virus, while ensuring the rights of their members, both "norms" and "shrinks", were protected.
With no way to logically protect shrinks from the fates that could befall them at the hands (and feet) of norm citizens, most governments pleaded with their people to take care of those shrinks they knew, and protect them from harm, as they simultaneously voted away legal protections that would see norms being punished for killing or otherwise hurting shrinks. For some, the relegation of shrinks rights was seen as a massive failure by society, and no one was at all surprised to find the rate of shrink disappearances and deaths skyrocket soon after.
Soon, norms everywhere were forced to begin thinking about what they would have to do and how they would keep living in a world where the risk of shrinking was ever pervading. Families and friends would either bond closer together, or fracture as their members made their own decisions about what would have to be done. Life went on as normal for many though, for even though the epidemic and its threat to human life remained ever present, many had never seen a shrink in real life, let alone had to figure out what to do about one.
For Charlie and Lillian, the conversation about what to do was becoming more and more pressing, especially since Lillian was now late in her second trimester, expecting their first child. They had been married for more than three years prior to the virus and had barely been aware of it at all, as the news came around the same time they had realised Lillian was pregnant. It had been a turbulent time for the couple as they began to understand the magnitude of the changes happening to the world as news of the shrinking virus came to dominate the news cycle.
Charlie, a computer systems analyst at a reputable financial research company was soon working from home, although Lillian, a nurse, was still very much fully occupied with work at the nearby community hospital.
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June 3, 2023
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