Part 2: Down to Earth
Chapter 19
Aiden
It’s an absolutely gorgeous day out today. The sun is just cloud covered enough to not be too warm, the breeze is light and pleasant. I’ve yet to be bothered by a single fly or gnat and the sound of distant birdsong fills the air. The garden is in full bloom around me, carpets of peony and iris encircling the patch of soft green grass where I’ve laid out a blanket. The park is completely empty of any other people on this Saturday morning, just a beautiful, quiet, peaceful spot.
I hardly take notice of any of it. At the moment, my attention is entirely on the little creature before me who’s taking tentative steps over the surface of our picnic blanket. Her three-inch frame is just heavy enough to make the cloth bend under her bare feet as she absently meanders back and forth in circuitous patterns, her hands making wide gestures as she tells me a story. I’m currently laying on my stomach, propping myself up on my elbows, a long-abandoned book tucked under one forearm. A perpetual smile tugs up the corner of my mouth as I can’t keep my eyes off of this tiny woman who unknowingly has my heart under lock and chain.
“So what was I supposed to do then?!” Evie exclaims, throwing her arms out emphatically as she looks up at me.
“Did you think the basement was haunted?” I ask, biting back laughter as I wonder what direction this tale will go.
“Of course I did! Why would the freaking chief of staff lie to me about what he saw?!”
She pivots on her heel to resume her pacing, causing her hair to whip and her dress to twirl just above her knees. God, she’s so cute.
“But of course, he had already left because he thought it would be hilarious to let the youngest team member close up shop alone on Halloween night. I never imagined he’d be hiding down there to jump out at me. Worst prank ever.” She pauses dramatically before a sly smirk forms onto her tiny face. “But what he didn’t know was that I was carrying a crowbar I found just behind the basement door.”
“Oh, damn!” I say, my eyebrows shooting up. “Is this about to take a really dark turn?”
“Nah. I did swing when he popped up, but the light was so dim that I completely missed. Scared the crap out of him though… Served him right. Anyway, that’s another reason why I don’t like going underground.” Evie lets herself collapse onto the picnic blanket so that she’s lying on her back. “Much prefer the sunlight anyway. I wish the weather could be this nice all year round…”
As much as she seems to be enjoying the sun, the beam that’s shining down on us at the moment appears to be blinding her - she’s squinting and putting a hand up to her face. I scoot forward a little bit, looming over her so that my head casts a shadow onto her body. She gives me an appreciative smile.
“Yeah, I can definitely tell the fresh air’s doing you some good,” I murmur.
“It is!” she exclaims, stretching her arms over her head contentedly, “I’m totally high on it.”
“I should open the windows more often at home then. It would be good to air out the place anyway.”
“Sounds great. And thanks for bringing me out here so often, Aiden! I always thought this was such a dinky little park and never came here in the before times. Such a fool I was…” She flips over onto her stomach and gazes out past the edge of the picnic blanket. “Think it would be a bad idea to go exploring? I’ve never really done that.”
“Mmm, I don’t see why not. Let’s just watch out for things like broken glass. And bugs.”
“You mean like that giant scorpion?” she says, pointing out ahead.
“What?!” I yelp, head snapping up to look wildly at where she’s gesturing, and without thinking I’ve already darted my hand forward to form a wall in front of my vulnerable friend. I scan the grass and barely register my own confusion before I hear the melodic sound of her laughter.
“Kidding,” she says, sitting up so she can tap my wrist reassuringly, “April Fools.”
“Jesus, Evie.” I grin weakly as I look back down at her, feeling pretty dumb for having fallen for that. Surely she would have sounded at least a little concerned if it had been for real. “Who’s the prankster now?”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I’m cut out for it. I didn’t mean to scare you, I feel bad now.”
“Don’t. You got me good. I’ll just need to come up with some form of revenge,” I tease, extending my index finger to poke at her stomach and making her giggle as she skitters backwards.
In the back of my mind I’m processing what she just alluded to. It’s already April 1st. In just another week it will have been two months since the incident that dramatically changed both of our lives. We’ve settled into such a comfortable routine that I almost wonder if we’re doing something wrong, that it shouldn’t have been so easy to figure this out.
Well… okay, not everything has been easy. Especially at night when I go to bed and all I see are images of her when I close my eyes. But I’ve kept my promise to myself. And despite how much I’ve been struggling with these problematic feelings, I know she still has it way harder. She spends most of her life alone on a desk.
I’ve actually been feeling a bit worried about her lately. Evie’s been incredibly resilient throughout this whole thing - she hardly ever seems intimidated anymore by how much bigger I am, or the size of the rest of the world for that matter. She has all sorts of projects for herself now, having made a whole new wardrobe and crafting tools, and recently voicing interest in building furniture too. We’ve even started discussing maybe opening an Etsy store for her to sell miniatures once she gets the hang of it. Considering how recently the shrinking happened and the fact that we have no idea if or when we’ll ever be able to fix her, she really has been amazing in making the most of her situation.
But something’s a little off. Over the past week or two, I can’t help but feel like she’s been trying to keep particularly busy in an effort to stay distracted from something. There are a million things that could be bothering her. Boredom. Loneliness. Frustration over her limits. Missing things about the past, worrying about the future. Whenever I try to ask about how she feels, she always tries to reassure me that she’s doing fine.
As much as I care about Evie, that’s one thing I don’t love - the way she closes in on herself sometimes. I wish she would open up to me more about whatever’s troubling her… She’s always there for me when I’m feeling down, but it tends to be a one-way street. I’ve found myself wondering time and time again if I’ve done something wrong or if there’s more I should be doing for her.
At least the outdoors seem to be putting her in a genuinely good mood. She gets back up to her feet now as she asks me, “Are final exams coming up soon?”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I sigh, “I’ve still got a while, they start mid-May. But it’ll be here before I know it…”
“You’ve already started on that Hydrology paper though, right? I’m sure you’re way ahead of schedule.”
“Yeah, I’m trying not to procrastinate… Especially because work will get really busy just before exams too. But I’ll still have so much studying to do.”
Evie’s slowly making her way towards the edge of the picnic blanket, but she turns around now to give me a sympathetic look. “Not gonna lie… I don’t envy you. As much as I wish I could go back to class.”
I shift my weight so that I can lean my chin on my hand, smiling down at her as I take on a lighter tone. “Oh yeah, about that. I’ve been meaning to tell you, I’m planning to sneak you in with me on Monday. I thought it might help with your studies.”
"Wait, what?” Evie freezes in place and looks at me wide-eyed, going a shade paler and beginning to stutter. “Are you s-serious? How would we even… why would we–”
“Ha.” I poke her right on the forehead this time as I give her a smirk. “April Fools.”
A wave of relief washes over her before she smiles up at me, crossing her arms and wrinkling her nose. “Touché… Alright. Now we’re even. I’m gonna go explore." And with that she turns and marches towards the grass.
I watch her for a moment, marveling at the ease with which she traverses what must be an unsteady, bumpy terrain. She looks so much more confident now than she used to be… As if she was made to be this little. Though in reality, no human this small belongs in the world, and I straighten up a bit to scan the patch of grass ahead, feeling paranoid about any potential dangers. Evie looks a lot more cautious once she gets to the edge of the blanket, reaching out to feel a nearby blade of grass.
“In all seriousness, I do wish there was a way I could come with you,” she says, keeping half of her focus on our conversation.
“I mean, we could try,” I say, also only half paying attention, “More than anything else, it just seems like that would be incredibly boring for you. Just stuck in my pocket for however many hours.”
“What I’d be worried about is other people. Those chairs are really close together. All it would take is someone walking by while you’re sitting down and there’s a good chance they’d see me.”
“That’s if they’re looking… I wouldn’t expect anyone to try and look. Plus, there would be a million other conclusions to draw first before someone would assume I’m actually carrying a tiny person. Much less confront me about it.”
“Still…” Evie’s fidgeting with the blade of grass that she’s holding. She sounds very nervous, but in that trying-to-hide-it kind of way. “I guess I’d rather not take that chance.”
I take a moment to focus in on her again. Such a little thing… Yes, in some ways she’s gotten more comfortable with her stature. But in other ways she’s still appropriately scared of the outside world.
I lean over sideways, lowering my head to try and get her attention. “You know I’d never let anything happen to you, right?”
She lets go of the grass and it bounces back up, though it’s thoroughly rumpled now. She looks me in the eye and her cheeks are notably more pink. “I-I know,” she says and she gives me a sweet smile that makes my heart melt.
It’s another one of those moments. One where I so desperately wonder how she feels about me. Where the hopeful part of my mind thinks that just maybe… there’s a chance that she’s interested in me too. But I know it’s too risky to ask. I feel like such a hypocrite, wishing she’d open up to me more when there’s this monumental secret that I’m keeping from her. But this is different. It could ruin everything.
Evie looks away again, breaking the spell she had me under. She stares at the dirt just ahead of her and then slowly extends her leg, taking one tentative step. She touches down, feels the earth for a second, and the other leg is quicker to join the first. The grass reaches up almost to her chest, so she has to push it aside as she walks into it, traversing about an inch or two forward before she stops.
“I need to figure out how to make shoes,” she comments, lifting one leg to look back at her already-dirtied foot. “I wasn’t exactly wearing hiking boots when I got shrunk, my old flats won’t help me here.”
I scoot forward again, hovering behind her fretfully. “Seriously, let’s look out for bugs.”
“Will do. Though I’m not particularly afraid of them…”
I chuckle softly, keeping my eyes just ahead of her for anything that looks alive. “Yeah you say that, until you see the spider the size of a–”
“Aiden!”
I stop short. Evie and I stare at each other, frozen, our eyes slowly widening. The voice came from behind me. We’re not alone.
This is so well done!
I do like multisize scenarios, multiple tiny people of various sizes interacting. But if I’m self-inserting into that I would always want to be the smallest one heh.
Even irl I’m pretty short and I like it that way.
