“I just wish you would help out around the house a little bit! Is that too much to ask?”
I glared at my boyfriend Steve as he sat on the couch watching yet another ball game. “In a second, babe,” he replied, not looking up. I sighed and went back to the kitchen, looking again at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I shook my head and walked back to where he is still sitting glued to his seat. “Please tell me you at least picked up the dish soap like I asked?”
“Yeah yeah, babe. It’s on the counter.”
I walked back to the kitchen and found the bottle of dish soap. It was some brand I had never heard of: JiffyScrub. I stomped back out of the kitchen and turned the TV off, standing between him and the set.
“Babe, what the hell?”
I held the bottle out to his face. “What is this shit? You know what brand we use. I TOLD you what to get and you couldn’t even do that for me!”
He stood up. “Come on, babe. It’s not that big a deal. This was all that was in stock…”
I slapped him. Hard. His glasses flew from his face, smashing into the wobbly shelf he’d always promised to fix. The shelf, true to its name, wobbled precariously before collapsing, boards and knick knacks smashing to the floor.
“Shit, Claire! My glasses.” He went over to the ruined shelf and started digging through the remnants. He held up a smashed pair of glasses. “CHRIST, babe. You know I need those to see.”
“Yeah,” I screamed, crossing my arms. “You need them to see those stupid ball games. Or those stupid TV shows. Or those STUPID INFOMERCIALS!” I stomped over to him, using every bit of my height advantage. “You keep saying you will help me with stuff around here, and you never do. I go to work most of the day, and come home and have to do everything around here as well. Then, when everything is done and I finally crawl into bed, an hour after you I might add, you want to mess around a little bit.”
Steve stood there, his head hanging. “You know what, Claire. I think we both need a little space.” He stepped over the ruined shelf. “You don’t need to be so cruel all the time. As my grandma always said, ‘One act of cruelty deserves another.’” He pulled on a jacket. “I’m going to take a walk.”
I stared at him incredulously. “FINE! Go and take a walk. Leave me to clean all of this up.”
He shrugged and walked out the door.
I bit down on another scream and walked back to the kitchen. I threw dishes in the sink, maybe a little harder than I should have, as I fixed the dish water. I looked again at the bottle in my hand.
JiffyScrub. What the hell kind of name was that?
However, it really foamed up nicely in the water. I had never seen dish soap that foamed like this stuff did. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.
I started scrubbing dishes, noticing that the soap seemed to give me a slight tingle as I dunked my hands repeatedly into it. ‘What the hell is in this stuff?’ I thought to myself as I washed dishes.
Looking down, I nearly jumped in shock! My clothes were looser on my body, and I could still feel the tingling as I looked at myself. I pulled my hands out of the water and looked at them. They didn’t appear any smaller to me…
My pants slid down my legs, and I stepped out of them as I looked around. I didn’t seem to be shrinking any more at the moment. I picked up the soap bottle and read over it. In fine print near the bottom of the label: This product may cause some temporary shrinking of the female gender. These effects are not permanent, so long as exposure is limited.
I growled loudly, and despite being alone, I nearly screamed. “That bastard.” I threw the bottle across the kitchen, smiling inwardly as it landed in the trash. “Steve did this on purpose to me! Why would he do something so cruel?”
I walked back over to the sink. Before this had started, I had been waist level with the counter. I was now chest level, meaning it would be much harder to do the dishes. Part of me wanted to leave them for him. A bit of revenge for what he had done to me, but I knew that was what he wanted. He would love if I had given up due to my diminished size. I could do this. How small could someone get with a few bubbles? I would just have to be quick.
I plunged my hands back into the water, grabbed the sponge, and proceeded with my work.
Almost immediately, the tingling returned. I scrubbed and rinsed as fast as I could, but with the amount of dishes, it was a difficult chore.
When I was eye level with the counter, I stepped back yet again. By my estimate, I was over halfway done, but I couldn’t reach the sink anymore. My shirt sleeves were soaked with the soapy concoction, causing me to shrink even more as I stood there.
Seeing as there was little point anymore, I stripped from the rest of my oversized clothes, and stood naked in my kitchen. I had once again stopped shrinking, but I now stood at nearly the size of a toddler. “This. Is. Insane!” I looked up at the counter above me. “Well, this won’t be easy, but I won’t give that bastard the satisfaction of hearing me ask for help.” I crossed the room, and pushed a chair over to the sink. “I can still do this!”
I climbed up on the chair and stood once again to the sink. I located my sponge floating in the water before reaching for it. I would have to move faster; the smaller I got, the more difficult this would be.
I reached for the sponge and quickly started scrubbing more dishes. It seemed as if the shrinking had sped up, for it was getting harder to reach the dishes as I went.
Suddenly, as I reached for one of the last pans, I overbalanced and fell into the sink.
I was as small as a baby now, and as I fell into the water, my whole body was quickly covered with the bubbly foam. I sputtered; sure I had swallowed some, and tried to crawl out.
I was shrinking very quickly now. The sides of the sink were barely reachable as I drained my size at a rapid pace. Panicking, I looked over to where the sponge floated on the surface of the water.
Thankful for my years of swimming lessons, I swam quickly to the sponge and climbed up on it, fearful at my new size.
The sponge worked as a makeshift raft for my now much diminished stature. I was able to stay afloat on the sponge, and my shrinking had stopped for the moment. “That bastard!” I screamed, my voice now much higher pitched. “When I get big again, I am going to kill him!”
Just then, the door opened. “Steve,” I called, knowing my voice was probably too fine to hear.
“Steve, I am in here!!”
From my spot on the sponge, I could hear him enter the kitchen. “It worked! She must be around here somewhere.” He approached the sink. “Damn, she didn’t get the dishes finished. Well, I can play with her when I get this finished, but this is really inconsiderate of her.”
I screamed as he reached for the sponge. He took it in his hand, not seeing me on it and squeezed. I held on for dear life as he picked up one of the pans I had left soaking. He rubbed the sponge, and myself, roughly against the pan. I could feel my skin shredding from my back as I was grated across its surface. Despite all of this, I held on to the fibers of the sponge. If I let go, I knew I would fall back into the water.
With one pan done, he set the sponge on the counter. My back was scraped raw, and I could feel blood run freely from multiple scrapes. I attempted to stand up, but before I could move, I was in his grasp again.
‘He can’t see me,’ I thought as he scrubbed a new pan, my back once again receiving a brute amount of force. ‘I broke his glasses, and now he can’t see very well…’
The pan done, he threw the sponge back into the water. I screamed as I launched from the sponge and splashed into the grungy, foamy water.
Almost instantly, I could feel myself starting to shrink again; the tingling almost feeling soothing after the rough treatment I had received. I tried to move my body, and although it was painful, I somehow got back onto the sponge.
I opened my eyes. I was barely the size of a fly now. I looked upward to see Steve standing high above me, looking around the kitchen. “Claire, you can come out from hiding now. I know you are probably mad that I shrunk you, but it’s only temporary. I can help you with stuff until you grow back.”
I don’t think he meant for it to go this far: that it was all an accident. He had never beaten me or anything. I had a feeling that my exposure was far from limited at this point: growing back would not be in the cards for me. My body was bruised and bleeding. Even if I did grow back, I would never be the same.
And even now, he wanted me. He and I both knew he would never survive without me there to baby him and give in to his every whim. ‘One act of cruelty deserves another.’ I rolled over into a crawling position and moved to the edge of the sponge. I could punish him for what he had done to me.
I could leave him alone… forever.
I looked at the pans in the dish rack. Even at my small size, I could see the blood stains on them.
If he called in law enforcement to report me missing, they would see it. They would never believe I had shrunk away. Blood stains on a pan would make them think I had been beaten to death. It would be bogus, but it would also be humiliating to him. He’d never be able to afford a lawyer. He would lose everything.
He was reaching into the sink to pull the drain stopper. Before I could talk myself out of it, I slid off the sponge and into the water.
As the tingling returned, I felt myself pulled downward. I looked back up through the grime at his face, and smiled a cruel smile. ‘You always thought I was cruel to you before. Just you wait and see what is coming for you now.’ With that thought, I closed my eyes as I slipped down the drain, away from all I had ever known.