Stan sits in his desk, practically melting the clock on the wall with his gaze. ‘Just a couple more minutes.’ The past week had been grueling, it was all he could do to focus on his schoolwork as each day went by. It was partly because he knew that this was the last time he’d ever have to visit this campus again, but also because he knew his package was due to arrive. There he sat, mere minutes away from freedom. He looked around and saw every other student and even the teacher watching the clock with him. Just outside the classroom he could see other students walking the halls, released early. His teacher checks his watch, “Oh, look at that. The clock is slow by couple minutes, you all can go.” It doesn’t take but a second before all the students, including Stan, rise from their seats and make their way to the door. “Good luck to your future endeavors!” his teacher shouts as they all flood the exit.
Stan sees Mia chatting with some friends as he starts walking home. He waves hello and she, along with her girlfriends, waves back. She then points at him and says something to her friends, which casts a look of surprise across their faces. If it were any other day he’d head over and see what they were talking about, but his mind was preoccupied.
making good time on his way home, he arrives to see a large box waiting next to the door. He takes box into his room and decides to wait for Mia to get home before opening it. It is, after all, just as much hers as it is his. She trots through the front door half an hour later. “Ooh, is that it?” she asks as she walks into the room. “Yep. Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you to open it.” “Just out getting a few things...” Stan thinks to inquire further but drops it. “Well, let’s open it up” Stan says as he gets up to close the door to his room. “This stuff might be delicate, so we should be-“ The sound of Mia ripping through the cardboard cuts him off. Stan sighs, and sits down next to her to help her unpack the contents.
Inside the box are a number of items: a wristwatch with high tech display, the shrinking gun itself, a set of instructions, and what appears to be a remote with a display on top. Stan grabs the instructions and starts to read, Mia picks up the gun and begins to fiddle with it. “Do you want to try it out now?” she asks with some restrained enthusiasm. Stan dismissively waves his hand at her, “not yet, I want to figure out how this thing works first. Besides, we have to wait until I ‘leave for my camping trip’, remember?” “Yeah yeah...” she pouts and goes back to playing with the knobs and buttons on the gun.
Stan looks through the instructions. The first section is dedicated to the explanation of what the device actually does. He is unable to make heads or tails of what they are saying, something about the properties of quantum this affecting the state of quantum that. He gives up and skips it. The next section makes more sense. It states that the wristwatch is the key to all of the neat little features advertised. As long as he wears it, his body gains durability proportional to the amount he’s shrunk by. The remote he saw before has controls the texture of the person’s skin on the fly, can take limited control over the person’s body, and also permits communication between the controller and the shrunken via the displays on the it and the watch.
Mia flips a switch on the gun somewhere and a buzzing sound fills the air. Stan looks over at her, “be careful, you don’t know what you’re doing.” “Calm down, it’s not like it’s rocket science” she laughs. He reaches over to take the gun from her, “it probably is rocket science.” She pulls the gun back and playfully hides it behind her, sticking her tongue out at him. “Give it to me” Stan demands as he leans in to grab it. Mia laughs and puts the gun in her opposite hand, holding it away from him. Stan reaches for it again and accidentally loses his balance, falling over on top of her. As his weight pushes her over, she falls to the bed and loses her grip on the gun. She waves her fingers around, trying to grab the gun as it fumbles away. Reaching around, her fingers accidentally find the trigger. There is a loud bang and blue light floods the room.
Mia freezes in terror. She lays on the bed looking down her brother had just been. His clothes lie neatly on top of her but he himself is gone. She feels something move down by her stomach and her eyes dart to the source. A little version of Stan crawls out of the opening to his pants. Their eyes lock as he gets up, and they stare at each other in shock.
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