Bryan's new perspective made the rather small and drab interior of his local petrol station look utterly different. An entire city could easily fit on the spread of linoleum tile floor before him with plenty of room left over. It all was familiar, yet he felt like he arrived on some strange planet of towering coolers, shelves and miles of huge tile. Bryan simply couldn't wrap his mind around it.
Just like outside, numerous details became apparent to the tiny man. His persnickety brain couldn't help but note how filthy the floor appeared, as it was littered with dirt and other refuse. The base of a huge cooler nearest him also appeared in similarly distasteful condition, covered with dust and dried soda from spills. Bryan bemusedly considered that health inspectors could make great use of his shrinking formula when evaluating an establishments cleanliness.
Gazing around, he had almost forgotten his shrunken peril in his awe-struck daze. Murphy's Law decided against this brief complacency as Bryan heard a rough skittering noise from behind, causing him to turn around.
His heart sank in terror when he saw the three ants emerge from the dark crevice he had exited through only minutes ago. Bryan had already been unpleasantly afraid of insects before, but at his current size, this fear had skyrocketed to outright terror as the smallest insect proved to be larger than he was. The ants seemed to be searching for something as they communicated via their antennae to each other, emitting a vile clicking sound from their dangerous mandibles.
"They haven't seen me... I just need to-" Bryan's train of thought was cut suddenly as the foremost ant seemed to look directly at him with horrifying black eyes. The ant seemed to signal its fellows with a hurried motion from its antennae, and the three sped towards the tiny scientist at a frightening pace.
A pathetic yelp and tiny Bryan clumsily turned around running away from the horrid creatures. His little legs felt incredibly slow as he sprinted desperately. He wished that he would of decided to go for those morning jogs he had been considering for years but been too "busy" to begin. Bryan raced towards the dust bunny ridden base of a mountainous cooler, having no other options other than the open floor.
The ground began to shuddered noticeably, and heavy booms were heard.
-----------------
Derrick walked around a shelf containing a variety of sweets, his muscular arms bulging as he carried a container of beverages to be stocked.
He stopped before the cooler that contained the beverages in question and set the weighted box to his side. Fishing out a small utility knife, Derrick prepared to cut the box open when he noticed four tiny bugs slowly moving to the base of the cooler he was stocking.
"Little fuckers" He muttered casually as he stood back up. Lifting his nearest sneaker, he stamped it down on the three insects clustered together that seemed to be following a smaller one. Looking over where the other bug was, he didn't see it. It must have crawled under the cooler, he thought casually. It was all inconsequential to him, as bugs in the station were quite common, especially during summer.
Returning to his duty, Derrick pulled the cooler door open and began stocking the drinks.
-----------------
Tiny Bryan Smith lay paralyzed with fear in his hiding place. He couldn't believe how many times now he had come so close to death, he closed his eyes wishing that he never invented the shrinking formula.
Copyright 2000 - 2025 21 x 20 Media All rights reserved. This site is property of 21 x 20 Media
All Writing.Com images are copyrighted and may not be copied / modified in any way. All other brand names & trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
Generated in 0.15 seconds at 10:26am on Feb 25, 2025 via server WEBX1.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
