Erin's Living Nightmare - Ch 10

I wish that…

Chloe hummed a little tune as they trampled through the thicket of weeds that hid Ranik’s dwelling place, as if they were going for a casual walk in the park and not visiting a seedy tunnel to find a supernatural being. Erin wasn’t sure whether the intern’s casualness was irritating or comforting, so tried to ignore it either way, holding on to the hand that held her. Still tiny, still being carried like a toy in this young woman’s fist, with no apparent mercy in her size-changing in the time it had taken them to discover the path down here.

“That’s it, is it?” Chloe asked, walking into the clearing to reveal the overgrown bridge tunnel that very obviously must be it. She whistled, impressed. “It feels haunted.”

“It might be,” Erin admitted.

“Better not stay long. Have you thought of what you’re going to wish?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think of something safe. Maybe I should just trust it to fate and wish that I’d wished a better wish.”

“Well I’m starting to wish I’d brought some protection,” Chloe muttered.

“My bridge is not haunted,” Radik’s voice interrupted from the shadows, and the woman followed shortly after. She was as dirty and poorly clad as before, but more intimidating for it now that Erin was minuscule. She came close, making Chloe retreat slightly, and smirked down at Erin, a tower of a homeless woman. “Things have been going well, I see.”

“You don’t look like a genie,” Chloe said. “Why don’t you have real clothes?”

Radik picked at the lapel of her hole-ridden coat. “This is very warm, I’ll have you know. And I never said I was a genie. Can I have a look?” She held a dry-skinned hand out flat, and Chloe looked from it to Erin. Erin wasn’t sure she trusted this woman herself, but didn’t get to choose, as the intern shrugged and handed her over. She fell into Radik’s calloused palm with a thump and the magical woman lifted her. Erin retreated under her gaze, not liking the sight of her cracked lips and hungry eyes this close. She commented, “Delightful.”

“It is not delightful!” Erin snarled, clambering to her feet with her fists balled at her sides. “I want you to change me back at once! Put an end to all this!”

“You were supposed to come up with your own solution, remember?” Radik said.

“No! Your damn magic has kept me caught up in one horror after another and even if I could think of something I know it’d be nothing but more trickery! You need to tell me how to fix it!”

Radik’s expression only grew more amused under the tirade, and Erin fumed with irritation. The giantess winked and said, “This is progress. You’re not half the mouse you were, even if your size is more fitting.”

“Progress for what?” Erin demanded. “If there’s some actual plan to all this, you have to tell me. I wish you would tell me.”

“No,” Radik said. “You wished I would just explain, so it’s too late for that.”

“It’s part of the explanation!”

“Then you should’ve asked when I explained.”

Erin let out a frustrated, incensed howl and beat a fist against her thigh. She stomped her foot and glowered at the giantess. “Stop. Just stop with the games!”

“Do I take it you came without any actual ideas, then?” Radik said, checking between both Erin and Chloe. The intern shrugged, but Erin frowned.

“What if someone else made a wish?” she said, recalling Chloe’s idea. “Could I… temper the nightmare? Would the bad mojo or whatever shift elsewhere if the wish was redirected?”

“I suppose that depends on what this hypothetical someone wished for,” Radik said, eyeing Chloe herself. She had a sinister interest to her, Erin thought now, more apparent with her standing out in the daylight, massive as an animated statue. It wasn’t a good idea, clearly; if Chloe got involved in this somehow, Radik was going to ensnare her. “Is there something you want, young miss?”

“Hmm,” Chloe said, as if she hadn’t already been considering the possibility on the way here. “Well. First, I’d want to know if you’re not a genie, what are you?”

“An exo size wisher,” Radik replied simply.

Chloe stared, apparently trying to read a better answer in her face.

“I think she’s not much at all,” a new voice said, bold and silkily familiar. Erin’s blood went cold as they all turned to see Janet stepping out of the undergrowth. “She’s probably just a part of Erin’s whole nightmare. A projection of her hope for a solution, because she can’t admit she has no idea how all this started.”

Erin backed up on Radik’s palm, for all the distance that offered. She felt the shift in the giant tramp’s posture behind her, walling up in tension. Not a good sign, if she was troubled by Janet’s presence. Chloe scuttled to one side, clearly separating herself from them, as Janet crunched her way through branches and debris to draw herself to a massive height over them all. Outside the office, she was able to stand up straight at last, and it was considerably more frightening than her bent bulk in the hallways had been, making her a mountain of a woman.

“How did you get here?” Erin squeaked. “There’s no way you hid on the bus.”

“No, we have these things called cars, Dobson,” Janet said. “And the whole trip has really been stretching my patience. But I knew you’d make it here eventually, provided you didn’t get eaten by a bunch of louts first.”

Erin cringed at the reminder of how close she’d come to her demise at the hands of the youths. And Janet had been watching, without helping? But that shouldn’t have been a surprise. There was nothing good about her presence here, the giant bully invading the one place Erin had some hope of getting out of all this.

“Your genie really doesn’t look like much, Erin,” Janet cooed, taking a step closer, which brought her within arm’s reach. Radik held her ground, but stared up with concern written across her face. “You should know better than to trust grubby strangers. Anyone’s likely to take advantage of you – you know how vulnerable you are.” The giantess scanned about, sniffed the air with displeasure. “How did you even find this place?”

Erin cleared her throat, not wanting to engage her, thinking frantically of how she might turn her away. No easy answer came though, so she muttered the truth. “I don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t. And I expect you just spilled your heart out to this drunk and she rolled with it. Face it, Erin, none of what you’ve been telling the world is real. This is just what was meant to be.” Janet spread her vast hands, demonstrating herself as some righteous tower of inevitability. For all her easy confidence before, Radik was not arguing or explaining now, merely watching the huge woman in apparent fear. Janet couldn’t have believed all this had come about by some freak chance, though; she didn’t want there to be an explanation, or a solution. Not now she’d tasted this power. And that meant she’d come to thwart it for Erin.

An idea jumped to Erin’s mind. An opportunity. “If you’re so sure, why don’t you test it, Janet? If she’s not a fraud, Radik can grant you a wish. I bet there’s plenty you’d like.”

Janet cocked her head to one side. “I’m not a child, Dobson. And frankly, I’m not sure it’s healthy to entertain these fantasies of yours.”

“Fantasies?” Erin cried, standing up straighter, spreading her arms. “I’m tiny, Janet! You’re huge! This isn’t something I made up!”

“I’m not so sure, now,” Janet sneered, regarding the decrepit bridge and the woman who lived here with disdain. She glanced over to Chloe, too, who shied back, smiling weakly, then sighed. “I must say I’m disappointed. I hoped there’d be some logical reason behind your behaviour. Some way we could help you, even. But here we are. If you must know, I really just wish you weren’t such a little freak at work.”

Erin stiffened, and noticed Chloe start, with a little gasp, from the corner of her eye. She’d done it. Janet had made a wish. The air seemed still for a moment, the giantess realising what she’d said, too, raising an eyebrow in wait. Erin looked up to Radik, motionless over her. Nothing happened.

Janet burst out laughing, making Erin jump from the boom of her laugh. It bounced madly back through the bridge tunnel as she shook her head. “You little fools. Delusional. Let me help you, Erin. I’ll put this silly little idea out of your mind.”

Erin realised her intention only a second before the giantess’s hand shot forward, so when she screamed to Radik to run it was already too late. The next moment, Erin was flying through the air, a hundred feet high, the landscape of old scrap and weeds stretching out below. She screamed as she fell, slapping into thick leaves and tall grass, twisting and turning and banging her way finally to the ground. She groaned, righting herself, and found she’d survived, her small size somehow letting her fall such a great distance without harm, but she was shaken, blurry. The gargled sound of a struggle snapped her out of her daze, though, and she rushed towards the sound, quickly pushing her way through the tree-like grass. She pulled a last few strands aside in time to see Janet lifting Radik up, her giant hands pinning her wrists to her waist.

Radik writhed, pleading, “No, stop!”

Janet carried her high above her head, a tremendous height as she stood fully straight, giving the homeless woman plenty of space to kick her legs about. She tilted her around, lowering her head, and stretched open her monstrous mouth. Radik shrieked as she dipped into Janet’s impossibly wide lips, slowly but inevitably sliding into her throat, stretching it out. Radik’s feet kicked faster as her shoulders and arms, then her waist, all slid down inside Janet, and the giantess’s gut rolled out with the pulsing mass of her victim. With one last frantic kick, Radik was swallowed up completely, and one of her tatty boots flicked off, falling heavily down by Erin’s position.

Why didn’t she save herself?

Where were her powers?

Dammit, Erin thought with a sinking feeling, had Radik been lying? Mad? Was anything she’d believed about what was going on true?

Janet straightened up and released a thunderous belch, then rubbed her belly, lightly chuckling. As before, it moved with Radik’s struggles inside her, and as before Erin was utterly helpless as she watched. Then the giantess turned on the spot, scanning side to side. Erin ducked down into the grass, hidden here, at least.

“Ah!” Janet said triumphantly, though, and lunged to the side. There was another shriek, and Erin ventured a look to see the huge woman dragging Chloe by an ankle. She hoisted her up as Chloe struggled, trying to claw her way free, until Janet was upright again and had the intern swaying upside down above the ground. Janet lifted her higher, inspecting her with satisfaction as Chloe screamed and begged for her to let her go. Without responding, the giantess swung her around to flop bodily over one shoulder, like a sack of potatoes. She curled her arm over her, pinning her in place as Chloe beat her fists against her back and kicked her legs. All her struggles had no effect on Janet, who turned on the spot, scanning the ground.

“Do you want to come, Erin, or do you prefer to stay here?”

“Help me, Erin!” Chloe cried. “Do something!”

But there was nothing Erin could do. Absolutely no way she could reveal herself to this monster, let alone save Chloe now. Janet waited a moment longer, then tutted.

“Suit yourself. Thanks for providing dinner, anyway. See you at work.” The giantess thumped away, smashing a path back up the bank, carrying Chloe as she fought back uselessly, screaming for help. Disappearing from view, Janet said, “Oh behave. If you’re lucky I might save you for breakfast.”

The screams lasted a minute more, fading away as the giantess strode off across the road. Erin was frozen listening the whole time. She was tiny, abandoned and completely alone. Radik was gone and so was any chance of her reversing the wish. What the hell now?