Erin's Living Nightmare - Ch 4

I wish that everyone could see…

Erin stood up hurriedly, straightening out her skirt and stretching her neck to look skyward to her manager’s face. The cushion of her chair beneath her feet was soft and almost made her stumble, not helped by how dizzyingly far away everything was – the seat itself was as wide as a large room, the armrests a storey high either side of her. Yvette was a terrifying tower of a woman, the threat of her anger magnified a hundredfold. She was wrought with power, and her expression hadn’t got any lighter for seeing Erin shrink.

“Jesus Christ,” Yvette grunted irritably. “Must you forever be finding new ways to make things difficult around here?”

Erin squeaked at the sound of her thunderous voice, equally chilled by the sight of such a vast woman talking, moving. This was even worse than seeing Janet giant – Yvette was a titan. But that gave Erin a new fear, as she glanced past the desk. Janet would be even bigger now.

“What are we supposed to do with you?” Yvette demanded, as if this unbelievable change was entirely Erin’s fault. “What are you, four inches tall? You’re not going to be able to type like that. You can’t even get everyone coffee.” The manager rolled her eyes as if searching for the strength to deal with such a difficult employee.

“I’m sorry,” Erin muttered, elbows drawn in nervously. “It won’t happen again.”

That made her giant manager scowl anew, as the ridiculousness of her defence hung in the air between them. It was an instinctive response, something Erin had merely become used to saying, regardless what she’d been accused of doing, which most of the time were falsehoods or misunderstandings anyway.

“I should think not,” Yvette murmured, eyes narrowing. Erin waited anxiously for more, hoping the massive woman wasn’t getting new ideas. There would be other ways to take advantage of a tiny person, she imagined, if the extremity of her situation became apparent. They might make her perform for them, put her on show… Yvette said, “Well, I expect you can carry out one duty, at least. It’s not as if I have anyone else to spare. Chloe?” She looked up, calling across the office. “Chloe, over here, please.”

Erin scurried to one side, trying to see around the chair arms and nearby desks to pick out whoever Yvette was addressing; she didn’t know a Chloe. Then Yvette’s earlier comments came back to her: a new intern.

“You’ll show her the ropes, tell her what’s what. On the plus side, I won’t have to waste someone useful in handling whatever this is.” Yvette waved a hand over Erin’s head. She then addressed another approaching giant. “Chloe, this is Dobson, she’ll be taking care of you today. Or tell you how we operate, anyway. I think you may have to actually take care of her, somehow. For crying out loud, how do you get us in these situations, Dobson?”

Yvette was shaking her head unpleasantly, not inviting an answer, but Erin was distracted by the newcomer anyway. Chloe drifted into view, equally massive and all the more frightening for being a stranger. She was young and predictably beautiful, a slim girl in a polo shirt with a tartan vest over it, hair in a tight ponytail with a blue streak dyed down one side. Her heavy eye shadow accentuated the disinterested look on her face, someone fresh out of college who plainly had little interest in actually joining the workforce. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her ripped jeans and blew out an unimpressed breath.

“Why’s she so small?” Chloe asked in a droll voice to fit her demeanour. The question could as easily have been why was Erin wearing a grey top or why did she have a stain on her chin, like it was worthy of minor disdain, but not really surprising.

“Just get stuck in,” Yvette said. “I was going to set you up over by the window but you might as well take her desk. Get her on the system, do some quality analysis or something, I don’t care.” The manager strode away without the barest room for questions or issues, though Erin could think of a hundred complaints, and half raised a hand for attention. Suddenly it was just them, Erin standing minuscule before a grumpy newcomer big enough to squash her like a bug. They stared at each other for a long minute.

“Go on then,” Chloe huffed, finally. “What are you going to show me?”

“Um.” Erin turned about, looking towards her huge desk, the monitor far above. There was no way up there, and no way down off the seat. “I could use some help, I think.”

“Right.” Chloe bent without invitation, or hesitation, to reach a hand over the chair. Erin shrieked at the vast fingers unwinding towards her and she ran without thinking. Chloe easily pinched her shoulder between her forefinger and thumb, making Erin yelp as she was squeezed and lifted off the chair. Her heart leapt in her throat as the young giantess held her up in the sky, arms and legs dangling free above a terrifyingly high drop. Chloe’s body stretched down below her like the side of a skyscraper. She made a contemplative noise as she held Erin before her monstrous face, squinting and tilting her hand to make Erin sway.

“Stop it!” Erin cried. “Put me down!”

“You’re going to teach me the ropes, are you?” Chloe asked. Her dull tone and the movements over her shoulder kept Erin from outright panic, as she noticed her colleagues starting to stare, some with amusement and others with that all too familiar pitying disappointment. She suddenly felt like everyone could see her, picked up as easily as a doll by this new girl who didn’t even work here, and Radik’s voice came back to her, saying how just because everyone could see her nightmare life, it didn’t mean they were going to care. Quite the opposite; the fact they weren’t ever going to help made her feel even smaller than she was.

A particularly loud snort of a laugh caught her attention and Erin cringed at the sight of Janet covering her mouth, the nine-foot woman apologising (falsely) as she shook her head. Sitting at a distance, she looked absolutely enormous now, and Erin dreaded her getting involved, but Janet bowed her big head to her computer as if this unbelievable occurrence was beneath her. Somehow, being so easily brushed off, felt even worse than the threat of her coming closer.

“Go on then, guess you’d better get me logged in,” Chloe sighed, and sat in Erin’s seat, lowering her to the desk. She released Erin carelessly, sending her staggering, then leant lazily back to watch. Erin regarded the keyboard, tall as her knees, and the mouse, up to her chest, then looked up at a monitor bigger than a cinema screen.

“I think… I think you’ll just have to follow my instructions?”

“Great,” Chloe grumbled unhappily and leant forward. Her hands came overhead and Erin shrieked again, darting out of the way. The girl took the mouse and laid the other hand ready on the keyboard, slouching in a manner that made a canopy of her torso above Erin, unmistakably powerful. She yawned hugely, mouth so large Erin could imagine falling in whole, and she said, “Yeah?”

Nervously, Erin began instructing her. She had her use her own login details, rather than set up a new account, and started explaining the spreadsheet system and what the work entailed. Chloe typed and clicked as she was instructed, but her eyes otherwise seemed to glaze over and drift away. It was unsettling to Erin, the power of her simple finger clicks on the mouse and keyboard, the movements of her big wrists frequently making her jump, and it was equally upsetting when the giantess plucked one of Erin’s pens (her glittery one, a favourite!) from the tin and idly put it in the corner of her mouth. Erin stared as Chloe clicked about again, nibbling the pen, those jaws strong enough to bite through it and already leaving dents. She shook herself out of looking, and continued trying to instruct the intern.

When the work itself was ready, with a spreadsheet open for analysis, Erin explained how they needed to crosscheck the data, and Chloe yawned again, reclining in the seat. Ignoring Erin, she pulled a phone from her pocket and began scrolling. Erin stood awkwardly watching for a minute, surprised enough by the girl’s gall not to say anything. Chloe kept scrolling, typed a bit on the phone, smiled at something she was reading. She seemed to be settling in, comfortably distracted now, and Erin had to scan around to see if anyone else had noticed this blatant disrespect. Yes – Russel from two desks over was watching. He covered up a laugh and whispered to Gina next to him, spreading the word of how pathetic this was.

“Chloe,” Erin said, meekly. “Hey. Um.”

The giantess continued ignoring her, engrossed in her phone, so she moved to the edge of the desk, to better get her attention.

“Chloe!” she repeated, not much louder. “Do you mind… Can we continue?”

“This is boring,” Chloe said without looking up.

Erin paused a beat, for the honesty of her response. “Yeah, but… that’s the work?”

“Cool. Your work. You’ve shown it to me now, that’s the main thing, isn’t it? I can tell Yvette I get it. Done.”

“You –” Erin began in disbelief, and stopped as her tone somehow drew Chloe’s eye at last. The girl was stern, inviting her to challenge her and reminding her just how small she was. Though she was mostly hidden by the cubicle walls, Erin sensed half the office were still somehow paying attention, some clearly able to see. She was the experienced worker here, and should’ve been able to stand up to this youth, but what if she made Chloe angry? There was something in her eye that suggested this giantess wouldn’t be afraid to hurt her. She could flatten her under one fist. She had to stand up to her though.

“We need to do this,” Erin went on, careful not to sound confrontational. “Ms Crossward will expect results, and soon.”

“From you?” Chloe replied, amused. “How much do you actually have to deliver?”

“Well. A project like this a day minimum, which is usually about a dozen pages of tables. I typically manage about four or five projects in a day, though, so together, we could probably –”

“Bloody hell, why?” Chloe interrupted. “Just do the minimum. Damn. Finish that up and we can chill out. You can see it from there, can’t you? If you need my help, shout. I’ll be observing.”

That last comment was entirely disingenuous, but Erin accepted this as some form of compromise. She turned away and began scanning the billboard of a spreadsheet herself. Whatever, maybe she would take it easy today, after all. As Erin checked for inconsistencies, she heard Chloe snicker, the giant intern returning to scrolling her phone. What a damn life.

Slowly, Erin managed to visually check the screen as best she could, and called out for Chloe to occasionally move the mouse, each time getting irritated tuts, the giantess thoroughly put out by the least interaction. At one point, Chloe stood from the chair and wandered off with a brief mumble that might’ve been her saying she was getting a coffee. She came back with a drink for herself and nothing for Erin, not even a hello, then returned to her phone. A short while later, she left for the toilet, and took even longer to return. The work wasn’t getting done; Erin couldn’t move the mouse or make any necessary corrections, so finally she just sat down on the keyboard edge and hung her head. With no one watching now, she considered finding somewhere to hide and trying to wait out this latest indignity. She tried to settle her mind again and think of ways to wish herself clear of this. It was hard to concentrate, though, as other worries took over: what was Yvette going to say when she failed to deliver any work? Was she safe around Chloe, or anyone else in the office? They were all so huge.

She had a burning desire to be on the floor below. Why couldn’t have she been shrunk around Xavier? She wouldn’t mind being in his hands. But he was far away, and anyway, the last she’d seen of him, he’d been flirting shamelessly with Janet.

Without warning, a massive shape dropped down alongside Erin and she fell over herself tumbling in fear from the keyboard. It was only Chloe returning, though, the enormous intern landing heavily in her chair. She considered the computer monitor for a moment, then gave Erin a disapproving look as she tried to straighten herself out and reclaim some dignity.

“I’m bored,” Chloe said. “It feels like lunch time. Is it lunch time now?”

“I don’t think –”

“Yeah. I’m gonna get some grub.” Chloe stood again, towering over Erin, but she paused before leaving. As she looked down from on high, Erin had a bad feeling about where her mind might be going. Sure enough, without warning Chloe’s hand shot out, over the desk, and her fingers spread around Erin. “Let’s go, then. You can show me where’s good to eat.”

Erin squealed and tried to run, but had no hope of avoiding the giantess – the young woman picked her up in a fist and turned to leave, heading for the stairs. Erin squirmed and just managed to get her arms free to hold herself steady against Chloe’s fingers, wanting to yell at her to stop this at once, to put her down. She was stilled by the sight of a dozen pairs of eyes looking their way, though, her colleagues watching this useless intern so callously carrying her away. Janet was smirking from a great distance.

The only thing worse than being treated this way, Erin had to concede, would be for everyone to see her begging and screaming for help. She slumped in Chloe’s fist, dreading how this might get worse.