Interview Series: Charlotte (Commission) (Patreon)

2022 Began with a bang, a rare virus began to spread throughout the world’s population, shrinking young adults to random heights, typically below 1 inch or possibly smaller. The majority of mankind adapted well, however soon after accommodations were being made, stories began to surface of bizarre situations, Mothers, Father, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, Teachers and Bosses applying unique methods in taking care of and or punishing the shrunken people or “Micros”, as not all people saw these tiny people as people anymore. My name is Jake, and I've set out across America and somewhat beyond to interview these people and their shrunken captives to try and hopefully shed some light on how the world has changed, and inspire others to think better of our tiny counterparts.  

“It was Charlotte, right?” I ask the young woman as she leads me into a nice middle class house.

“Yes!” She responds excitedly, and a little loud too. She blushes. “Ooh, sorry, that was a bit loud wasn’t it?” 

I smile, her accent is almost songlike and she appears incredibly sweet. “It’s fine, lots of people I interview are nervous to be on camera, just relax Charlotte.”

She nods, “Right, relax, sorry it’s just, well, I only recently started taking care of my Micros, I’m new to this  I s’pose.”

She leads me into a bedroom decorated in hues of blue, purple, and pink. A dresser is littered with makeup and articles of female clothing are everywhere. A young girls bedroom to be sure. 

“Your parents are okay with this, right?” I ask, realizing i’m alone with a young girl in her upper teens in her bedroom. 

“Oh, they won’t be a bother!” She says happily. “See?”

She flops onto the bed on her stomach and extends her legs outward. Skillfully she uses one foot after the other to remove both of her flats. They clatter to the floor noisily and I’m met with quite a sight. Beneath her nylons I see them, three people, struggling and squirming in their hot, sweaty fabric prison.

“Those are….your parents?” I ask in shock. 

“And my little brother, my very little brother now, isn’t he?” she asks, bursting into laughter as she wiggles her toes. I watch her shrunken family members struggle against the movements of her feet.

It takes me a moment to regain my focus, when I do, I ask, “so you...you said you were new to this? To having Micros at your…”

“At my feet, yeah. They shrunk a few days ago, well, my parents did anyway. My baby brother’s been small awhile now, I would have had some practice but I think my parents were on to me somehow. They never left him alone with me if they could help it, can you believe it?”

She gives her toes a fierce scrunch and I hear the tiny squeaks of complaint filter through the fabric of her damp nylons. 

“I mean, it can’t be that bad down there, not really?”

At a loss for words, I simply try to carry on with the interview. “Um...could...could I have you state your name, age, and occupation for me Charlotte?” In my surprise, I had forgotten to start the interview properly. 

“Are you being funny?” She asks me quizzically. When I shake my head she sighs. “I’m Charlotte, I’m 19, and thanks to having three tiny little family members the government is seeing to it that I don’t need a job!” She smiles and wiggles her toes happily, the tiny squeaks continue to float upwards, along with the odor trapped in her nylons. 

“Right, three checks every month would probably help with that.” I say, a slightly bitter tone in my voice. “So, why did you end up putting them…”

“In my nylons? Funny that, I was trying to find a place to keep them all, somewhere I could keep an eye on them and know where they’re at an all that. We started in a shoebox, but I got tired of carrying that around with me, so I figured why not just skip the box and go straight to the shoe?”

She laughs at her own joke and I squirm in my seat a bit.

“I added the nylons as an extra precaution, sweaty feet are a small price to pay for safety, right?”

“Right.” I respond, blankly. I’d seen all I needed to.

“Charlotte, I hesitate to ask but, do you still see Micros, your family included, as people, as humans still?”

She laughs, apparently thinking it was a funny question, or a joke. 

“Nah, they’re more like toys once they shrink aren't they? My Mum and Dad and brother look more like dolls to me now anyways”.

“I...I see. Um, thank you for your time Charlotte”.

As I return to my car, I fight the familiar urge to rescue the Micros I’ve just seen, after all this time, It hasn’t gotten any easier to witness. As I near my home state, I can only hope people there will be different.