What´s More Convenient? - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3

Kyle tried his best to find this woman. Aurora. But he had no luck.

There were no signs of anyone breaking into his apartment. And no signs of a mic. Had he really heard her voice? Well, she replied to what he said so… it definitely happened. But how?

He needs to know how, and why he lost an inch in height.

He woke up the very next morning. Totally creeped. He was afraid she had casted some shrinking spell and that he´ll wake up much shorter. He could picture himself jumping off the bed. Afraid she´ll turn him into a tiny human being.

He even had second thoughts about getting up of bed. But he´ll have to do it. If not, then she wins. If this can be called a game, of course.

Under no circumstance, no matter what, he can let her win. It´s a matter of principles. And, since she´s the cause of this, it´s a matter of, well… hate.

Right now, he hates her. Why? Well, he was an inch short from being a six-foot-tall man. And now, he´s TWO inches away! Now, he can´t lie about it and hope anyone will buy it. Lying about an inch of height´s… well, you can get that boost with the heel of your shoes.

But being 5´10”? That´s a lot less than 6´. Actually, it´s not an awful much. But to Kyle, it´s a big deal!

He won´t admit it, ever! But once, when he finally settled at 5´11”, he actually looked for a way to grow until he reached the sex-foot-mark. More sleep, more meat, even doing pull-ups and hanging from tree branches or anywhere he could lock his hands into and pull himself off the ground. Believing gravity would do it´s job and that he´ll grow that extra inch.

But it never happened. Was he mad about it? With time, he forgot about it. It wasn´t such a big deal. But that was then. Now, genetics are not his issue, his current issue is a witch disguised as a woman who´s casted a spell on him!

Kyle was worried. Concerned. Scared someone would find out he shrank. That someone he knew, someone close to him, could point that out. But once again, it was an inch.

Could he live as a 5´10” man? Well, sure. It´s not that much of a difference. For as much as it bothers him, it´s not that much of a contrast in height. It´s not like a 5´11” man would tower over a 5´10” one.

He spent the rest of the days standing as straight as he could. He even bought insoles to boost him back up to 5´11”. Yes, he´s that kind of man…

All and all, life was the usual. Until…

He was laying in the couch, watching a movie. And suddenly, a doubt came to him.

There was this lady on the movie, a main character. A gorgeous woman with brown hair, blue eyes and smooth skin. A model, probably.

She was the lover of the male protagonist. And as he watched them together, a question came to him. A silly, little question, how tall is she?

She wasn´t much shorter than the male protagonist, she wondered just how tall she was, that´s all. But, when he picked up his phone, wrote the name down and checked on her height, the answer wasn’t as pleasant as he would´ve wanted…

“5´10”? No way!” Was he mad that she was tall? No, he was mad that she was as tall as HE was. And, the fact that she was up to the main character´s nose… well, then he´d also be up to that same nose.

What bothers him the most is the fact that they are the same height. What bothers him the most is the fact that, by comparison, she doesn´t look that tall! And, with him being just as tall, it makes him not that tall…

He could´ve been an inch taller, but no. He had to lose an inch in height. And with all those thoughts in mind, he tried to persuade himself about it…

“I´m sure this page´s wrong. I mean, how do they know she´s that tall? I mean, maybe whoever wrote this is wrong…” He had to say it to make himself feel better. “I´m sure she´s not that tall. I mean… well, maybe she is tall, but not that much. Perhaps… 5´7”? Or, maybe… 5´8”? I mean, at most. At MOST, she´s 5´9”. But that´s it…” He had to make this actress shorter so that he could feel better.

So that his ego wasn´t as shattered. But now, there´s a bit of an issue to it.

A whisper, he heard a voice whispering. “Are you sure?” Aurora? That was her, right?

Her voice, her annoying voice is unmistakable. That´s definitely her! He was annoyed as soon as he recognized her voice. And once again, she was whispering at him. How? How does she know what he´s thinking?

Is she stalking him? Does she have an ability to tell what he´s thinking?

Sure, she does. But not right now. She´s not reading his mind, she´s not inside his brain. Right now, as a part of this spell, she´s only knowing what he thinks whenever height comes up. This was a punishment, after all, and whenever he brings height up… she appears. Her voice whispers at him and then, it´s up to him…

He was pissed. And he could tell what her question was. Was he ok? Of course he was!

“Yes! She´s 5´9”!” He declared, and that was it. However… that wasn´t it.

As soon as he replied, as soon as he declared things, well, it was all twisted, and not to his convenience.

Declaring she was 5´9” after Aurora´s voice declared they were the same height. That wasn´t a smart move.

Soon, his whole body stiffened. A cool creep ran through all of his body. And then, right then, he lost another inch.

Didn´t he say she was 5´9”? Well, now, he´s 5´9”…

He recalled what this feeling was, and then, he went straight to the kitchen and drew a line at the spot. And yes, the new line he drew was an inch below the last one he marked. Another inch lost…

“Fuck!” He yelled. But to deaf ears, Aurora wasn´t listening anymore.

You might think, you may wonder, this means that the actress from the movie is also down to 5´9”? No. If the rules were totally fair, then she would. But in this case, this was Kyle´s punishment. Therefore, he´s the only one who´ll suffer the consequences. At least when it comes to shrinking…

This was alarming. Another inch? He´s lost a total of TWO inches. TWO!!!

He needs to find Aurora and make things stop! He needs to put an end to this. And then, recover his lost height.

And, if he can, make her boost him up to 6´. Just for the damages done to him…

Now, was he going to get lucky on that? No. Right now, Aurora´s watching him. Looking at how pissed he gets, how upset. How enraged! And this is just the beginning. Soon, he´ll see what the true potential of this spell can do. Soon, he´ll witness the true power of hers.

He´s lost height, sure, but no one said there couldn´t be some growth. Unfortunately, he won´t be the one who´s growing…

Maybe, someday, when she feels like it. She can come to him, or explain this a bit further. However, right now, she would like him to learn as this goes. She´ll let him suffer a little more…

Kyle was so upset. 5´9”? For real? If there was a will, a push, anything that motivated him to lie and say he was 6´ tall, now, that´s impossible!

But to do so is the least of his issues. The main deal is that he´s 5´9”! Him? That height? It was so annoying!

People are just looking taller. His friend, Jim, he´s towering above him!

Of course, he asked him, three-inches was quite a difference in height. Quite a contrast to what he was used to on his friend.

He knows it was a big deal, height´s an issue to Klye, so he made sure not to be too persistent when asking. He did, mostly because he was concerned, but he´d rather not hearing a speech about it. Although, he wanted an explanation. Can people lose height? That can´t be healthy…

However, Kyle just told him not to worry, that he´ll check on that. And he did!

He went straight to the doctor, just to make sure he wasn´t poisoned or something. But there´s no actual poison, or venom, that can do so. No substance that can alter his body the way it is.

Was he frustrated when the doctor told him there´s nothing they could do other than to keep an eye on him? Yes. Was he upset because they gave him no hopes? Yes. Does he blame Aurora? Sure, he does. Is he looking forward to change? Not at all…

The only thing he wish for is that no one notices his height issues. As soon as he finds this woman, he´ll make her change him back. Until then, he´ll keep a low profile. Hide from others.

The good thing is, the only one who´ll perceive this is him. The only guy who´s focused on height is him. So no one else will notice.

And Jim also noticed, but that´s because he´s close to him. Kyle knew he should keep an eye on Jim, make sure he doesn´t tell anyone. So, he asked him to keep it a secret, to make sure no one gets worried.

Things were cool for a while, until…

“Those heels are too tall, don´t you think?” Said a woman´s voice.

Kyle was in the break room, having some lunch. He was alone since Jim took a couple days off due to a flu he caught. Now, Kyle was alone, without his lunch buddy around. Alone with his thoughts, and his phone.

He was looking for Aurora. Trying to find her in some other dating site. Or app. But it was useless. She was nowhere to be found. He even tried social media. Nothing.

However, when he heard the word “tall”, his attention was immediately driven to where that voice came from. What was the problem? Who was too tall?

“They are not that tall, I mean, yeah, a bit taller than the usual, but not too much…” There were two young women. Probably a few years younger than him. Surely interns, he´s never seen them before, so they must be new around.

Kyle´s eyes turned at these ladies, who stood right in front of the microwave. He could see quite a contrast in height. Both were blonde, however, one of them, the taller one, had curly hair, and the other lady´s hair was straight.

Both of them seemed pretty, with an attractive physique. The main contrast was the fact that one of them stood a whole head taller than her friend.

Now, Kyle was wondering, if the short lady is 5´4”, then the tall woman must be around… 6´3”? She was really tall! And compared to his current self, well, the good thing is he won´t have to get up and find out, right?

“How tall are those heels?” The short lady said.

“I think they are six-inch heels…” the tall one replied.

“Six? To the office? Girl, that´s too much! Listen…” And so, her head turned and she started searching. Looking for someone, and then, she found Kyle. Sitting there, alone. He was perfect to help her make her point. “Excuse me…”

He was already looking at them, curious as to what they were talking about. And now, he was about to be a part of it.

“Me?” He asked, as if she wasn´t looking straight at her. Uh oh…

“Yes, you! Come here…” That´s what the lady said, and, for some reason, he just did as she told him.

Was it because she caught him looking at them? Does he feel guilty about it, well… sort of. But the real reason is because, deep down, he wants to find out what the deal is about? The primal reason is, height, therefore… he´s interested.

He walked towards both of them. Feeling insecure about his height. Compared to the 5´4” lady, things were cool. Sure, she was a bit taller than she should, to him. But not knowing her height, that´s a good thing. Else, he´d hate to know that he´s just five-inches taller than a 5´4” woman, instead of seven-inches.

Now, the real deal´s the tall lady next to her. She was tall! Enormous! This woman was wearing six-inch-heels! That´s a lot! She towered above him by seven-inches! She was actually standing at 6´3”, but in reality, she was 5´9”, just like him.

“Do you think those heels she´s wearing, those SIX-INCH heels, are they too much?” The short lady asked.

“Come on, you´re making a big deal out of this…” Complaint the tall lady.

“I´m not! I just want to prove my point. Six-inches are WAY too much. What do you think?” She was now asking Kyle.

He was looking way up at this woman. She was much taller than he was used to. So yes, she was too tall.

That´s actually Aurora´s height. But that´s her height on her bare feet. Not with six-inch heels. But that´s not the main issue, the deal is, this lady, standing before him. She´s an amazon! His perspective in height´s being loss.

The only thing he can tell is. She´s WAY too tall. But she´s also in heels so… the only thing he has to say is…

“I think it´s too much. I mean, you´re like SUPER tall.” He could´ve said so and then leave but then…

“See?” The short lady said, “I told you, it´s too much. I mean, look at this guy, you tower above him. No man wants a woman taller than them. Just, out of curiosity, how tall are you?” The lady asked Kyle, just to make a point.

He should´ve said he was 5´9”, and start pretending that´s his height, but his brain played a trick on him. Without thinking, he said: “I´m 5´11”.” That wasn’t good.

“No way…” Said the tall lady. Who was actually 5´9”, and she was sure, 100-percent, that he was just as tall as she was. “You´re noy 5´11”, I´m 5´9”, and you´re like… my height.” Without the heels, of course.

Kyle swallowed. Now, he had two choices, admit he was wrong. Which would be awkward because, who doesn´t know their own height? Or, he could do something else…

“Maybe… maybe you´re 5´11”?” He won´t admit he´s 5´9”, at least not right now.

“I´m pretty sure I´m 5´9”.” She declared.

Kyle should´ve agreed with her. He should´ve let his pride aside and just go with it. But he didn´t. instead, the other lady added:

“Are you sure? I mean, you´re really tall.” She was 5´4”, so her friend was considerably taller, and, to someone who doesn´t know the exact height of another person, they may be mistaken by an inch, sometimes two. “When was it the last time you checked?”

This tall lady wasn´t like Kyle. She doesn´t check on her height constantly. Not because he was shrinking, but because of other reasons.

The tall lady scratched her head. Looked at both and just said: “Well, maybe you´re right…” And with that said, something happened.

She felt odd for a moment, and right before Kyle´s eyes, she grew! Two-inches! It was crazy!

None of them seemed to notice. But he did! The tall lady got even taller! She was 6´3”, now, she stood at 6´5”! With heels, of course, but still. He just saw a 5´9” lady become a 5´11” one. How? Why? Does it have to do with him?

The answer´s clear. Of course!

“Someone just unlocked something new… You like that?” Aurora´s voice said, inside his head.

The answer? Of course not! That just makes him feel even shorter! Now, she´s his old height! Although, he´s just speculating. But that´s what happened.

Kyle just went back to his sit. Back to his lunch. But he couldn´t believe what had happened. Did he just make that woman grow?

How could he do that? Was it… was it what he said? His words… do they have a power? And, using the same logic, can he grow himself back?

An idea occurred to him, and then, he just rushed to the bathroom and tried it.

“Kyle, you´re 5´11”.” He said to his reflection in the mirror. But, nothing happened.

“Are you… 5’11”? Well, yes I am.” He tried it in a different way. Still, the same result.

Why wasn´t it working? He said that lady was 5´11”, and when she accepted it, she grew! Why couldn´t it be the same with him?

“Oh, Kyle, it doesn´t work that way. You won´t grow back. You can´t. Unless I want you to…” That voice. Aurora was tormenting him! Teasing him!

He had an idea of how this worked. Very little idea, but still, he was learning. So, he´ll shrink, but, other people can also grow? That was new.

Maybe… does he need to find someone else to tell him he´s tall? Could that work? Telling things to himself isn´t working, so how about someone else telling him?

The only bad thing would be not to try. What could he lose? Right?

He stepped out of the bathroom, and looked for someone, but who? Anyone could do. The question is, who could it be?

He´s not thinking this through. Not thinking at all the possible scenarios. Can he really make someone tell him he´s taller than he is and then he´ll grow taller? Back to his own height?

As he rushes down the hall, as he looks for someone, he might have his answer…