Little By Little (Scenes 020-027) (Patreon)

Finally! I got a post in! Enjoy! Hope everyone is doing well!

Scene 20:

Pain and discomfort is what I remembered when waking up. It had felt like I had an intense work out the day before, on top of sleeping in a bad position. You know that feeling you get when you feel like you have to stretch and you do, but your muscles feel all wound up? That's exactly what it was like.

"Ugh... why do I feel like this? I better not be getting sick..." I thought to myself. I had already forgotten about the baggy clothes mystery from the night before, just trying to stretch and get ready for work. I spun myself around, tossing my legs off the side of the bed, and reached for the sky, closing my eyes. As I held the stretch and finally released it, I looked in the mirror.

Something was off.. way off...

My bed was high off the ground, and normally when sitting all the way back, my feet barely touched the ground. But I was leaning forward, and they were still well into the air. Further, my PJ pants were pooling a lot more at my feet. Glancing down, I could see the waistband sitting where it normally sat, albeit needing to be tightened yet again.

My shirt was loose too, the sleeves bunching up, the hem of the shirt bunching up around my hips...

My first thought: "What the heck are wrong with these clothes?"

But then I stood up...

Scene 21:

As I jumped off the bed, standing on flat ground, I got vertigo. Everything felt... off. I couldn't figure out exactly what was off, but something was.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw how I looked compared to the bed. The bed was higher in the air, it was quite noticeable. But how? Why? My bed didn’t grow overnight. Did something happen to me?

The wheels started turning in my head as I examined my reflection. The clothing was all off, even more so as I stood there, it bunching up, having to tighten the drawstring again. The bed was bigger. Everything. Felt. Off.

"Am I... shorter?" I mouthed aloud, the question sounding strange. But as I thought about it, I know why everything felt weird. It was as if I was crouched slightly, at least that's what it looked like, but I was standing straight as an arrow.

"People don't get shorter... right?" I said, questioning if my statement was wrong. We already got through a pandemic a few years ago, maybe anything is possible. Was I patient zero for some new virus? I started to get a little lightheaded, my heart rate increasing as I got nervous at these thoughts flying through my head at 100 miles per hour.

Scene 22:

I took a few steps towards the mirror, really examining myself up close. I just stared for a minute, blankly as I processed it.

I tugged on my pants, confirming they were mine. It's as if I wanted to validate someone didn't come in and change my pants on me while I was sleeping, as absurd as that sounds, although it seemed more likely than the alternative...

But they were mine, and they didn't feel or seem any larger in my hand, it just felt as though they were a couple sizes too large, more material than was needed for my body.

As I did this, my shirt sleeves bunched a little at my wrists and felt a size too large, hanging down past my waist.

At this point, the adrenaline dump was well under way, and for the first time ever, I started to have a panic attack.

My breathing quickened, my heartbeat felt all strange, I got a little dizzy, but the thing I remember most: I got really warm. It was as if someone turned multiple hair dryers on and pointed them all around me.

At this point, I only had one thought in my head: “I need help, where is Natalie?”

Scene 23:

"Natalie? Natalie?" I said, repeating it over and over as I moved to the door of my room.

Grabbing the doorknob felt weird, but I eventually opened the door.

I quickly descended the stairs. Grabbing the railing felt weird, so I didn't and just raced down them. I have no idea how I didn't fall down them while I was having this episode…

"Natalie? Natalie, are you here?" I asked as my feet slammed onto each step. It was Saturday, so I had no idea. She always had some sort of plan for most weekends, but she never went out in the morning. Heck, she may still be sleeping, but I wasn’t thinking straight, still heading to the kitchen where I normally see her most mornings.

I quickly jogged over to the kitchen, seeing her. I don't remember but she must have been engrossed in her phone or had earbuds in, because she didn't respond to me as I quickly approached her.

"Natalie! Natalie!" I kept saying, wondering why she was ignoring me. Then I felt a tug at my foot.

Scene 24:

My baggy PJ bottoms betrayed me. In my haste and panic, my foot caught the dragging fabric and caused me to tumble. I couldn't save myself from the fall, I wasn't in a state of mind to do that, I was beyond distracted. As I fell, I rolled and landed on my side, my right arm breaking the fall.

"Mom!" I heard Natalie gasp.

Scene 25:

"Mom, are you ok?" She asked in a concerned voice.

I turned over, my panic erased a bit by my body now reacting to me falling.

"I'm fine… Well, no, I’m not fine… Something strange is going on." I stated, confused.

I got up on one knee, seeing Natalie's hand extended to help me up. I put my palm in her palm. For the first time, I noticed a true size difference. It wasn't like the PJs that felt like extra fabric or seeing the bed taller than it used to be. Natalie's hands were noticeable larger, maybe even larger than mine. You wouldn’t think you remember someone’s hand size, and I don’t think I did, but the difference stuck out like a sore thumb.

"What do you mean? What's going on? Here, let me help you up." she replied, equally just as confused.

Scene 26:

"Thanks sweetie..." I said, using her hand to pull myself up.

We made eye contact, and one of her questions was immediately answered. At first, I didn't know why she was reacting. I hadn't told her anything yet. How could she know? Her face went from confused, then looking at me up and down, and then more confusion, and then I could see her own surprise with a mix of mild panic coming through her expressions. She put her arms out, her hands on my shoulders. And as if by some instinct response, I did the same thing.

"Mom, what the hell happened to you?" she stated.

And I, in my ignorance. "How would you know what's happened to me? I haven't told you yet..."

"Mom, you're, like, the same height as me!" she stated, bluntly. Of course, from her perspective, she could tell I looked shorter. And then it hit me: So can I. We were looking eye to eye. As if by instinct when I noticed my daughter a little taller, I looked down. She wasn’t wearing platform heels, she was wearing a pair of basic pair of flip flops, and myself with nothing on my feet.

"Oh my..." I said as we stood eye to eye.

"How did this happen? Was it last night when I was out?" she asked.

"I... I don't know. Something felt off yesterday too, in the morning... I just noticed it when I woke up today..." I replied.

And just as confused as I was. "What the heck happened though? Is this some kind of sickness?" she asked me, as if mom had all the answers.

But I was honest. "I have no idea..."

I saw our mirror hung in the entry way and took small steps towards it without saying a word, needing to see myself again.

Scene 27:

I looked at myself in the mirror, and naturally, Natalie came over to see what I was doing. That's when it really hit me. She stood next to me.

And without saying a word, as if we knew exactly what each other were thinking, we went back to back.

"Oh mom... this is messing with my mind..." she replied, gasping.

"You're telling me… It's as if you grew overnight..." I said, and then with a glimmer of hope, as if there wasn't any other evidence pointing to the opposite. "Wait, you didn't have some kind of late growth spurt, right?"

"Mom, you're kidding me, right? There is no way I grew to your towering height overnight..." Natalie said, as if she was disappointed I would ask such a dumb question.

"Well, I didn't think there was a way for me to lose height either, but here we are..." I replied.

A small chuckle escaped her lips, despite the situation. "Touche... But, just, ugh! What is going on? Like, I think I might even be a little taller than you now..." as she looked into the mirror.

Finally, I started to think critically about this, I need to do something. "Let’s go see my doctor... I'll call and make an emergency appointment. Hopefully I can get in today or tomorrow, I know it’s the weekend…"

This seemed to at least ease Natalie up a bit, although it did nothing for me. "Good! No, great idea Mom! Doctors know what's up! I'll cancel my weekend plans with Sarah and Jamie and take you over there."

I smiled. "You don't have to do that, I can drive myself, I don't want this to mess up your plans."

"No way Mom, I'm here for you, always! It'll be safer if I drive anyways." she replied, eager to help. I am such a lucky Mom.

I smiled. "Thanks sweetie, let me go make the call."

While I had no idea how I was going to explain this over the phone to my doctor, this was the best option. I couldn't just wait around and do nothing, or google for hours to figure out what's going on.

Surely I can't be the first person this has happened to, right? Although, I've never heard of a case of someone losing height like this overnight… and I watch a lot of medical TV shows… I could only hope that there was something that could be done to fix all of this...

Oh how I wish I knew what I was going to be in for…