A sharp slapping sound emerged from the area of the kitchen, causing Abigail to glance away from the television irately. Why couldn't that annoying little tramp Brooke keep quiet for just a little while? With all that noise going on, it was hard to pay attention. After all, Abigail couldn't afford to relax, since Logan could show up at any moment. She had to be ready to move, or he'd catch her for sure.
She turned back to the TV that loomed over her like a movie theater screen. Even after all these months of being small, it was still difficult to watch the massive images before her. She couldn't look at any part of the picture for very long, or she would lose focus and start seeing the little pixel dots instead of what was actually being displayed.
Not for the first time, she considered moving farther away, but if she did that, she'd have to move into the center of the room, where there was no easy place to hide. Logan often snuck up to the door and then rushed inside, hoping to catch them by surprise, before they could get to safety. Abigail felt more comfortable if she could quickly hurry into the crack along the wall underneath the cable outlet. Though there wasn't much space to move around back there, she would at least be safe from Logan for a little while.
The show she was watching ended and a commercial came on, so she moved over and pressed her weight down on the mute button. Her little three-inch body had just enough mass to activate the control, but only barely. The annoying ads for products she could never use faded into silence, and she dropped down in the middle of the remote, straightening her long hair absently. Pictures of a department store she could never visit flashed across the screen, as if mocking her tiny size. She sighed, remembering days long past when she thought nothing of striding through such a place, picking out things to buy for her long-forgotten apartment. She missed it, like she missed everything about being normal, but there was nothing she could do to recover those lost days. They lived now only in her memory.
Closing her eyes, she thought back to that morning almost a year ago when her life changed forever...
Abigail Fernandez, or Abby to her friends, frowned as Brooke McAllister entered her office. The taller woman wore a tight wrap-around blouse, a ridiculously short miniskirt, and high-heeled over-the-knee black boots that made her look like a whore. Her curly red hair cascaded freely down about her shoulders in an annoyingly attractive manner. A bright smile lit up her insufferably pretty face, and Abigail automatically found herself irritated.
She didn't have anything specifically against Brooke's personality. In any other situation she might've enjoyed having someone so enthusiastic around. Abby just felt the slightly younger woman had no place in the job she held. This was a scientific facility, and someone in charge of one of the departments really ought to have the training and background to know what the hell was going on half the time. Instead, here was Brooke, the perky ex-cheerleader, who must've been hired for looks instead of skills. Well, there might be one particular skill she was really good at, Abby thought irately, and that one was practiced horizontally.
What was most annoying of all, as far as Abigail was concerned, was that everyone else in the building just adored Brooke. Everywhere she went, she caused her co-workers to smile and cheer up, no matter what was going on elsewhere or how bad a day they were having. Damn the woman! Did flowers grow up in her footsteps when she walked in the park, too?
The trouble was, no one else could see that despite Brooke's ability to raise morale, and attract the eye of any man she drifted past, she had no other useful attributes whatsoever. Abby had yet to see the woman produce a single useful report or observation on the singularity project. Despite all that, she was now in consideration for a big promotion--the same one Abigail desired, unfortunately.
Abby fumed every time she thought of how she might lose the promotion she worked so hard for to the company cheerleader. All those long hours, those lost weekends--not to mention the ideas and observations that helped push the researchers down more promising paths--all of that could be out the window because some bubbly babe came along and turned all the male heads in the company! Why did they always seem to value looks over brains? She knew the answer, but it was still no less frustrating.
The sad thing was, Abby wasn't all that bad looking herself. If she took off her square-shaped reading glasses and let her long brown hair tumble down around her face, her big green eyes seemed to shine out of the resulting shadows with surprising attractiveness. Abigail didn't look bad in a miniskirt and halter top, either, but she refused to wear such things in a professional environment. She preferred a trim business suit, showing only the lower half of her well-formed calves under a long skirt, the crisply tailored top minimizing the swell of her otherwise ample breasts. Unlike Brooke, Abigail wanted to be taken seriously as a scientist, earning her promotion with her intelligence and drive, not her body.
And now here was Brooke, the office slut, in Abby's office, trying to bring her little ray of sunshine in and brighten up the day. Of course, that didn't work on Abigail, for she knew what Brooke was really all about. "What the hell do you want?" Abby asked in a clipped, annoyed voice.
"Oh, just to tell you there's a meeting in an hour!" said Brooke in her gratingly cheery manner. She didn't even seem to notice the obvious hostility in Abby's expression. "They're running some kind of little experiment downstairs and the department heads want to tell us all the results!"
Abigail frowned. That "little experiment" was nothing less than the culmination of six months of research and development! The team was attempting to create a quantum singularity in a controlled environment. According to estimates, the miniature black hole should exist for only a few seconds, but in that time the power generated by its gravitational forces could light up the entire city! If such a thing could be maintained indefinitely and safely, the energy problems of the world were over forever. Yet, Abby was sure if she tried to explain this, the airheaded Brooke wouldn't have the slightest clue what was going on.
"I know that," Abigail replied brusquely. "It's on my calendar. It's been there for weeks. What did you really want when you came in here?"
"Oh, nothing, I just don't see you all that much, Abby," replied Brooke cheerfully. "You and I should go out sometime for lunch, you know? There are so few other girls I can talk to. I get so lonely sometimes!"
Abigail narrowed her eyes. What right did Brooke have to use her abbreviated name without permission? Besides, the thought of having lunch with the office tart was nothing less than totally ludicrous. She opened her mouth to bark a scathing reply, but was interrupted.
The alarm was loud and piercing, taking both women completely by surprise. In the hall, red lights flashed and the wail of a horn signaled an emergency evacuation. While Brooke stood there in dazed confusion, Abigail jumped from her chair and took four steps towards the door, intending to push her rival out of the way, but it was already too late.
Time seemed to slow. Abigail felt something strange--a sort of crushing, intense pull towards one side--and everything loose seemed to be drawn towards the bottom rear corner of the office. Her breath was forced out of her lungs and she stumbled, collapsing to the ground alongside the gasping form of Brooke. They were close enough to touch each other, but both seemed unable to move.
A horrible cracking and crunching sound began from deep below them, and the building rumbled and trembled. There was a sensation of falling along with several loud explosions, and Abigail shut her eyes, certain she was doomed. In time, she would wish she died that day, but at that moment the only thing she could think of was the irony of the situation. Of all the people she wanted to be with when she finally bought the big one, Brooke was the least of her choices!
After some time she opened her eyes, aware at once that she had been unconscious. For how long, she had no idea. The room was dark, or mostly so, without even emergency lighting, but her eyes adjusted quickly. It took a moment to realize she was actually alive, despite the collapsed walls, fallen plaster and smashed fluorescent lamps that surrounded her. Somehow, in the midst of the building's destruction, she survived, and the structure of the office remained intact. Unfortunately, Brooke was alive as well, for even as Abby stood and started pushing her way towards the door, the other woman stirred and sat up with a groan. "What happened?" she asked dumbly, dusting off her scanty blue outfit.
Abigail could've said she didn't know, which would've been the truth, but that wasn't her way. She had no intention of admitting ignorance in front of someone as stupid as Brooke. "They must not have been able to maintain the field around the singularity," Abby suggested, quite deliberately showing off her superior knowledge. "It should've worked, though, unless someone screwed up."
"What does that mean?" asked Brooke worriedly, watching as Abigail struggled and failed to open the door. "Are we trapped?"
"Yeah, until someone comes to rescue us," said Abby. She now realized she could hear, in the distance, the sound of banging and scraping as well as some oddly distorted sirens. "We could be buried in here, damn it all. We just have to wait it out."
"Okay, good, that'll give us time to talk!" said Brooke, starting to sound cheerful again. "I wanted to get to know you better, anyway, and--"
"Oh, shut up!" Abigail ordered suddenly. She didn't like being confined, and the thought of being stuck with someone so obnoxious made her skin crawl. "I don't like you, Brooke, and I don't want to be your friend!" she spat. "You have no business working for this company--you should be flipping burgers or waiting tables! You only got where you did because you sleep with half the department heads!"
Brooke looked at her with wide eyes, a horrified look on her face, but then suddenly her demeanor changed. She smiled, but there was an evil glint in her eye now. "You're just jealous," she replied haughtily. "You wish you could get away with it, too, but you don't have the guts!"
Abby just stared at her, recognition finally dawning as she realized Brooke was far more insidious and dangerous than she first appeared. This changed everything, Abigail thought. Instantly, she knew this woman was more than just an annoying tramp who got where she was by accident. No, she was a much more serious rival than that, wasn't she?
Just then, as Abby's mind was already beginning to formulate a plan of action against this new threat, a loud crunching sounded close by, on the other side of the cracked and broken wall. Loud, deep voices came to them now. "God, what a mess!" a man said from well above them. "What the hell happened to this place?"
"Who knows?" someone called from a greater distance away. "Just keep searching, Logan. There might be survivors."
"I don't see how! Jesus, it looks like this whole place just crushed itself," muttered the first man from closer now. Rustling sounds could be heard almost next to them.
"Help!" Brooke yelled. "We're in here!"
The man didn't seem to hear, though, despite his nearness. "Damn," he said, still talking to himself. "This looks like a desk, but it's so small! Did someone build a miniature office right here or something?"
Then the walls began to shake. Abigail stepped back in fear as more pieces of the ceiling dropped down around her. Even Brooke stopped shouting for help and pushed herself against the desk for stability. The whole office vibrated violently, and then the roof was ripped away, bathing them both in a sudden light.
As they winced against the glare, something huge silhouetted itself in front of the bright blue sky. Abby stared up at it in wonder and fear, trying to figure out what the monstrous thing was...and then she saw the tremendous eyes staring down at her and knew. Her heart sank through the floor and she gazed upwards, totally paralyzed with shock.
"Well, well, well," said a thunderous voice, even as a massive hand reached into the shrunken room, "what have we here?"