Brooke was smiling as she dragged the thin white pen across the table towards the towering telephone. The writing implement under her arm wasn't as heavy as it looked, she thought to herself. Considering its size relative to her miniature body, it should've weighed the equivalent of hundreds of pounds. Instead, she could almost lift it off the tabletop. Not quite, though. The back end was dragging as she walked.
She got to the phone and set the pen down, considering the puzzle before her. She knew it wouldn't be enough to simply pry the handset loose. She had to do it in such a way that the speaker landed on the table so she could talk into it. If it bounced and fell to the floor, she'd have no way to dial the number and reach the handle in time to talk before the person on the other end of the line got bored and hung up.
She hurried around the massive telephone, which to her was the size of a large backyard tool shed. The opposite side was too close to the edge of the desk, so she couldn't use the lever on that end without falling to her death if she succeeded. She did notice, though, that the phone was slightly at an angle near the corner. If she pried the handset up from just the right spot, it might slide down the faceplate and stop neatly on the desk.
Time was wasting, so she grabbed the pen and lugged it around to the position she already selected. The pointed end slipped into the crevice easily, leaving the rounded side touching the table. Carefully, she bent over and lifted the end up, struggling with the weight, until she managed to force herself underneath the pen, holding it with both hands over her left shoulder. She took a few deep breaths to prepare herself, and then, like a tiny female Atlas, she grimaced and threw all her strength into it. If she could just stand up, she thought, that would be all she needed!
Abby paced in the desk drawer, fuming. No matter how many times she yelled, the little bitch wouldn't answer. What the hell was Brooke up to out there?
After a couple of minutes of silence, a loud clattering suddenly sounded from above. Brooke froze and covered her ears, afraid of what that noise, along with the obvious thump of impact on the desktop, might mean. Could Logan have returned? No, that couldn't be it, she thought with some relief. All she heard now was a tiny, distant whoop of joy. "Brooke?" she yelled as loud as she could. "What happened? What was that? What the hell's going on?"
Her former companion didn't answer, though. Instead, after a few seconds passed, Abby heard a muffled beep. The sound was familiar, like something she used to remember from a long time ago, but she couldn't quite place it. A few moments later, another tone sounded, at a slightly different pitch, and that's when she figured it out. The phone! Brooke was dialing on the phone! She must've pried the handset loose on her own!
Abby's heart soared. They were going to be rescued after all! Brooke must've levered the handle off by herself, and was calling the number right now. After all these months, they were finally going to be safe!
Abigail leaned back up against the side of the drawer and let out a relieved sigh. The long ordeal was almost over, and she could finally relax. The only thing she regretted now was not being up there on the desk helping make the call. Brooke was going to take all the credit for the rescue, that much was certain. Well, Abby figured she could live with that, as long as she was out of Logan's clutches at last.
She took several deep breaths, listening to the distant sound of occasional touch-tone beeps in the half-darkness of the desk drawer. Finally she would be free of Logan, she thought with a smile. No more hiding and no more running. No more living in fear of his return from work each night. No more risky dashes for food, afraid he might slap a net down over her head. No more giant fingers or tongues exploring her body and teasing the ever-so-sensitive spots between her legs and elsewhere. No more hating herself for enjoying it so much. And best of all, no more Brooke!
Finally, the irritating little woman on the top of the table finished dialing the last number. Abby hurried to the gap in the drawer, straining to hear the conversation and praying everything worked out. There was only one way things could go wrong, and that would be if Brooke screwed up somehow. That would just figure, Abby thought. If only she hadn't had to leave her future in the hands of that redheaded tramp!
Well, she thought as the distant phone began to ring loudly, there was one other way this could all go wrong--Brooke could betray her at the end. In fact, thought Abby with growing despair, she'd probably do just that very thing. But what could she possibly do to hurt her now?
Trembling with anticipation and worry, Abby strained to hear the impending conversation.
Brooke waited breathlessly as the phone rang. She stood in front of the speaker, looking at a device she hadn't used in almost a year. This was the most important call she ever made, she knew, and if things worked out as she planned, everything would land in her favor.
The second ring was cut off by a loud click. On the other end of the phone, several inches away, a loud woman's voice sounded. "You have reached the Miles Tech emergency line," it announced in an obviously recorded manner. "We have experienced a large number of prank calls. Be advised that all such callers will be traced and prosecuted. If you do not hang up now, your call will be transferred to an assistant."
Brooke stamped her feet in frustration. "Come on!" she all but shouted. "I don't have all day!"
Of course, the rational side of her mind warned, these people had to be swamped with cranks. Every idiot who heard that broadcast probably called up to jokingly say "Help, help, I've been shrunk!" Besides, how many people could still be out there, trapped at tiny size for the last year, trying to get to a phone right now? Surely not that many!
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the phone gave another brief ring and then another, different woman's voice was heard. "Miles Labs emergency line," she said in a clipped tone. "Can I have your name, please?"
"Oh, thank God!" Brooke gasped in relief. "Brooke McAllister! I'm Brooke McAllister!"
"Can you speak up, please?" asked the bored-sounding woman on the other end of the line. "I can barely hear you."
Brooke leaned over and pushed her face up against the speaker, raising her voice to a shout. "Brooke McAllister, damn it!" she repeated as loudly as she could. "You have to help me!"
"Yes, please hold while I check your name against our records," said the operator. There was a pause, during which Brooke fidgeted impatiently, and finally the voice came again, a bit more animated this time. "I have a match!" she said, sounding rather surprised. "What's your employer ID?"
"Shit, lady, how the hell am I supposed to remember that after all this time?" shouted Brooke angrily. "I've been trying to survive like this for--wait, I remember, it started with EG, I think. Yeah, EG6504, or 6405, I forget. 6405, I think. Please, listen to me! This isn't a prank, I swear!"
The woman's voice on the other end of the phone suddenly became very excited. "I believe you, Ms. McAllister!" she blurted, sounding utterly thrilled. "Please hold for a moment while I transfer you!"
There was another click and Brooke paced angrily. She always hated being put on hold, even back at the office, and this was much, much worse. Fortunately, the delay lasted only a moment.
The next voice that spoke was immediately recognizable. "Brooke?" it asked breathlessly. "Is that you, Brooke? Are you all right?"
"Dr. Carl!" She almost danced for joy. "Dr. Huntington, I mean? Is that you? Oh, God, you don't know what it means to hear your voice! I lost all hope until I saw the news--"
"That's all right, Brooke! Just stay where you are! I want to hear your whole story, but not until we get you back to normal! You wouldn't believe how easy it turned out to be to do it, too. All those months we worked on it, and it was--"
"Please, Dr. Carl!" Brooke shouted. "Tell me later! You have to send someone to get me! I don't want someone to find me on this desk!"
"Oh, I understand completely," replied her former employer. "Don't worry! We've already traced the call, and I'm sending a pickup team out to get you. Is anyone else there, or are you by yourself?"
At that, Brooke grinned, sending a sideways glance across the desk towards the far edge. Somewhere below, she knew, Abby would be listening, unable to participate in the conversation. Brooke wished she could be there to see the look on her rival's face when she gave Dr. Carl her answer, but she'd have to settle for imagining it.
"No, I'm alone," she yelled back. "I've been all alone since this whole experience started!"