If somebody had been watching, they would have seen four tiny animals peer over the edge of a wooden shelf and down hundreds of feet to the floor below. The only thing nearby was the stand the TV sat on, and at their scale even the jump down to there seemed suicidal.
However, nobody was watching. Somehow, the four hapless transformees had to get down from the shelf themselves.
Reham stepped to the edge facing the monolithic flat screen and gulped. To her, at her size, it seemed like a jump across a small canyon. She looked back to her taller giraffe friend and waved her up. The giraffe looked over the edge, looked back to the camel, and they simultaneously shook their heads no.
Erik approached next, craned his long neck over, and gulped. The two larger animals stared down at him, blinked, and Reham suddenly chuffed and tapped excitedly. She leaned down and nosed his crusty wing.
Erik blinked in confusion, realized, and stretched out both of his wings. Sure, his feathers were pasted together but he could fly! Couldn’t he?
His heart fell. No, he couldn’t. He had no idea how to fly. He held out his wings, mimicked soaring, and then screwed up his face as best as he could and mimed falling to his death.
The camel and giraffe grimaced and nodded. Right, they understood.
It was sort of a shock then when the wolf bounded by at full speed and leapt off the edge of the shelf. She flew through the air with grace and fell on the tv stand with a solid landing. She turned, panting happily, and waved the others over with one paw.
Reham gulped, seeing the other two staring at her, and shot them a “guess it’s me” look, sighing.
The camel walked over to the other end of the shelf, turned around, and took a deep breath. She was barely two inches tall. She was going to fall and die.
Suddenly, math happened. The former college student lit up as she realized her mass and weight had become a fraction of their former states. Physics and gravity were on her side.
With a smug determination, the camel broke into a full gallop. The giraffe and flamingo stepped to the side, staring in horror, as Reham hit the edge of the shelf, kicked herself off the edge, and flew through the air.
The tiny camel sailed over the edge and felt a rush of adrenaline as she landed (ungracefully) near the wolf. The two circled each other excitedly, dancing like idiots. The wolf stopped, held out her front paw, and Reham slapped her hoof down on it in a congratulatory high five. They nodded and turned to the other two.
The giraffe was next. Her face went serious, she held out her tongue in nervous concentration. She turned like Reham, walked back for a good runway, and galloped off at full speed.
She needn’t have worried. Her powerful giraffe muscles propelled her at surprising stride. She easily jumped off the shelf and landed unceremoniously below, clattering and tripping on the tv stand as she collapsed onto her belly and flopped.
The wolf and camel excitedly helped her up, the giraffe crying in relief as her friends assisted her.
Only Erik was left. The tiny flamingo took a breath, spread his wings straight on either side, closed his eyes, and leapt off the edge. He opened his eyelids to see himself gently gliding down to the reclining chair below, having bypassed the shelf entirely and approaching the soft cushion. He let out a triumphant and cocky honk followed by a panicked trumpet as he realized he had no idea how to land.
The others snorted in laughter as he slammed into the chair’s arm and rolled down the soft incline and collapse ass over end onto the chair in a heap. He couldn’t help it, despite it all, he saw the comedy too. He started honking in laughter, which only spurred the others on.
Soon enough, having established bravery, the trio of girls on the stand hopped over the small gap to the chair and joined their flamingo friend. He stood, still chuckling, and together the four of them slid off the chair and onto the carpet.
Reham took a deep breath and pointed to the bedroom. Window. Door. Air vent? She hoped she was right and “master” had worded his wish literally. Well, if she was about to spontaneously combust, at least it would be escaping.
The tiny animals crossed from the living room in single file and into the bedroom. There, Reham lead them to a floor vent and pointed with one hoof. The others understood.
The giraffe moved in with the camel and used her neck like a lever, pushing her flat nose in between the gap under the vent and lifting. The camel helped, bending in to put her front hooves under, and together they pushed. Despite their tiny size, the duo succeeded brilliantly, causing the wolf and the flamingo to dance excitedly as escape became a very real possibility.
The giraffe held the vent up for her friends and then carefully slipped down with them, dropping the cover and bending down into a dark metallic tube.
The vent slammed over top of then and fell back into place. Now the four were in a pitch black home lit by the slats in the vent. The wolf took charge, her night vision excellent, and slowly lead the others deep into a tunnel that, for them, was quite sizeable.
Reham let out a heavy sigh of relief, realizing she had reasoned correctly. Window. Door. The wish had been literal and conditional. The wolf lead them on in the pitch black and barked suddenly to stop. In front of them, a sheer drop down into oblivion. To their right, though, another section of vent lit by the hallway outside the apartments.
The other three trusted their current leader and followed her to the right. There, they paused behind a side vent and laid down to rest and hide.
All four looked at each other in he subdued light, quite pleased with themselves, and for the first time they all smiled at each other. The moment was deeply bonding and emotional. No words were needed - “we did it!”
Having rested and taken a moment to celebrate, the animals rose and approached their next challenge. How to get out into the hall...