He sat there on the sofa shaking with excitement, the brown cardboard box on the table jn front of his, sealed and waiting to be opened.
Dan had been impatiently waiting 14 days for his delivery from the Magic Shop. He'd previously bought a lucky charm from the shop thinking it was all nonsense several months ago, only to find it helped him win thousands on races. He'd used the charm up and had used the winnings to pay off his debts. The owner had warned him when the golden glow disappears from the crystal inside the luck would run out, which he of course had laughed at and thought 'yea of course it will, I can't believe I'm even trying this.'
But it had been true, all of it. And now He'd gone and ordered a new item that was listed. Every item is unique, the owner promised, so he knew he would be the only one to get the 'size ray'. And now it was here!
With shaking hands he pulled the tape back, the sound of it filling the room. Balling it up he dropped it to the floor and opened the flaps. It looked like a simple toy laser gun, plastic, gaudy, with a plain trigger and on top a slider that had a gradient on it, like an old fashioned volume slider. He nearly dropped it, air rushing out of his lungs as he grasped it more firmly.
He examined it up and down, from all angles. It looked so... cheap. He felt his stomach clench as he realised he must have just spent a grand on a toy gun.
He looked around the room, what to test it on? A chair, the table, the box... hmm the ball of tape? He steadied his arm and pointed the gun at the tape. With his other hand he clicked the dial on top up to full and pulled the trigger. A beam of red light shot out the end and hit the tape. It seemed to know where he was aiming somehow as the beam wasnt level, it did however hit the tape dead on. He held the trigger down for a solid 5 second count in his head and then let go.
It was only a moment of panic that he'd been conned before the tape began to grow. Steadily it got bigger and bigger until it got caught between the sofa and the table. It started to push the table backwards until it was tilting. Dan stood up and backed away from it.
The table tipped over, the box hitting the floor and packing peanuts rolling out of it. The roll of tape was no bigger than his fist before, now it was up to his waist.
And still growing.
It swelled bigger and bigger steadily. And then it stopped. There in his living room was a balled up strip of tape that was almost as big as him. He stood silent for a moment before he finally cheered and jumped around the room, arms waving. He kissed the gun.
"Oh god... oh my god it's... real!"