“Jesus… Christ.” Mary managed to utter between sobs. Behind her the dull thud of an enormous predatory insect pushing against the bathroom door persisted for a few minutes before it fell eerily silent around her. On the cool tile floor of the bathroom the still tiny three-foot tall Mary held herself and began to shiver. Warm dripping down her chest alerted her to the fact she was still bleeding from the gash on her arm. There was a sudden jolt to her body and the feeling of her constant growth suddenly faded. She was done enlarging at three feet one inch tall.
Mary looked down at herself and whimpered at the sight of smeared blood on her body. She needed to get her arm taken care of before she did anything else. Clearly, she was going to be three feet tall for a while now and would have to contend with that giant bloodsucker out in the hall eventually. She didn’t dare think of how huge the monstrous mosquito was getting outside. The double dose of growing potion was sure to make it even more massive.
For the moment, Mary concentrated on her arm. Wiping away her tears and rising from the floor, she nervously walked towards the cupboards underneath the bathroom counter. Each cupboard was as large as Mary was and she found this disconcerting. It took some effort to pull one side open to get at the large metal first aid kit under the sink. Mary pulled out the big white box with her good arm and let it fall to the floor with a loud metallic thud.
Outside, she heard the mosquito moving around and was vaguely aware of a creepy breathing noise behind the door. She put it out of her mind and focused on the first aid kit, undoing the metal fastener and pulling the lid open with her tiny hands. The metal cover was surprisingly heavy, which gave Mary an idea of how to get out of this situation.
The tiny woman grabbed some sterilizing cream and some gauze bandage and proceeded to climb on top of the toilet so she could reach the counter and the sink to clean herself up. She had been bleeding quite badly and the wound was deeper than it was on first glance.
Mary reached the countertop and calmly walked in front of the mirror.
The nerve racking breathing noise coming from behind the door suddenly grew louder and Mary was keenly aware of a strange noise like tight rubber being stretched. Oh God, the mosquito was growing again.
She had to get that damned thing shrunk back down and herself big again. That meant getting to the box of vials still sitting in the living room and getting past the giant mosquito. She turned on the taps above the sink. Mary sighed and almost cried again, but instead gritted her teeth and ran her wounded arm under lukewarm water. The sting of water touching exposed meat made her tense and nearly scream, but she remained calm and washed away the blood from her arm and rinsed off her entire body in the sink.
When she was done, Mary dried herself off with a cloth sitting on the counter and proceeded to squirt the disinfecting cream onto her wound and rub it in. The bleeding had mostly stopped but the wound was still weeping in places. Mary grabbed the white gauze and unfurled it on the counter before wrapping it tightly around her throbbing right arm. In her small state it was more than enough to wrap her entire arm, but the dressing would at least keep her from bleeding too much.
With her wound bandaged it was time to deal with her next problem. The breathing noise behind the door was only getting louder and louder by the minute. Mary knew the mosquito’s slow enlargement was progressing unhindered and it was waiting for her just outside the door. She psyched herself up and prepared to face the sight of the massive insect beyond the door, towering over her small body completely.
She stared around the bathroom for something to help her face the monstrosity and suddenly remembered the scissors sitting on the counter. Mary quickly walked over and sorted through the feminine odds and ends until she picked up a steel pair of scissors, incredibly sharp. They were more her size and Mary expected she could wield them better than the large cutting knife earlier.
Even with a weapon she was exposed, though. Mary suddenly thought back to her earlier plan and nodded, hopping down off the counter with the scissors and climbing down the way she came up on the seat of the toilet.
The tiny woman grabbed the metal lid of the first aid kit and looked at the hinges holding it in place. If she could get some leverage she could tear the lid off with the scissors and break the hinges right off. Or no! In her reduced state Mary could just undo the bolts holding the lid on with her hands.
Being shrunk was sure making her resourceful. Mary did exactly that, grabbing the wing nuts holding the first aid kit lid in her hands and twisting them off. When she was done Mary pulled off the entire lid and smiled. She had now made herself a fairly substantial shield to defend herself with. She grabbed the scissors and the lid and looked towards the handle of the bathroom door.
That stretching noise she had heard faintly earlier was now very audible. She could hear the mosquito shifting and breathing beyond the door. It was going to be huge by now, Mary realized. In just five minutes it had doubled in size in the first confrontation. She had been in the bathroom for at least ten.
Taking a deep breath, Mary held her shield out in front of her and carried the scissors under her arm. At three feet tall she could just reach the door handle and turned it slowly, trying not to make any noise. She heard the latch click and heard the mosquito moving about.
Mary quickly threw the bathroom door open with her shield and scissors at the ready and her adrenaline pumping.
And stared an impossible distance upwards to see the mosquito was now as large as the entire hallway, some eight feet long and so tall it couldn’t stand up all the way anymore. Mary was first aware of the smell, an unfamiliar scent that smelled vaguely sour in nature. She could also see the creature breathing through its abdomen, tiny flaps pulsating in and out with every breath.
Despite being very cramped, the enormous insect lunged with ferocious speed towards Mary, stepping through the bathroom door and trying to once again stab her with its giant blood-drinking proboscis. Mary instinctively raised her shield and was knocked off her feet by the force of the blow. There was a large dent in the lid of the first aid kit and Mary ditched the cumbersome thing as she scrambled to her feet with the scissors.
It turned out Mary was the once with the size advantage. She quickly got to her feet just as the giant insect lunged again, twitching its antennae in rage, and ran between the long fuzzy legs in front of her. Mary quickly opened the scissors in both hands and wrapped the blades around one of the front most legs. She clamped the blades in and then with all her might squeezed.
The sharp scissors cut into the soft flesh of the mosquito’s leg and drew acidic yellow insect blood that trickled down from the wound smoldering onto the hallway floor. In the back of her mind Mary could hear the pitiful squeal of anguish from the giant creature as it suddenly pulled away from her. The sudden jerky movement deepening the cut from the scissors until the entire bottom half of its right front leg was completely severed, drawing a torrent of blood that splattered in a pool around Mary as the scissors closed with a snipping noise.
The mosquito staggered backwards trembling and stumbled as it tried to walk with a leg it no longer had, falling to the ground with a thud and desperately thrashing as it tried to stand up and escape. It fluttered its wings but it was far too enormous to fly. Mary took several steps back in shock, holding the scissors in front of her just in case, but the damage was done. The insect cowered from Mary and held the stump of its former leg up, still oozing yellow blood, and for the briefest of moments Mary felt extreme guilt for what she had done.
The poor wounded insect began to shake violently and Mary slowly backed away as it bled out. There was a sudden burst of blood from the gaping wound and then the creature collapsed completely as it suddenly lost blood pressure and it’s body began to fail. Mary took several more steps back, still clutching the scissors as she witnessed the horrific sight of the mosquito dying in a pool of it’s own blood. It trembled one more time and then was still. The sound of the breathing stopped.
“Fucking bug!” Mary spat, and then turned and ran towards the stairs to go down and get the vials.