Home again a short while later, the boys made their final preparations in the kitchen.
"Okay," Jim said. "You ready."
Tom smiled. "Piece of cake," he said. He held the balloon ceremoniously and intoned, "Control the size of Judy's head." He waited a moment, expectantly. When nothing seemed to be happening, he asked, "Is it working?"
"It should be. There's no big light show or tingle or anything when it works. Just start blowing in a couple of minutes. I'll wait in my room," Jim said.
"Roger," Tom said and turned his attention to the clock.
Jim left Tom downstairs and headed for his room. Judy's room was just across the hall from his, and he wanted to be close by when she changed. Through her open door he saw her sitting on her bed texting someone.
"Hey, Jude," he said. "What's up?"
"I'm talking to someone," she said. "Someone I actually want to talk to instead of annoying boys in the hallway." She stood up and closed her door in his face, not even looking up from her phone to glance at him.
"Fine," Jim replied. "Have it your way." He smiled as he entered his room and closed his door. Then, he waited.
***
Downstairs, Tom smiled as he lifted the balloon. "Party time," he said and started to blow.
***
Judy sat on her bed texting, still feeling faintly annoyed that her brother had bothered her before. She felt a strange tingle like a faint tickle all around her head. She shook her head a bit and continued typing on her phone. There was another tingle, and her neck felt a bit strained all of a sudden, as if her head was weighing it down a bit more than usual. She just figured that she was just tired from her walk. Though, she felt her straight hair brush against her shoulders, which was strange since it had been cut short just above her shoulders earlier that week.
"Whoa," she said as another tingle hit her. "Head rush." And then, she felt a strange sensation, as if everything around her had just grown a little bit smaller. Her phone looked smaller as did her hands. Her room seemed to have closed in on her a bit, as well. On top of all of that, her neck was really starting to kill her now.
"Maybe I should lay down, " she said. She noticed that her voice sounded a bit louder now too.
She lay back on her bed and tried to rest her head against her pillow, but ended up banging her head against her headboard instead. "Ouch," she winced and tried to rub the top of her head, only to find that her head seemed to go on for much more distance now than it had before. Had it grown? "No way." Her hand felt lost in her hair now, which seemed so much thicker and longer.
"What the hell?" she said as she felt another tingle. Her hands frantically felt around her head. She couldn't even reach the top of her own head anymore even with her arms stretched out. It was as if someone had stuck a solid fleshy beach ball on her shoulders. It felt huge in her hands. At the same time, her hands felt tiny on her head, like little baby hands. She started to panic. "Oh my God," she cried, her voice echoing loudly around her seemingly shrinking bedroom. "What's happening to my head?"
She tried to stand up only to find that she could barely slide her head down the bed. She felt anchored to the spot, her neck hopelessly skinny and weak next to all of that weight. All she managed to do was tip her head onto her right cheek, giving herself a view of the windows across her seemingly smaller room. She whimpered. A strand of hair fell across her mouth, she blew it out of her mouth, which sent all of the papers on her desk flying in the breeze. She reached up and pulled the strand of hair down from her face. It felt like a bundle of wires in her hand.
Another tingle, and her room seemed to shrink even more.
She let out a panicked shriek and desperately flailed her arms and legs around as she felt her body being pushed off the bottom of her bed by her swelling head. She felt her feet land on the floor as her hands propped herself up on the bed, but could not see anything of her own body below her chin. "No," she moaned. "Stop it," she demanded of whatever force was attacking her. She felt her chin slide around against the sheets when she opened her mouth now. "Stop this!" she screamed.
But it did not stop.
After another spurt of growth, her room felt more like a box around her head and less like a bedroom. It felt as though she had stuck her head into a doll's house now. All of the furniture seemed impossibly small. Even her body felt too small below her as if it had been shrunk to a doll's proportions as well. Her hands now pushed up against her chin as she felt herself now standing up straight on the floor, trying to keep her neck from bending uncomfortably far to the right.
A tingle, and she grew even more, and felt the walls and ceiling close in claustrophobically close. Her mattress groaned under the weight of her head and sagged towards the floor. Below her chin, her body was nearly lifted off the ground. She now stood on her tiptoes, balancing precariously to keep her neck from bending too painfully to the side.
She wept and sobbed. She felt the tears run down to her bed, not in drops, but in a swift torrent of warm water.
She cried hopelessly and waited fearfully for the next growth spurt, but after half a minute had passed with no more tingles or growth spurts, she started to relax slightly and reflexively tried to wipe her eyes dry, only to immediately realize that she had no way of touching her face now. She tried to move again. No luck there. Her body was poised uncomfortably on her tip toes still, and she had no way of moving even a few inches from the spot. She realized that her head now weighed many times what her body weighed. She couldn't even tilt her head in any direction. She was stuck with her immobile head on its side. Only her eyes let her view roam around the room at all.
A single word escaped her lips at almost a whisper: "H-help."
More tears began to flow and she nearly shouted this time, "Help me! Jimmy, help me!"