The Shrink Program

Chapter 39

I nodded mutely.

Good plan.

I was supposed to be stalking my little brother right now, making sure he got home safely, not staring at Vain's slippered feet below me like it was the first time I'd seen a guy's naked ankles before.

Go get Devin. I like that plan. Let's do that...

"Damn it," I muttered as I climbed up onto his open hand. As soon as I was secure, the hand began to lift, slowly bringing me up to Vain's shoulder.

"I'm guessing that we're going to the park?" He asked as I climbed onto his shoulder.

"Yes," I muttered, ignoring the dizzying sensation caused by Vain rising up out of his crouch.

"And instead of talking to him, we're going to hide in some cold, wet bushes, watching him until he comes home."

"That's the plan." I agreed. "So hurry up."

Vain sighed, still walking slowly towards the gate. "You've gotten me out of bed at nine o'clock at night Maddison..."

"What are you, eighty? Who the hell goes to bed at nine?" I muttered. Ignoring the fact that I had been heading towards my tissue box before any of this had even started.

"People that have to get up at six in the morning and survive yet another day with a certain idiot doing her best to drive them insane," Vain answered, opening the gate.

I gave his profile a suspicious glare. "Why do you have to get up so early Vain?"

"You'll find out in the morning." He said with a completely straight face. I groaned, definitely not liking the sound of that.

"As I was saying." Vain continued. "Since you have gotten me up to help you spy on your brother, don't you think I deserve a little bit of an explanation?"

My mind flashed back to the argument I had had with Devin, particularly the parts mentioning Vain.

"No," I replied flatly. There was no way I was going to share that little bit of information with Vain. Ever.

Vain stopped walking. "Do you promise to talk to Devin and get this sorted out when we get to the park?"

"No!"

"Then you need to talk with me about it."

"...Why?" I whined.

"Because you need to grow up Maddison." He said flatly, making me flinch a little. "Every time you are faced with a problem, you try to use violence, and when that doesn't work, you try to avoid the problem completely."

He finally began walking again. "It isn't fair to Devin. He may be mature for his age, but he's still a thirteen-year-old boy. For once, you need to act like his older sister and..."

"Enough!" I hissed. "Just go home, Vain!" Without another word, I leapt from his shoulder, causing him to jerk to an alarming stop, hands shooting up, but too late.

"Wait...!"

At this size, it was like jumping off a building.

One moment I was falling weightlessly through the air, the next I hit the pavement in a crouch. I landed hard, but the jump boots kept me on my feet, taking in most of the shock.

At this size, I was able to fall further than humanly possible since I weighed less and had less downward force due to wind resistance and yah-de yah-de yah-dah, I don't even know.

All I understood was that so long as I wore the jump boots and landed properly, I was cool.

Or so I had been told by the Shrink Program..... good thing they hadn't been joking about that...

So even after taking such a large fall, I stood up straight, rattled but undamaged, and begun walking towards the park.

"Why does everyone feel the need to Lecture me tonight?" I shouted at the empty street.

"Maddison..."

"Isn't it obvious that I'm trying?!" I spun on Vain angrily. He hadn't even moved from the spot where I had left him, hands still frozen mid-air, his eyes wide with panic. "Do you want to know what's really not fair Vain?"

I pointed up at him, feeling like I was yelling at a building more than a person.

"What's not fair is that you and Devin are dumping all this on me now. Why the hell couldn't you have told me any of this before I was five inches tall?! When I was able to actually do something about it for myself instead of being forced into everything by you giant jerks!"

I spun and begun walking again. "What gives you guys the right to tell me to grow up or change when both of you are too cowardly to confront me when I'm not utterly defenceless."

I kept walking in silence, ignoring Vain's presence behind me.

Any second now, he would sigh and tell me I was lashing out defensively.
That the person I was really angry at was myself, and I was just taking it out on him. And he would be completely right, and I would have to apologise for being such a...

"You're right Maddison."

Stumbling midstep, I nearly fell over. Slowly I turned to look up at him.

"I am?"

I turned just in time to catch the expression he had worn as he watched me walk away from him at a snail's pace.

Anxious, like he was afraid that some sort of bird was going to swoop down and pick me off from the sidewalk at any moment.

As I looked at him, he looked away guiltily, hands twitching at his sides with restraint.

It probably took a lot for him not to grab me, to let me walk alone in a world not safe for someone my size.

God knows that, had I been in his place, I probably would have had a heart attack by now.

Then again, Vain was probably used to it.

"Ever since the Shrink Program shrunk you, a part of me has felt relieved," Vain admitted grudgingly. "I can't help thinking that this is my last chance to get you away from all this...fighting."

I pinched myself softly, making sure I wasn't dreaming.

"I'm sorry about that Maddison," He said, his voice so soft I could barely hear him. "That I don't dare to do this...Fairly. Honestly."

Staring at him, I simply had no idea what to say. Vain wasn't supposed to be wrong... Well, more importantly, I wasn't supposed to be right.

I didn't even know what to do now that I had actually won the argument.

"Um...do you think that you could... Maybe... Help me talk to Devin?" I asked, swallowing my embarrassment. "I don't really know how to tell him... plus it's a long walk... "

Vain crouched down, giving me a stern, yet somehow relaxed look. "As long as you promise to never do that again." All the strain he had been hiding entered his voice as he gestured to his shoulder. "Do you realise you nearly killed me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Jeez Vain, going to bed at nine and suffering from near heart attacks, are you sure you're not actually an old man?"

The intense glare I got in return made me take a sheepish step backwards, hands held up in surrender. "Fine. You don't have to ask me twice."