Elevator Girl Out of Control, Part 2

Gemma arrived back at the house early in relation to her time to leave for the nursing home where she worked.  She planned to use the time to get herself some lunch before going in.

But, once inside, curiosity overtook her.  Kellie had learned to use the Elevator Girl bracelet on her own, before Gemma knew about it, and the basic controls were pretty simple.  She knew it could become psychically linked with its wearer, but that obviously hadn't happened yet, by Kellie's own admission this morning.  She had to know.  What did it feel like to be able to change sizes?

Gemma went upstairs to Kellie's room.  The bracelet was still sitting on her daughter's nightstand.  Nervously, Gemma walked over and put the bracelet on.  She didn't notice that there were still two drops of water on the nightstand that had just come out of the bracelet.

Gemma wasn't short, but it might be fun to be a little bit taller for today, she thought, just to see if anyone noticed. It would also make the lifting tasks at work easier.

After changing her scrubs for work, Gemma tapped what she believed was the up button once.  Nothing happened.

At school, Kellie was sitting in her algebra class.  She found it boring, especially since the teacher, Mr. Sheely, spoke in a monotone.  Her seat was in the back of the class.

Suddenly Kellie felt a sensation she hadn't expected to feel.  It felt as if she had just grown in the chair.  It wasn't by much; it was as if she'd just tapped the bracelet control once, and lightly.  But it definitely felt as if she'd grown.

Kellie looked around.  By now she had a pretty precise feel for how things looked at different heights.  She swallowed hard.  There was no doubt about it.  She was 5-foot-7, inches taller than she should have been.

Gemma frowned.  She knew the growth control had shorted out before, but she hadn't gotten a shock.  She pressed it again, harder.

Kellie sprouted another foot taller.  The school desk's chair was becoming a snug fit, and her right knee hit the desk bottom.  She tried to stretch her legs out beneath the other desks, but had to do so carefully to keep from hitting other people's feet.  At least her clothes and shoes were changing with her, as if she was wearing the bracelet.

This obviously had to do with the bracelet, but how?  Was the electrical short manifesting itself in a new way, or had someone gotten their hands on the bracelet and started pushing buttons?

"Sit down, Miss Ross," Mr. Sheely said.

"I am, sir," Kellie said, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible to hide any changes in its sound.

Gemma's brow furrowed.  Obviously, the growth function on the bracelet still wasn't working.  But maybe she could shrink.

Gemma hit the down button.  Nothing happened to her.

"How can you be sitting, Miss Ross?" Mr. Sheely said.  "Your head is above everyone … oh.  Never mind."

Kellie was relieved to realize she had shrunken.  She was back to within two inches of her normal height.  That was close enough that most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

Gemma sighed.  The bracelet obviously wasn't working.  She dropped it back on Kellie's nightstand.  It wound up sitting at an odd angle, with the down button just barely depressed.

As the bell rang, Kellie stood up and realized she was shorter than she'd been when last she checked.  She was now barely 5 feet tall, and she was pretty sure she was still shrinking -- but shrinking way more slowly than she had ever shrunk before.

By the time she got out into the hallway, Kellie was no more than 4-foot-8, and her height was continuing to decrease.  She had to act, and fast.  But what to do?

Gemma had gone downstairs to get her lunch.  She made a quick cold-cut and lettuce sandwich and ate it quickly, but not hurriedly.

Kellie's best idea was to try to call home, but school policy meant her cell phone was in her locker.  She had to get there and get in it, but how?  She was going to drop under 4 feet tall in the next few seconds, and people were bound to notice.  She hid behind an open classroom door.

Kellie was down to just over 3 feet tall when she saw Dakota.  Taking a chance on being seen, but thinking of no other alternative, she shouted, "Kota!"  He turned and looked around, but didn't spot her.  "KOTA!" she shouted again.

This time Dakota spotted her and realized immediately that she was the size of a baby and shrinking.  He'd seen her shrink faster, but it surely seemed fast to him nevertheless.  He slipped over by the door.  "Kel, what's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Kellie said.  "Can you get me to my locker?"

"Can't you just use the -- where's the bracelet?" Dakota asked.

"Long story, and no time to tell it," Kellie said.  "I'll explain later, if I can, but I need to get to my cell phone in my locker."

Dakota picked up his now-fashion-doll-sized girlfriend, pulled up his shirt and slipped her underneath.  "Your chariot awaits," he said and started walking toward Kellie's locker.

Gemma finished her sandwich, got up and left to drive to work, locking the door behind her.

Dakota could feel Kellie shrinking against his skin.  She was down to between 6 and 8 inches tall, and he could tell she was still dwindling away.  Trying not to look panicky or upset, he picked up his pace on the way to Kellie's locker.

Kellie was amazed.  She knew Dakota was thin because of the chemo, but she hadn't realized his abs were so ripped.  Add to that observation the fact that, from her perspective, he was growing larger and more powerful, and she was finding herself feeling unbelievably passionate.  But this wasn't the time or the place.

As was her practice, Gemma turned off her cell phone just before she started the car.  She didn't want any phone distractions while she was on the road.

Dakota got to Kellie's locker.  "What's your combination?" he whispered.

"You won't need it!" Kellie shouted, her voice so faint only Dakota could hear it.  "Just slip me through the one of the vent slots!"

"But the fall --"

"Won't hurt me!" Kellie shouted.  "I don't have enough mass any more to get hurt.  But if I don't get in there quickly I won't be able to use my phone!  Hurry, please!"

Dakota dropped her through the slot.  Unable to contain himself, and afraid this might be his last chance to say it, he whispered, "I love you!"

But Kellie was now so small that Dakota's whisper sounded like a faraway wind to her, so she didn't hear what he said.  She dropped down to the locker floor, where her backpack was.  Fortunately, there was a worn spot near the top big enough for the wasp-sized teen to crawl into.  She ran as fast as her still-diminishing legs could carry her to her phone, and was very glad at that moment that it wasn't a flip phone.

Now the size of a large ant and still shrinking, Kellie knew she only had time to hit one button, and that with the full force of her body, before she would have to hit send or get too small to do anything.  She dived on the speed-dial setting for her mom's cell and then on the send button.  Now gnat-sized, all she could do was wait.

But the call went into a system saying her mom was unavailable.  Kellie recognized it, even through the garble of sound that she could make out on this scale, as being the message she would hear if her mom had turned off the phone.

Kellie sat on top of the paint os the letter "S" in send, dangling her legs over the growing precipice.  She was undoubtedly microscopic, smaller than she'd ever been before, and still shrinking.

Kellie paced atop the "S."  The paint line was now as wide as a football field was long to
her, and still expanding.

She was now too small to be seen or heard by anyone, and had no chance of getting help.  She was shrinking quickly enough that she was going to be in danger of becoming microbe food, or even becoming too small to breathe, in a matter of hours, perhaps minutes.

But whatever else was happening, there was only one possible explanation:  the bracelet was affecting her remotely.

Kellie remembered that this had happened to her grandpa once as Elevator Man.  His solution was to push something onto a stuck button on the belt he used in order to get it unstuck.  But that clearly wasn't an option here.

But, if the bracelet was affecting her remotely, maybe that meant the link her grandpa told her about was in place after all.  She just had to figure out how to use it.

Kellie closed her eyes and concentrated.  She realized she could feel a slight tingling sensation on her right side -- the side in the direction of her house.  The tingling had to be from the bracelet … she hoped.

Kellie turned toward the tingling.  She could no longer see the edges of the paint for the letter "S," and was becoming aware of how uneven that paint was on a microscopic level.  She focused on the tingling sensation.  If she could just find a way to reverse the process
…

Then Kellie realized she could feel the pulses of the waves themselves.  She had become so small the wavelengths were detectable to her in and of themselves.

With no other ideas, Kellie tried the obvious.  Her brain had its own impulses.  She thought of inverting the wavelength signal, sending it backward.

At home, the bracelet received an incoming signal and rolled slightly, removing the pressure on the down button.  At the same time, the up button depressed, seemingly on its own.

To her delight, Kellie started to grow almost immediately.  It was working.  She just had to think in terms of altering the wavelengths, picturing them in her mind, and the bracelet responded.

Even though she'd been too small to hear it, Kellie knew that, by now, the bell starting the new class period had rung.  The hallways should be empty at this time.

She grew big enough to grab the vent slot, then shrank small enough to fit through it.  Kellie smiled.  She couldn't have done this before; if she needed both hands to hang on, she couldn't have worked the bracelet controls.

Looking both ways to make sure the hallway was deserted, Kellie swung herself out the vent hole and grew in the hallway to her normal height.  She smiled and strode confidently down the hall.  She'd be late for class, but that was nothing; she'd nearly died, after all.

Still, she was going to have to have a talk with her mother to sort out exactly what had happened here.

When both of the Rosses were home that evening, Gemma, on learning of what her actions had done, couldn't apologize to Kellie enough.

"Gawd, Kellie, I'm so sorry!" Gemma said after several minutes, sounding on the verge of tears.  "If I'd had any idea --"

"Mom, enough!" said Kellie.  She hugged her mother.  "What's done is done," the teen said.  "And it all worked out well in the end.  Just remember, from now on, never do anything to the bracelet.  What you do to the bracelet, you do to me."

Gemma nodded, and hugged her daughter again.  "I'll remember,"  she said.  "So, is the short fixed now?"

Kellie nodded.  "I double-checked it with Grandpa's schematics," she said.  "Elevator Girl is back in business."

Kellie walked over to the fridge and got out a can of diet cola.  "But, the world can get along without her for one more night," she said.  "I'm gonna relax at home.  After all, I've had a big day."