Susie's Transformation

Run, Little Ones

Susie was a timid, shy girl. In fact, she shrank from all human contact, cowering when adults spoke to her and answering their questions in little more than a tiny whisper. 
Susie's mother had begun to worry about her daughter's social development. Susie refused to even go outside and, except for when her presence was absolutely required elsewhere in the house, she preferred to remain safely isolated behind the closed door of her bedroom, where she carried on long conversations with her stuffed animals. 
Susie's father didn't believe there was anything wrong with his little girl. 
"She doesn't need therapy!" he told his wife adamantly. "Susie's seven. So she's shy. So what? She'll grow out of it." 
But her mother wasn't so sure. To be on the safe side, she began to research treatments online.
 "Susie?" she called to her daughter one morning. "Susie, come get a yummy snack!" 
Susie dutifully appeared in the kitchen and climbed up onto a stool at the counter. Silently, she began to eat her cookies and juice. 
"Mommy?" she whispered hesitantly in a tiny squeak of a voice. "Mommy, this juice tastes funny..." 
"Don't worry," her mother said. "I just added vitamins to it. Drink up!" 
Susie screwed up her face at the taste, but she drank the contents of the cup. After she was done, she wiped her mouth, burped once, and then she suddenly began to grow. 
The previous evening, her mother had found an interesting recipe online for an elixir that was supposed to give the imbiber confidence. Admittedly, she had found it on a dubious site about secret ancient ceremonies, rituals, and recipes, but the ancient Mayans had apparently considered the elixir very powerful, so she just mixed it with kool-aid and gave it a try. 
Susie grew and grew. Her little girl dress became tight against her and then ripped right off of her. And still she grew. 
Her mother was wide-eyed, unsure what to do. Her husband was never going to let her hear the end of this. 
Susie grew until she was the size of a giant. She was a giant, naked seven year old girl. She surveyed her surroundings and suddenly realized that she no longer felt timid. In fact, she felt downright gregarious. What did she have to be afraid of? People were unlikely to be able to hurt her. In fact, she could hurt them. 
Susie proceeded to smash her way out of her house. Venturing outside for the first time in ages, she happily tromped down her street, joyously stepping on people and knocking over houses.



Susie's Transformation, Alisha Adkins, copyright 2013.  This also appears in the Abecedary of the Absurd as part of the collection Twisted Tales for Twisted Minds, second edition.

*Image created with Polyvore.